Pottawattamie County

Pvt. Riley Gevo

 

BROTHERS MEET IN CITY

Furlough Here Worth a Million
Cpl. Nick Gevo Has Reunion With Brother

“A furlough in good old Council Bluffs is worth a million dollars, and brother, I mean it.”

That’s the opinion of Cpl. Nick Gevo, after 25 months overseas, most of it in the Mediterranean theater of war.

Cpl. Gevo placed the high valuation on the furlough because it gave him the first reunion in more than two and one-half years with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Gevo 2220 South Seventeenth street, and his wife Mildred, living with his parents. What made it more pleasant was that his brother, Pvt. Riley Gevo of Fort Ord, Calif., was also home on furlough.

Cpl. Gevo has seen plenty of action in the Mediterranean war zone. He went through the entire African invasion and later into the Italian campaign. He came home wearing the Purple Heart medal as a result of being wounded in the left shoulder and arm by a German hand grenade.

“We were going into battle on hill No. 609 in the African campaign. We spotted a German machine gunner. We started after him. I got up close and we saw each other about the same time. He threw a hand grenade and it wounded me. I went to the hospital for first aid and the next day I decided that that was no place for me and went back to the battle field,” Cpl. Gevo related.

Cpl. Gevo was with the local National Guard long before war was declared. He was with Headquarters company, 34th Division when it left Council Bluffs on Feb. 10, 1941 for [federal ?] service.

He and brother Riley are not the only ones from the family serving in Uncle Sam’s army. There are two step-brothers, Cpl. Lee Povich with the 34th division at present in southern Italy [illegible] fighter, and Cpl. Paul Povich at present stationed in Kentucky.

Riley left Wednesday to return to his camp and Nick is home on a 21-day leave. He’ll leave Friday for his new station.

Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Thursday, April 13, 1944, Page 9