134th Infantry Regiment Website "All Hell Can't Stop Us"

S/Sgt  Elmer J Wachtler

134th Infantry Regiment - Company K

Elmer John Wachtler, son of George and Mary Elizabeth (Schmidt) Wachtler, was born July 16, 1918 in Omaha, Nebraska. He married Mary May Hoover March 30, 1940. The couple had one child, a son James Bruce, born April 8, 1942. He registered for the draft October 16, 1940. At that time he was working as a truck driver at Kocher Brothers Grocery Company. He was inducted into the Army March 13, 1944 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Prior to his induction he was a pitcher with the Saint Louis Cardinals baseball team.

He joined Company K, 134th Infantry Regiment as a Rifleman from the 38th Replacement Battalion on September 21, 1944. He was promoted to Sergeant, Squad Leader, on November 21 and again promoted to Staff Sergeant December 2, 1944. Originally reported missing, it was later confirmed that he was killed in action January 5, 1945 in Lutrebois, Belgium when the building he was in suffered a direct hit by artillery fire. S/Sgt Elmer J Wachtler is buried at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, Plombieres, Belgium.

	Lyons Mirror-Sun, Lyons, Nebraska - February 1, 1945	Lyons Mirror-Sun, Lyons, Nebraska - April 5, 1945
Burt County Herald, Tekamah, Nebraska - October 16, 1941