World War I
John K. Theisen was one of three John Theisens: His father was John Sr., and his brother Casper had a son, John P., also known as “Babe.”
John K. was one of 11 children born to John and Anna Theisen. There were five girls and six boys, although one son, Peter, died at the young age of 15 or 16.
John was born on a farm near West Point in 1894 and moved to Osmond with his family when he was 9 years old.
John was the first young man to be
drafted from Pierce County for World War I, on Sept. 5, 1917. He served as a wagoner with Supply Company 355 Infantry, 89th Division. According to the information I found, a wagoner drove horse wagons with supplies of food, fodder and ammunition for the front line. To begin with they were stationed behind front lines but as war dragged on they were deployed to front line units.
In doing research on his family, I found that Keith Theisen is his grandson. Keith’s father was Darrel, John’s son. So I contacted Keith and Vicky Theisen to see if they had a picture of him, particularly one of him in his uniform.
There is a picture of John in the centennial book (Page 170), wearing his uniform and standing on a bridge near Osmond. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work well to scan a picture in a printed publication.
Recently, the Theisens found the picture of John and Alice on their wedding day, and he is wearing his uniform, so Vicky brought it to me to scan (see below). That same afternoon, I went home and happened to look on his Find A Grave page and noticed there were several pictures attached to the page. When I scrolled through, I found a picture of him in his uniform (above)! It is not the same one that is in the centennial book, but looks like it was taken in Europe. According to the information with that picture, it said he fought at Lucey, St. Mihiel and Meuse Argonne (France). There was a booklet called “History and Roster of the 355th Infantry, 89th Division,” published by the Society of the 355th Infantry, organized in Saarburg, Germany, in May of 1919, right before they returned to the United States. It gives a lot of information about the history of his unit, including information about the battles they were in. It also lists those who were killed, wounded or gassed. I have printed out several pages of the booklet if anyone is interested in reading it.
I found two passenger lists with John’s name: He was on the Baltic, headed to Europe in June 1918, and was on the Leviathon leaving from Brest, France, and headed to the United States in May 1919. John was discharged June 2, 1919, at Camp Funston, KS.
On June 17, 1919, John married Alice McCauley. After their marriage, the couple farmed near Pierce, then moved to a farm near Osmond in 1928 – although according to his obituary, it says he first went into road construction and moved back to the farm in 1935. The 1930 census does say that his occupation was road graveling, and on the 1940 census, he is farming.
They had two children, Bonnie and Darrel, who both served in the U.S. Army. John retired from farming in June of 1964 because of failing health – he had Parkinsons according to Keith and Vicky – and he moved into Osmond. He was taken by ambulance to the Veterans Hospital in Omaha in January of 1965, and died there on Feb. 4.
Funeral services were held at St. Mary’s Catholic Church here, and he was given a military burial in St. Mary’s cemetery.
