Recently the granddaughters of SGT Earl Abbott Wiedman looked through a box filled with his yellowed and brittle military documents, and they wondered:
Where are are all of Earl’s medals?
So, as you might imagine, they were very surprised and delighted when they received a call from us shortly thereafter.
.
SGT Earl Abbott Wiedman was born on 12 June 1898 in Joliet, Will County, Illinois.
He served in WW1 and was wounded June 22, 1918 in Belleau Wood for which he was awarded the Purple Heart.
Earl was also awarded the Silver Star and cited for bravery in action in 2nd Division Order #44: ‘for carrying messages through shell and machine gun fire on many occasions from June 6th to 12th, 1918. This near Chateau Thierry’.
Another document states: ‘Served with the American Expeditionary Forces ashore in France from 27 June 1917 to 5 July 1919. Participated in active operations against the enemy in Toulon Sector from 18 March to 13 May, Aisne Operation from 1 to 5 June, Chateau Thierry Sector (Belleau Wood) from 6 June to 22 June.’
Further remarks: ‘Service honest and faithful.’
Earl would go on to serve for one year in WW2 and was honorably discharged in 1943.
According to his granddaughter Celia, Earl struggled through life with what she believes would now be considered PTSD. She and her sister Jennifer are devoted to learning the details of his war so that they can understand him more completely, and have spent considerable time reading through his collection of documents and conducting further research on what they have found.
Celia shared a comment with us: ‘Earl struggled to rehabilitate in life, but you folks have helped completely rehabilitate him in death.’
Of course, a Veteran also needs his family to come home to.
We think Celia and her sister Jennifer are proverbial chips off the old block with their own version of ‘service honest and faithful’, to their grandfather, SGT Earl Abbott Wiedman.
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