John Kahler
World War I
The story of John Kahler has always intrigued me, ever since I found a story in a 1931 issue of the Osmond Republican. The story read, “After an absence of many weeks during which time his relatives have been in ignorance of his whereabouts, John Kahler, world war veteran, has been located at Dakota City where he has been for a few days with his brother Will.”
But let’s go back to the beginning of his story.
John was born March 18, 1892, at Osmond to Henry and Ernestina Kahler.
He grew up on the family farm northwest of Osmond, one of 15 children (two dying in infancy). In the 1910 census, when he was 18 years old, I found him living with the William Schroeder family northwest of Osmond and working as a hired man.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find any records that told where he served. All I found was his registration card, which he signed June 5, 1917, when he was 24 years old. By the time he would have been discharged at the end of the war, he would have been about 26 years old.
Wherever he was stationed, or wherever he fought, it obviously had a horrific effect on him. The article I quoted above seems to show that he was having a hard time coping with life. That article, which says he was with his brother for a few days, also states that he was going to return to Wisner where he was living with another brother, Harry. He was about 37 years old at that time.
A later article, printed in 1949, says that his brother Henry and wife were planning a trip to Fort Knox, IA, where John — at 56 years of age now — was a patient at the Veteran’s Home and where an open house was being observed for the patients. It states that John was a victim of shell shock from World War I.
According to the American Psychological Association, “shell shock” — a term coined by the soldiers themselves — included fatigue, tremor, confusion, nightmares and impaired sight and hearing. Because many of the symptoms were physical, it bore little overt resemblance to the modern diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, the article stated.
According to his obituary, John lived in Iowa, Florida, South Dakota and Nebraska after the war. He had lived with the Charles Shroyers in Iowa for many years, and that is where he died on July 21, 1976, at the age of 84.
John was buried in Eden Valley Cemetery with his parents. He had never married.
