Goodwin Luverne Wraalstad, was only a child when he moved with his family to the St. Charles area in the later 1920's. According to the 1930 Federal Census, he was born May 17th, 1920 in Courtnay, North Dakota. He attended St. Charles High School and was very active in the Future Farmers of America (FFA). The Winona Republican-Hearald archives show he was on various committees and holding office as well. Doing research on Goodwin, I strongly feel that because of his active involvement in the FFA, he developed the necessary leadership skills needed for his time of service for our country. The archives show the St. Charles FFA chapter hosted the Southeastern Minnesota district FFA summer camp at Whitewater State Park June 8th - 10th in 1940 with Goodwin taking a very active role. He attended St. Charles high school for 3 years then enrolled in the National Youth Administration (NYA) school in Winona.
According to his military records, Goodwin was drafted and entered the US Army on April 9th, 1942. He did his training as a rifleman at Camp Roberts in California and then was assigned to the 17th Infantry Regiment of the 7th Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Washington. In October of 1942 he found himself in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. His regiment landed on Attu Island on May 11th, 1943 and spearheaded the assault to take back the islands. The division destroyed all Japanese resistance on the island by the 29th of May when the Japanese chose to do a suicidal bayonet charge. The Division advanced on Kiska Island, only to find that the Japanese had abandoned the island the night prior to the amphibious landing on July 28th undetected because of the dense fog. For his actions on Attu Island, Private First Class Wraalstad received a Commendation.
From the Aleutian Islands, PFC Wraalstad and his division moved to Hawaii. Where, according to the Winona Republican-Hearald archives, he was able to meet up with his brother at Pearl Harbor. His brother Cecil was in the Marine Corps and this was the first time the brothers had met in two years. The records show that PFC Wraalstad received advanced training in amphibious assault techniques. With this new training, his division was then reassigned to V Amphibious Corps, a Marine Corps command.
On January 30th, 1944, the division began an offensive on the Marshall Islands. Within 2 days, the division advanced halfway through the main island (Marshall). by afternoon, on the 4th of February, the island was secured. By the end of February, all islands of the atoll were secure and the division headed back to Hawaii for more training. Because of the speed and success of the Marshall Islands Campaign, the advance towards Japan was several months ahead of schedule. And in June, the division was personally reviewed by General MacArthur and President Roosevelt.
The division moved on to retake the Philippine Islands on October 11th, 1944. They made an assault landing at Leyte on October 20th. From Leyte they advanced north where they encountered intense jungle warfare, which caused a high casualty rate. The 7th Division's attack was successful in allowing the 11th Airborne Division to advance, however, Japanese forces proved difficult to drive out of this dense jungle area. Operations to secure Leyte continued until early February 1945. Afterward the division continued training for an advance on Okinawa.
The Battle of Okinawa began April 1st, 1945. Sergeant Wraalstad, by this time was a platoon sergeant. Once again, the 7th Infantry spearheaded the assault which allowed 250,000 troops to land ashore. Within the first day they had moved from the east to the west side of the island taking Kadena, from there they moved south to the hills of southern Okinawa where the Japanese fought using hidden caves, snipers, artillery and small gorilla assault units. After 51 days of fighting the Japanese were defeated. Sgt. Wraalstad, however, did not survive to see the victory, he was killed in action on April 30th.
Sgt Goodwin L Wraalstad was awarded posthumously the Bronze Star for heroic achievement. His citation read, "On April 30th 1945, while an infantry unit was situated on the forward slope of a hill whose reverse slope was occupied by well-entrenched enemy troops. Sgt. Wraalstad voluntarily left his covered position and crawled to the top of the hill to observe enemy disposition. Although two attempts to drive him from his position were made by the enemy, Sgt Wraalstad steadfastly retained his observation post, and by aggressive use of rifle fire and hand grenades he succeeded in repelling the Japanese attacks. During this action, Sgt. Wraalstad was mortally wounded. His display of outstanding initiative and utmost courage remained as a source of inspiration to all who witnessed his actions."
Sgt. Wraalstad's body was returned to his hometown of St. Charles in March of 1949 and was laid to rest in Hillside Cemetery with full military honors.