Killed during the liberation of Cantaing-sur-Escaut by German machine gun fire while he was protecting the child Gustave Coquet in front of the Coquet home at 6, Grand Rue. The village held services for Bergman in the town church and temporarily buried him in the WWI British Hill Cemetery. He was repatriated for burial in his home state of Iowa in 1948.
From Find a Grave:
T. M. Bergman of Buck Grove, south of Aplington, was notified by the war department Monday that his son, Cpl. Johannes J. Bergman, 30, was killed in action in France, Sept. 2. He was a member of a mechanized cavalry unit and had been in France since several weeks after D-day. He left this country for overseas service early this year. Corporal Bergman was inducted into the service Mar. 5, 1941. He received his basic training at Camp Bowie, Tex., where he was stationed for a year and eight months before being transferred to Camp Hood, Tex. During his first year of service he was a member of the horse cavalry unit which was later mechanized. He also received training at Camp Livingston, La. Johannes was born at Buck Grove, Mar. 15, 1914.