Erhart Ziemann

Erhart Ziemann was born on a farm near Hazen, North Dakota, on March 6, 1926, and was attending Hazen High School when the United States entered World War II. His older brother, Eddie, enlisted in the U.S. Navy and Erhart was eager to follow him into the military. In his senior year of high school, Erhart learned that he was to be drafted into the U.S. Army, rather than his beloved Marines. He enlisted instead on April 28, 1944, in order to join the Marines. He trained at Fort Pendleton in California, where he distinguished himself as an excellent rifle marksman. He was deployed to Hawaii on December 26, 1944, where he joined the Fourth Division. Ziemann was highly decorated for his service in the first wave of the Battle of Iwo Jima, where he was wounded. He was honorably discharged on May 17, 1945. He married Lucille Reinhardt on May 30, 1948. He and Lucille had four children: Cindy, Gerald, Wes, and Tiffany. Ziemann’s daughter, Cindy Highley of Bismarck, North Dakota, donated four folders of materials to the Carleton Elliot Simensen Military Heritage Collection in July 2021 (2021-3444). The first folder contains information of Erhart Ziemann’s life and family history, his parents, enlistment, training, the Battle of Iwo Jima, news articles, photos of the family, and Erhart’s obituary, as well as his daughter’s efforts in assisting the creation of the World War II memorial. The second folder contains the letters of Erhart Ziemann to his family, from June 17, 1944, as he was en route to boot camp following his enlistment, until July 27, 1945, when he was discharged. The third folder contains materials regarding Ziemann’s military service, including his enlistment forms, his muster records, stories of his service written by his daughter, newspaper articles, and information on the medals he was awarded for valor. The fourth folder contains general information about World War II, the Pacific theater, the Battle of Iwo Jima, and the U.S. Marine Corps. Processed by Siri Ullery, Jacob Schweigert, and Jacob Siedschlag (students in History 240) in October 2021.