Edward W. Wallmann

Edward William Wallman was born on August 20, 1909, to Emil Otto and Mary Louise "Marie" Schultz Wallmann in Lidgerwood, Richland County, North Dakota. He entered the United States Army on January 25, 1942, at Fort Snelling, Minnesota.  On November 8, 1943, the Thirty-seventh landed on Bougainville, the largest of the Solomon Islands, joining up with the Third Marine Division, which had launched the initial assault a week earlier.

The Marines pulled out in December and were replaced by the Army's American Division. The American troops fought inland, set up defensive positions, and then waited. In March 1944, the Japanese hit the Americans with a massive counterattack. The Buckeye Division, which held a seven-mile-long front, was the target of the Sixth Imperial Japanese Infantry Division. According to General Beightler, the men of the Veteran Sixth were among the best fighters the Thirty-seventh faced during the entire war and the Japanese were ready for a fight, challenged by the words of their commanding officer, Lieutenant General Masatane Kanda, who proclaimed "there can be no rest until our bastard foes are battered, and bowed in shame – till their bright red blood adds yet more luster to the badge of the 6th Division."

The attack on the Buckeye line lasted for seventeen days, but in the end the Sixth Imperial was smashed, losing more than seven thousand killed and ceasing to exist as a recognizable combat unit. The Thirty-seventh suffered fewer than seventeen hundred casualties.

Private First Class Edward W. Wallmann was wounded in action that March 1944 on Bougainville. He was hit in the leg by a bullet. He was treated "debridement without closure".

Two North Dakotans are dead, three missing and 11 wounded, according to word received by next of kin and contained on official casualty lists released from Washington... WOUNDED... PFC Edward W. Wallmann, son of Mrs. Mary Wallmann of Hankinson, Southwest Pacific. Source: The Fargo Forum (Fargo, North Dakota), Sunday, 30 April 1944, page 2.

Private First Class Edward W. Wallmann recovered and rejoined his unit.

The 37th Division remained on Bougainville until December 1944, holding the island after the battles of March and training for a planned invasion of the Philippines.

January 1945, the 37th Division landed at the southern end of Lingayen Gulf on Luzon, the main island of the Philippines, on January 9, 1945. After quickly establishing a beachhead, the infantry men of the 37th immediately advanced south down the Central Plain of Luzon towards Manila – fighting hard, capturing Clark Field and Fort Stotsenburg along their way.

On January 30, 1945, PFC Edward W. Wallmann was killed in action in the battle for the Clark Field and Fort Stotsenburg, Pampanga Province, Central Luzon, Philippines. He was hit in the head by a bullet. He was "Not in Medical Installation Prior to Death."

Source: U.S. World War II Hospital Admission Card Files – Service Number: 37163698.

Casualty reports revealed that the regiment had three officers, 66 enlisted men killed and 268 wounded in the six-day battle for Clark Field, Fort Stotsenburg and the hill called "Top of the World" which overlooked the whole area.

He was first buried in 7749 USAF Cemetery, Santa Barbara #1, Philippine Islands – Row 38, Grave 2005. After the war (during the fall 1947) his remains (along with 5,195 other American soldiers) were disinterred and brought to the American Graves Registration Service Manila Mausoleum. From there, according to the wishes of his next of kin (mother, Mrs. Mary L. Wallmann), Private First Class Edward William Wallmann was buried in his final resting place in the 7701 Fort McKinley Cemetery (now known as the Manila American Cemetery) Plot D, Row 5, Grave 100, Manilla, Capital District, National Capital Region, Philippines. He received Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster.

Sources: Ancestry/Find a Grave