Larry J. Sperling, World War II CasualtyPorter County Data on World War II Casualties . . . .

Larry J. Sperling
Sergeant, 513th Parachute Infantry, 17th Airborne
Date of Birth: 1918
Date of Death: January 7, 1945
Burial: Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial (Plot I, Row 11, Grave 5), Hamm, Luxembourg
Cause of Death: Killed in Action (Belgium)
Date of Enlistment: July 12, 1943
Awards: Purple Heart
Hometown: Valparaiso

Newspaper Notices:
 
John M'Bride, 2 Others Die In War Action

Two former Valparaiso men today were reported to have been killed in action on the western front, according to War Department telegrams.

Today's reports also brought word of the death of a Chesterton man in the Asiatic area.

Mr. and Mrs. John McBride, Sr., of 308 College avenue, received word Monday noon that their son, Tech. 5 John T. McBride, Jr., was killed in action on January 24, 1945, in France, while fighting with the U. S. Seventh Army.

Born in Chicago on May 19, 1915, the dead soldier was reared in Valparaiso where he attended the city schools and was graduated from the Valparaiso high school in 1934. While in school hew was a star basketball and football player.

At the time he was indicated into the service on April 21, 1943, he was employed as a shipping clerk in the plant of the United Steel and Wire company at Battle Creek, Mich. He was a member of the famous Grand Trunks team of that city.

He received his training at Camp Croft, S. C., and then was sent to Camp Blanding, Fla. He went overseas in September, 1944. He was a member of the Valparaiso Lodge, 500, B. P. O. Elks.

Surviving besides his parents is a brother, Daniel Wood, of Battle Creek, Mich.

Larry Sperling, 25. formerly of Valparaiso, member of a paratrooper outfit, was killed in Belgium on January 7 last, according to word received by Atty. James Chester, a close friend.

Sperling was a son of Mrs. Charles Kenyon of Tampa, Fla., who operated the Court hotel in Valparaiso. The hotel located in the Merchant's hotel block was destroyed by fire in 1927.

A war department release from Washington today discloses the death in the Asiatic area of 2nd Lieut. Carl F. Klett, husband of Mrs. Vivian Klett, of Chesterton. Lieut. Klett was killed November 25, 1944. He was a member of the U. S. Air Corps pilot combat cargo group and was killed in Burma, India, when his plane crashed as he was making a landing to deliver a cargo. He suffered a fractured skull. However, he saved one of his crew members.

Twenty-eight years old, Lieut. Klett had been in the service two years last September. Besides his widow he leaves his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Fritz Klett, of Fort Worth, Texas; two sisters, Mrs. Andrew Fernandez, of Gary, and Anna Maria, at home, and one brother, William Klett, of Austin, Texas.
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Source: The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; February 13, 1945; Volume 18, Page 1, Column 2


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Information abstracted and transcribed by Steven R. Shook

 

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