Schamerloh, Carl W.

CARL WILHELM SCHAMERLOH

PRIVATE
U.S. ARMY

Born as Karl Wilhelm Adolf Schamerloh, Carl Schamerloh was the son of Mr. And Mrs. Edwin Schamerloh of the Union Township in Adams County. He was born June 9, 1920, in Union Township on the family homestead off of Decatur route five and had one brother, Harold. He attended Emanuel Lutheran school and was a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church: Missouri Synod. He spent much of his early life working on his father's farm tending to anything from crops to the livestock. He was later employed at the General Electric company in Fort Wayne. While working at General Electric Carl began courting the woman he would later marry, Leona Wefel. Leona was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Otto Wefel who lived on 512 North Fifth street, they were married November 23, 1941.

Almost a year after his marriage, Carl was drafted officially entering service with the army on November 17, 1942. Carl was shipped off to Camp Wheeler, Georgia soon after enlistment. After his training he was sent off to North Africa with the 15th Infantry Regiment, Third Infantry Division, Fifth Army to retake Africa from the Germans. Over the course of the war the 3rd Infantry Division was responsible for the liberation of the entire northern coast of Africa along with the retaking of fascist Italy from Mussolini. Individually, Carl's role in his outfit was the operation of an 88mm anti air gun. These guns were largely used as fortifications and rarely saw frontline combat, most were used as gun emplacements against enemy bombers. 

Private Schamerloh and the rest of the 3rd Infantry Division fought on through France during the D-Day invasion at Normandy. At this point in time, Carl was shot in killed pursuing German forces around Voray, France, September 9th 1944. During the war, 4,922 were killed in action and 18,766 wounded with a further 636 who died of wounds from the third division in total. Although temporarily buried at the U.S. Military Cemetery in St. Juan, France, Carl was eventually put to rest at his church, Immanuel Lutheran Church in Decatur Indiana. 

For his service and sacrifice, Private Schamerloh earned the Purple Heart, Army Good Conduct Medal, American Theatre Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and the WWII Victory Medal. Private Schamerloh also earned the Combat Infantryman Badge.

Information researched and collected by Dakota Massman, 2014. 

SOURCES

"Adams County Soldier Killed in Action."Decatur Daily Democrat. Print.

Indiana Historical Bureau, comp. Gold Star Honor Roll: Adams County. Bloomington: Indiana War History Commission, 1949. Print. Vol. 1 of Indiana in World War II.

"Millions of Stories. Find Yours." Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History Records at Ancestry.com. Web. 7 Dec. 2014.

http://www.ancestry.com."Third US Army." Third US Army. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.

http://www.unithistories.com/units/3rd/us/army.asp.

Web. 11 Dec. 2014. http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=10353 

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