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 1920 - 2001 (81 years)
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| Name |
Howard Gilbertson |
| Title |
Sgt |
| Birth |
15 Feb 1920 |
515 Forest Street, Eau Claire, Wisconsin  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Census |
1930 |
Eau Claire, Eau Claire County, Wisconsin |
| Census |
1940 |
505 Forest Street, Eau Claire, Eau Claire County, Wisconsin |
| Death |
26 Apr 2001 |
| Person ID |
I32896 |
All |
| Last Modified |
27 Aug 2012 |
| Father |
Jorgen "George" Gilbertson, b. 29 Oct 1867, Modum parish, Buskerud county, Norway d. 05 Oct 1942, 515 Forest Street, Eau Claire, Eau Claire County, Wisconsin (Age 74 years) |
| Mother |
Johanna Caroline Olson, b. 14 Dec 1879, Eau Claire County, Wisconsin d. 18 Jun 1961, 515 Forest Street, Eau Claire, Wisconsin (Age 81 years) |
| Marriage |
22 Jan 1896 |
Eau Claire County, Wisconsin |
| Notes |
Married:
- Marriage Record, Eau Claire, Eau Claire, WI, Volume 5, Page 126, Number 11
Husband: Georg Gilbertson, born Norway
Father: Gulbrand Madsen
Mother: Eliabet Jakobsen
Occupation: Laborer
Residence: Eau Claire
Wife: Johanne Karoline Olsen, born Eau Claire, WI
Father: Harold Olson
Mother: Berthe Olson
Residence: Eau Claire, WI
Witnessess: Lovise (?) Nelson, Anna Olsen
Ceremony: Lutheran by Past. Peder Tangjerd (Pastor at First Lutheran Church, Eau Claire)
Date of Marriage: 22 Jan 1896
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| Family ID |
F0448 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| Notes |
- http://www.chippewavalleyww2.org/Veterans/G/Gi/GilbertsonHowardM/GilbertsonHowardM.htm
Howard M. Gilbertson
'Hot,' Sergeant Says of Invasion of Leyte Island
WITH THE 24TH INFANTRY (VICTORY) DIVISION IN THE PHILIPPINES?Sergeant Howard M. Gilbertson of Eau Claire is not strictly a combat soldier, but he would have traded his job in a signal unit of the 24th Division for a rifle and deep front line foxhole on numerous occasions in the invasion of Leyte Island.
As sergeant in a wire section, Gilbertson worked along the front lines in the thick of battle much of the time, stringing telephone wires from a central control point to the combat units.
"Things were hot from the start," he said. "Coming ashore, our landing craft was the target for artillery shells, which landed all around us. On the beach, we met mortar and machine gun fire. It was the same a few hundred feet inland, except that sniper fire was added. In the dime-sized beachhead, we met most of the hot stuff.
"After that, it was snipers. They shot at us as we strung wire at the front, along the roads, and in the woods. The coconut trees seemed to have more snipers in them than there were Japs on the ground.
"Most of our work was in exposed positions. We expected, at any time, to climb a tree to string wire and find ourselves alongside one of the snipers.
"The bivouac area was hot with sniper fire also but, there, we had foxholes to dive into when bullets started coming too close. Those Japs shot at you while you were eating, washing, shaving, and dressing. Luckily, their aim was bad, for they never seemed to hit anyone. On the road, however, they made a portable foxhole a highly desirable thing for, there, our only protection was a tree or a ditch along the road.
Gilbertson is the son of Mrs. George Gilbertson of 515 Forest Street, Eau Claire.
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