Death in Tunisia:  South Dakota Troops on March 31, 1943

by Duke Doering

     When Company A, 109th Engineer Battalion, Madison, SD, was called to active federal service on February 10, 1941 it had a strength off three officers and 94 enlisted men.  When World War II ended this unit had seen its share of tragedy.  Eight men of the unit were killed and one died in an accident. 12 men were wounded and two were taken prisoner of war.

     Certainly one of the worst single tragedies for the South Dakota National Guard troops in World War II occurred near Hadjeb-el-Aioun in Tunisia, North Africa.  Here is the quote from the chronicle of the 109th Engineer Battalion [photo right]. “Company A, had a platoon laying minefields in the Wadi Qued Zeroud.  About noon, a tremendous explosion was heard and a great pillar of smoke mushroomed into the sky.  It sounded like a mine, but appeared to be too far away.  Sometime later we learned the terrible truth.

     “One of our trucks with a load of 450 mines [photo top, Landmine German Teller 43] had blown up and an entire squad of 12 men from Company A was lost.  The members of the squad were Sergeant Wayne Satre, Corporal Robert Christensen, T/5 Roger Loesch, PFC Leland Ortmayer and eight soldiers that had transferred in as fillers. The cause of the explosion is unknown but it is known that the truck was standing still and that the neutralized mines were being unloaded.”  

     SOUTH DAKOTA IN WORLD WAR II, South Dakota WW II Commission, pg. 140