Army Private Dale
(Morris) Chrans
Reliance, Lyman County,
South Dakota
Killed in action in
Germany
Dale (Morris) Chrans was born October
24, 1924, in Reliance, South
Dakota. He was the 12th of 15 children born
to Alfred Theodore Chrans
and Jenna Chrans.
His father was a cattle
rancher for
many years, but lost all
his money, his home, and his
belongings when the Great Depression
hit in 1931. He was running
cattle from Texas to South Dakota
when the stock market 'crashed
and the family lost everything. From
then on, they were tenant
farmers in the Reliance area near Chamberlain.
Dale
was a gentle and kind boy who
enlisted to fight in World War II.
He was stationed in southern Fort Hahn
in Southern California and then
went back to South Dakota to join
his unit. Shortly after returning to
South Dakota, he came down with appendicitis
and had to be hospitalized
to have his appendix removed.
When he recovered from the
surgery, his unit had already been shipped to Europe
so he was placed in the
186th Infantry and sent to
England. He landed in England December l, 1944. From England he
traveled to France and then near Germany.
His commander asked for volunteers
to scout and find the location
of the Germans. Five men volunteered,
but none came back. He died
December 13, 1944 and was
buried in Black Forest of Germany.
His
mother had his body brought
back to the United States in 1952,
and he is buried in the National
Cemetery between Sturgis and
Tilford South Dakota.
Layne Ness, a junior at Lyman High School in Presho
respectfully submitted this
entry on March 6, 2001.
Bonnie Tasch, niece of
Pvt. Chrans, contributed information for this entry.