Obituary - March 1986 - Norfolk Daily News
Services for Earl R. Bentz, 62, Sioux Falls, S.D., formerly of Norfolk, will be Monday at 2 p.m. at the Home for Funerals in Norfolk. The Rev. Martin Russert, pastor of Grace Lutheran, will officiate, and burial will be in Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery with military rites by VFW Post 1644 and American Legion Post 16. Visitations are Sunday from 3 to 9 p.m. at the Home for Funerals. Bentz died Thursday at a Sioux Falls hospital. He was born Oct. 16, 1923, at Norfolk to the late Herman and Lizzie Wagner Bentz. He was a 1941 graduate of Norfolk High School and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II from March 3, 1943, to March 6, 1946. He was a radioman in the South Pacific much of that time. Later he was employed by the Chicago and North Western Railroad and as an interior decorator with his brother-in-law Bill McGinty. He had lived in Sioux Falls the past 17 years and was employed there as a salesman for Frito-Lay and later for West Sioux Hardware Co. He was a past commander of Winter-Munson VFW Post 1644 in Norfolk. He married Dorothy M. Unger on Nov. 17, 1947, at Norfolk. He was preceded in death by two brothers and four sisters. He was called to active duty on 3 March, 1943. He took basic training at Farragut, Idaho and trained as a radioman at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. From there he went to Port Heuneme, California and joined a newly formed Argus 24 unit (radar, mobile) as a radioman. This amphibious unit was designed to detect incoming bombers and sent out fighter planes to intercept. Later, after three months training in the Mojave desert, the unit was sent to New Caledonia, New Guinea and finally to the Admiralty islands. Earl was transferred to Findehafen, New Guinea for re-assignment to a ship in the 7th fleet, but instead was assigned to the position of Radio Supervisor at COMSERV7FLT, Brisbane, Australia. Here he had the honor of sending the message to the Task Force 57 to "Cease hostilities" due to the Japanese surrender. He was discharged 3 February, 1946 with the rank of R/M 2C. He retired in 1981 after suffering a broken hip and cracked femur while working. He also contracted bone and prostate cancer. He died 13 March, 1986 in a hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He was buried 16 March, 1986 in Hillcrest cemetery, Norfolk, Nebraska.