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Cpl. Herman Erks
Company G 3rd Pioneer Infantry
October 27,1899 - August 21, 1971
Herman Erks
Herman (Henry) Erks was born October 27, 1899 to parents Herman and Anna (Licher) Erks who resided in Plymouth County, Iowa. He joined siblings George, Heinrich and John (per 1900 Census record). By the 1920 Census for Pipestone, Minnesota, the Erks family had grown to have 11 boys and and 2 girls.
Herman registered with the draft on September 12, 1918 - noted as being tall, slender with grey eyes and light brown hair. By March of 1919, he had joined the Company G 3rd Pioneer Infantry. He gained the rank of Corporal during his time in the Army.
After the war, he married Anna Marquardt on July 3, 1922 and they lived in the Aurora, South Dakota area and they raised 3 children (daughters Vivian and Mabel, son Bobbie). Herman was a farmer and at times a mechanic. On his death the 21st of August, 1971, he was buried in Fairview Cemetery, White, SD.
Company G 3rd Pioneer Infantry
The 3rd Pioneer was formed from a cadre of the 3rd Massachusetts Infantry, and bulked up at Camp Wadsworth South Carolina with recent arrivals from Minnesota in the summer of 1918. They arrived in France in September, and managed ammunition depots for the 1st Army until the armistice. Then they were responsible for disposing of German ammunition dumps. They returned to the states mid-1919. There were also numerous 3rd Pioneer detachments which also pulled guard duty at depots and railways during the early part of 1919.
https://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/366033-3rd-pioneer-infantry/
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