GERDTS, HENRY

Henry Gerdts

Army

Ridge

Henry John Gerdts was born on July 29th 1919 in Ozone Park, New York. He was the son of Henry Otto Gerdts and Maria Korn Gerdts. The family bought five acres of land in 1938 in Ridge and were living on Giant Oak Road when Henry entered the service on Mar. 11, 1943 in the Army in New York City.

Gerdts trained at Fort Dix, New Jersey for 3 months. He then traveled across the Atlantic Ocean on the Queen Mary. He was stationed in England, and arrived on Normandy the day after D-Day. He took part in the Battle of the Bulge. Gerdts also served in North Africa and Sicily where he contracted malaria. After the war ended he sailed for home on the Francis Marion. He was discharged from Fort Dix on September 18, 1945.