Funeral services for Richard Zimmerle, age 90 of Elgin, will be held at 10:30 a.m., Friday, December 19, 2008 at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Elgin with Pastor Jerry Lee, officiating. Burial will be in Zion Lutheran Cemetery with full military honors afforded by the George W. Snook American Legion Post #246 of Elgin.


Special music will be provided by Annette Roth and Marcy Haase.


Serving as casketbearers are Gerald Zittleman, Rod Eslinger, Lester Eslinger, Arlen Roth, Brian Roth, and Dennis Roth. All of Richard's nieces and nephews are considered Honorary Bearers.


Richard Zimmerle was born February 11, 1918 to John and Elizabeth (Zimbelman) Zimmerle on a farm near Carson, N.D. His father passed away when he was 4 yrs old. Later his mother married John Eslinger and they moved to a farm north of New Leipzig.

Richard attended school till the 7th grade and then worked on the farm till he was 16. He then worked on many farms and ranches in the area. He joined the C.C.C. building dams in North Dakota. Richard left North Dakota to work on a ranch in Montana until he was drafted into the U.S. Army on October 9, 1941. He took his basic training at Camp Roberts, CA. When World War II broke out in 1941, he received orders to the South Pacific. He and 10,000 other soldiers left San Francisco Bay on the Ship Queen Mary. The trip took 19 days to Australia. From there he flew to Papua New Guinea with the 41st infantry. While there he was wounded and received two Purple Hearts. Richard was hospitalized back to Australia. Following his recovery he went by boat for the invasion of the Phillipines with Douglas McArthur. He was there for 2 years.


Returning to the states he was sent to Arizona, about 50 miles from Phoenix as a guard in a German prisoner of war camp, because he could speak German. Ten days after the war ended in 1945, he was discharged on August 28, 1945 and returned to Elgin. He got a job as a brick layer building the Lorenzen Memorial/Elgin Hospital and also worked on construction, building bridges and constructing Hwy 21.


In 1949, Richard married Adeline Roth in Elgin, where they made their home. In 1950, Richard got a job with Grant County as a maintainer operator where he worked until his retirement in 1980. Richard passed away on Monday, December 15, 2008 at his home in Elgin.


He was an avid gardener and active member in the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church. He was also very proud of 50 plus years of membership in the American Legion. In The Complete History of World War II book is a picture of Richard in New Guinea.


He is survived by two sisters, Ida Eslinger, Elgin, ND; Clara Edinger, Heil, ND; two half-sisters, Delores (George) Stevens, Seattle, WA; Luella Clevenger, Duncanville, TX; one half-brother, Delbert Eslinger, U.K., one step-sister, Vi Boknecht, Seattle, WA; and many nieces and nephews.


He was preceded in death by his wife Adeline on February 10, 2008, his parents, four brothers, one half brother, six step-brothers and two step-sisters.


A memorial has been established.

Visitation will be 1:00 to 7:00pm on Thursday at the Evanson-Jensen Funeral Home in Elgin.