The Western Star, September 20, 1946
STILL SUFFERING FROM SERIOUS WOUND
Pfc. Carl H. Schenk in Hospital With Total Disability
At left: Pfc. Carl H. Schenk, Jr.The war with Germany, Italy and Japan has left Pfc. Carl H. Schenk Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Schenk, who live near Coy, Okla., south of Coldwater, in a more serious condition, the result of wounds, than any other Comanche County soldier or sailor.
He has been in hospitals ever since he was wounded in Germany, February 5, 1945, at which time some shrapnel crumpled the back of his helmet and took away a portion of his skull back of his right ear. A plate was put in his skull and he was out of the hospital since returning to the States only six weeks, two weeks of the time being spent at his farm home.
Carl is still at the Wadsworth hospital in Kansas and will remain there for an indefinite time. He is slowly improving in health, however.
He entered the Army September 9, 1943 at Camp Gruber, Okla., and while on training before going overseas, was home on furlough in April, 1944, coming to attend the funeral of his grandfather, Fred Schenk.
Carl became a rifle expert October 2, 1943 and a sharpshooter a month later. He entered France at the time of the Normandy invasion and was an ammunition bearer and heavy machine gunner in the midst of the heaviest fighting in three campaigns, qualifying for the following ribbons: The European African Middle Eastern Theater, Normandy and Northern France, and the German Campaign. His outfit received a Distinguished Unit Citation. He has also the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Good Conduct Ribbon, the Purple Heart Award and Three Bronze Campaign Stars.
After he was wounded he was taken to an American base hospital in Paris in a serious condition. An Army nurse in charge of a ward heard a ward girl on duty say that a soldier from Coldwater had been brought in. The next morning the nurse, Lieut. Frances Parker of Coldwater, now Mrs. Norman Butcher, looked up the wounded soldier and talked with him. He was Pfc. Schenk.
After he was brought back to the United States he spent several months at a general hospital in Utah before he underwent an operation on his head. He was discharged from the Army at Wadsworth, Kansas, September 29, 1945, but has continued to be hospitalized there.
In the hurry and bustle of affairs following the war, let us not forget the thousands of soldiers who have paid a big price for our freedom and who still have a long hard road back to complete health.
The Western Star, March 8, 1945. Finds Coldwater Soldier Wounded
At left: Frances Parker, 1st Lieutenant, U.S. Army Nurse Corps.Lieut. Frances Parker, Coldwater Army Nurse, wrote her parents, Rev. and Mrs. M. W. Parker of Coldwater, that she had found in a hospital a wounded soldier, Pfc. Carl Schenk Jr., of Coldwater and visited with him often. Carl a son of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Schenk, who live south of Coldwater, was seriously wounded on February 8 but is now improving.
Thanks to Shirley Brier for finding, transcribing and contributing the above news articles to this web site!
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