Chaplin's small set

[Brian Keith]

Enjoy!

 

[KASTAUFFER]

Nice group Brian. Can you tell us some more about the Chaplain ?

 

I did find this bit on info on Google :

 

James A. DeWeerd was James Dean's ( the movie star ) local pastor and taught taught James Dean to drive a car .

He also officiated at his funeral:

 

Funeral services for James Dean, 24, were held on October 8, 1955 at 2:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon at the Friends Church in Fairmount by Dr. James A DeWeerd and the Rev. Xen Harvey, pastor of the church. Following the church service, burial took place at Park Cemetery.

 

 

 

 

Kurt

[Brian Keith]

SS Star Citation:

“Captain James A. DeWeerd, 0520591, 120th Infantry Regiment, United States Army, is awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action against the enemy. Part of the preparation for the attack consisted of an aerial bombardment by friendly planes on hostile positions. Some of the bombs fell short, and two officers were buried alive in the area near Captain DeWeerd. Captain DeWeerd ran to the location where his comrades had been stricken, and despite the bombs still falling in the area, worked frantically until he himself became a casualty. Although he was seriously wounded in this action, Captain DeWeerd undoubtedly saved the life of one of his comrades by his quick thinking initiative, for the work he began was completed by others who had been inspired to gallantry as a result of his daring action. Entered military service from Indiana. (Signed) L. S. Hobbs, Major General, U.S. Army, Commanding.”

 

This was July 25, 1944.

I’ll post more later,

BKW

[Brian Keith]

DeWeerd wrote about the day he was wounded. “After the passing of a couple hours in which seconds seemed like eternity and a lifetime was lived in a moment I was placed in an ambulance. By then we had no doubt received a German counter-attack. I have no idea what hit the vehicle. At any rate the fragmentation of hot lead demolished it. Three men on litters beside me were killed outright. The driver and myself barely escaped. A piece of shrapnel came up through the floor board and caught me in the abdomen penetrating the liver and transversing diagonally across the left lung and lodged in the middle lobe of the right one. Simultaneously, another piece of metal struck me on the head resulting in a double compound fracture.”

We have photos of DeWeerd taken about a year later of his scars. He looks like a shark attack victim. It truly was a miracle he survived such grievous wounds. I'm not sure the photo's need to be posted. I wounder how many collections have photos of the injuries to go with the Purple Hearts?

We knew he officiated Deans Funeral but I didn’t know he taught him to drive.

I’ll work on posting photos of his uniforms.

For a couple of other photo's of the medals go to the "Medals

and Decorations forum.

BKW