SPC DONALD D. WAHL

Wahl Services Will Be Friday

   Military rites for Specialist 3rd Class Donald D. Wahl, 22, Blanchardville, who was killed Saturday in a traffic accident near Hopkinsville, Ky., will be at 1:30 p.m. Friday in the Blanchardville Lutheran church with Rev. Norman Anderson officiating. Burial will be in Graceland cemetery.
   Wahl, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ben M. Wahl, Blanchardville, was stationed at Ft. Campbell where he was a member of the 101st Airborne Division.
   Survivors include his parents; eight brothers, Gene, Richard and Franklyn, at home; Clinton and Vernori, Portage; Doral, Evansville; Robert, Beloit; Jerry, stationed with the Marine Corps at Camp Pendelton, Calif.; four sisters, Shirley and Helen, at home; June, Hazel Green; Ruth, serving with the Air Force in Texas; and his maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Werner Kubly, Madison.
   He was preceded in death by one sister.
  Friends may call at the Saether funeral home, Blanchardville, until noon Friday.

[Monroe Evening Times, Monroe, WI, 20 Nov 1956, Tue, Page 8]

   BLANCHARDVILLE Funeral Services for Pfc Donald D. Wahl 22. who was killed Saturday in an auto accident in Kentucky, will be held at 1:30 p.m. Friday in the Blanchardville Lutheran Church.
   Pfc. Wahl's maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Werner Kubly, live at 306 S. Broom st., Madison.

[Wisconsin State Journal, Madison, WI, 21 Nov 1956, Wed, Page 17]

   BLANCHARDVILLE --- Funeral services were held here Friday in the Lutheran Church for Donald D. Wahl, 22, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ben M. Wahl, Blanchardville, who was killed in an automobile accident Nov. 17.
   He attended school in Blanchardville arid Hazel Green. He was in the U.S. Army stationed with paratroop detachment at the time of his death near Pembroke, Ken.
   Survivors are his parents, seven brothers. Frank and Richard, at home., Gene, rural Blanchardville; Robert, Beloit; Donald, Evansville; Quinton and Vernon, Portage; two sisters, Helen and Shirley, at home; and his maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Wesner Kubly, Madison.

[The Capital Times, Madison, WI, 26 Nov 1956, Mon, Page 27]

A 508TH ARCT VETERAN REMEMBERS DONNIE

    Donald “Donnie” Wahl came from a large family as I did. Donnie’s Family moved to Hazel Green, WI from Blanchardville, WI shortly after Donnie started High School. His dad had Mining experience and a local mine was hiring. Upon settling in Hazel Green, Donnie started working for Bill and Theda Curwen, local Dairy farmers who took him in and treated him like a son.
   The job his dad took in the Mine only lasted a few years and the family moved back to Blanchardville, WI. Donnie and his older sister June stayed in Hazel Green and both finished High School here. Donnie continued working on the Curwen farm until he joined the Army a year before I did. His older sister June became a nurse and married and lived in Galena, IL. just eight miles down the road from Hazel Green.
   I joined the Army January 5 1955. Went to Ft Leonard Wood, MO for Basic Training. Due to overcrowded conditions at Ft Leonard Wood the Army (After only three days in Ft Leonard Wood) flew 300 of us to Fort Ord, CA to take our first eight weeks of Basic Training. During our first eight we were given a talk by an Army Airborne Recruiter. Wow, He looked great in his Khaki Uniform and Spit Shined boots and when he said we could get $55.00 a month Jump Pay and only jump once every three months we were sold on “Airborne”. I was married for a year before joining the Army and was receiving $72.00 base pay, so that was great.
   Fifteen of us signed up and upon completing our 1st eight weeks of Basic were shipped to Ft Campbell, KY. We were each assigned to separate Batteries and Companies of the 320 FA and 508 ARCT and went to Jump School from our assigned Unit each day and returned each evening.   We also found out at this time that the 508 ARCT was to Gyroscope to Japan in July and we were going with them.  We graduated Jump School and had not yet had our second 8 weeks of Basic Training. Since [there was] not enough time for that, we were put through a three week Refresher course that they gave to the Troopers that had served in Korea and stayed out more than a year and wanted back in again. We completed our training and were sent home on a 10 day leave. Back to Ft Campbell and into the marshaling area.
   We Gyroscoped to Japan which was to be a three year tour of duty. However, six months after arriving we were told of a change in plans. We were going back to Ft Campbell in six months to re-activate the 101st to Airborne Status. The 508 ARCT Troops were put on the USS Billy Mitchell and another ship to return to California and then to Ft Campbell. While on the ship a group of us were discussing where we were going on leave and I heard a trooper mention Blanchardville, WI. I had grown up in the Blanchardville area and my wife was from there also. I ask the young Trooper if he was from Blanchardville and it was Donnie Wahl and that is how we first met.
   Donnie had served in “C” Battery 320th FA and I in HQ Battery 320th in Japan and never met until that day on the ship. We spent many hours together visiting on the rest of the trip and discussing our great tour in Japan. We went our separate ways after arriving in CA and I never saw Donnie again. My time with the army was drawing to a close as I had only enlisted for two years. Yes, I was a two year “RA” as were quite a few of us at that time.
   Thirty years have now passed and Leone and I have moved our family of five to Hazel Green, WI. We had started the 320th FA Association and were finding new Troopers and adding to the data base every day. We had found Sgt Dencil Rogers and at one of our Reunions he told us what happened to Donnie.
   Shortly after this Reunion I was at the local Bank depositing 320th FA Reunion Funds. The teller was a friend of ours from Church and I proceeded to tell her the story about Donnie and I serving together for a year and not meeting until we were on the boat coming home. I looked up at her and she had tears streaming down her face. She then told me that she and her husband had been class mates and best friends with Donnie Wahl all the way through High School and that she had written letters to Donnie until he passed away in that Accident.
   Small world is it not??

[written on 4/1/2019 2:21:58 PM, by Rodger Jacobson, 320th Field Artillery, HQ Battery, and used with his permission]