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FIRST LIEUTENANT PETER C.J.
VAN GEMERT was born in Maple Shade NJ. He was a junior at Moorestown
High School in Moorestown NJ when he enlisted in the United States Army
in 1937. His mother Evelyn moved to 2924 Federal
Street, Camden NJ
shortly afterward. In
1939, while an enlisted man, Peter Van Gemert served on the honor Guard
for Queen Elizabeth of England during her visit to the New York World's
Fair. He was sent to Hawaii in August of 1940, he was serving as a
Corporal at Schofield Barracks when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor
on December 7, 1941. In the Spring of 1942 he was sent to Officers
Training School at Fort Benning GA, where he was commissioned as a
Second Lieutenant. He was later stationed at Camp Claiborne LA, where he
married Mae Digby. Second
Lieutenant Van Gemert was killed in Italy in
action near the Mussolini Canal - Cisterna River area of the Anzio
Beachhead, On May 6, 1944. He was survived by his wife, Mae Digby Van
Gemert, mother Evelyn Van Gemert, two brothers, Charles and
George, and an aunt, Mrs. Cornelia Rogers, his father, and a
half-sister, Elise. |
