Master Sergeant "Mike" Carl George Wuhrmann
Reflections on this veteran's military service
Submitted by Leslie Miller
Known as "Mike," George Carl Wuhrmann was serving in the U.S. Army Air Corp during WWII. In 1941, he was stationed in the Philippines when the Japanese invasion began. After three months of holding out against the Japanese, the fight for Bataan ended with the surrender of the U.S. and Filipino troops. Mike, along with approximately 75,000 others were taken as prisoners of war. Mike survived the Bataan Death March, the harsh and deadly 65-mile forced march to the prison camps. He would spend the next 3 years as a POW in Japanese labor camps.
When the war ended and the POW's were liberated, Mike was sent to Letterman Army Hospital in San Francisco. It was there that he would meet his future wife, Millie, a Lt. in the Army Nurses Corp. Mike and Millie were married in 1948. He would remain with the U.S. Air Force, and brought his young family to Alaska for a few years, before returning to Wisconsin. Mike had just been re-assigned to an Air Force Base in Newfoundland in 1958 when he became gravely ill. One of his wishes was for Millie to raise his daughters close to family. After his passing, Millie moved to Lakewood, purchasing the home next door to her sister, Neoma, and a short distance from her mother, Dora's home on Ashworth Street. Mike had a lasting impact on those he met. In spite of all he had been through, he is remembered as a wonderful husband and father and a person who loved to laugh. Mike's widow, Millie, chose Lakewood as the place to raise their daughters after his passing in 1958. Lakewood was already home to family members, including her sister and brother-in-law. The girls grew up as part of the Lakewood community, near family, just as he had wished. Lakewood CityTV featured Mike and Millie Wuhrmann in this video profile as part of the “Brick by Brick” series. (Posted 2016) |
Copyright © 2023 City of Lakewood, California