Lush and green or prickly and purple – Washington people LOVE their plants. Rosedale native Greg Spadoni and the kids work to identify the peninsula’s diverse array of big leaf maple, Douglas fir, wild huckleberry and more at Sehmel Homestead Park with a captivating game of Gig Harbor Nature Bingo! Follow along and download your own free Bingo card here.
Spraygrounds – the delightfully named water-fun cousin of playgrounds – are officially back on ’till Labor Day and we’re here to tell you all about them.
Merriam-Webster defines human connection as the state of being linked to another person or people through kinship or common interest. For me, human connection is the reason behind most of my writing.
One thing I’ve always said about my motivations for tracking down the names, dates, correct spellings, missing incident reports and the essential stories behind who these guys were is because I felt it was important to get the lives of these young men in front of people again. To put their stories, acts and sacrifices on the modern day record and not stuffed away in a printed-paper archive somewhere. And, with any luck, perhaps even attract the attention of their descendants who, in all likelihood, never found out the specifics of how their dad’s brother or their grandmother’s cousin fought and died in WWII.
Pvt. John Swensen was born April 13, 1923 in Gig Harbor to Norwegian parents Albert and Hilma (Maurseth) Swensen. In the 1930 U.S. Census, he had four siblings: Ragna, Grette, Harold and Alfred “Alf” Swensen.
Pfc. Robert “Bob” Henery Niemann was born Dec. 31, 1924, in Tacoma to Caroline “Biddy” (Hansen) Niemann and Herman Niemann Sr. of Vaughn.
Pfc. George Victor Nelson was born June 21, 1922, in Hillhead, South Dakota, to Kerstin “Jessie” (Hanson) Nelson and Nikolai A. Nelson. In the 1930 U.S. Census, George Nelson had three siblings: Norman, Luella and Gladys Nelson. The family moved from the Midwest to Bremerton in the late 1930s; and then south to Gig Harbor in 1940.
Pvt. Herman “Hap” Cecil Niemann was born Jan. 18, 1924, in Tacoma, to Caroline “Biddy” (Hansen) Niemann and Herman Niemann Sr.
Douglas Warren Mortensen was born May 22, 1924 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Frances (Goulet) Mortensen and George Richard Mortensen.
First Lt. Harold Elmer Mitts was born July 23, 1915 in Capron, Oklahoma, to Bessie B. (Roberson) Mitts and Olie E. Mitts.
Pfc. Sylvester Martin Metzinger was born April 23, 1918 in Mitchell, South Dakota, to Celina (Vande Voorde) Metzinger and John J. Metzinger. His family moved to Letcher, South Dakota, after his father died in May 1925, and Metzinger attended school there. In the 1920 U.S. Census, he had three sisters: Marie, Loretta and Anna Metzinger.
