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102-year-old veteran celebrates birthday with parade through Beaver Dam

WiscNews - 5/10/2021

May 10—A Beaver Dam resident marked a major milestone Friday with a gun salute and a parade past his home.

Ervin Hammer turned 102 and was joined by family and other residents of the Hillside Manor nursing home to watch a procession of police cars, fire trucks and other people in vehicles that started at Jefferson School. There was also a 21-gun salute with members of the local Legion. Hammer served in the Army during World War II.

"He deserves some recognition, especially with the year that they've had," said Brenda Gubbels of Hillside Manor.

Ervin was married to Virginia for over 60 years, and they had one son Terry and daughter-in-law Kathy. He was inducted into the Army on Dec. 31, 1943 and trained at Ft. Sheridan in Illinois. He trained to be a rifleman and ranked expert with the carbine. Ervin shipped out to Europe in 1944, where he infiltrated enemy lines.

Pfc. Hammer was wounded in the arm and leg in Hürtgen Forest in 1944 after being ambushed by German troops. Many soldiers were wounded or killed. He was hospitalized in England and was later injured in the neck during the Battle of the Bulge. Ervin returned home in Dec. 1945 and was honorably discharged on Jan. 2, 1946. He received a Purple Heart, multiple oak leaf clusters and other honors for his military service.

His son Terry was born around the time he was shipped out.

"Before Dad went into the service, he worked different jobs, at a feed mill, and did a lot of work driving pickup trucks and making deliveries," his daughter-in-law Kathy said. "He went on to be a semitruck driver for 40 years."

Ervin received several honors for safe driving during his career and ultimately received an award for driving 2 million miles without an accident.

"That was a good portion of his life, and he really enjoyed that," Kathy said. "That's back before the technology, when they would have CB radios, and they could talk back and forth."

After Ervin retired, be bartended part-time at Voelker's, and many people will come to Hillside Manor and recognize him from his time there. He also participated in an Honor Flight to visit memorials in Washington, DC in 2010. Kelly McMillan, who has coordinated area Honor Flights, was instrumental in getting the parade put together.

"He loves people. He loves being a part of everything. He still plays bingo. He plays Farkle," Gubbels said. "He loves sing-a-longs. He's still very active that way. He attends church. He's Catholic, but he loves all the churches."

Ervin and Virginia lived in a big house on South Center Street for decades. Ervin enjoyed gardening, polka dancing, tinkering in the garage and was proud to drive Park Avenue Buicks. Ervin and Virginia would travel down to Florida for the winter months, where he enjoyed golfing.

Ervin had Covid-19 around Christmas and recovered. He is now vaccinated.

Follow Chris Higgins on Twitter @chris_higgins_ or contact him at 920-356-6751 and chiggins@wiscnews.com.

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