Herman Manfred Axdahl was born on January 6, 1915, in Gaza, O'Brien County, Iowa. He was the son of Mandrus and Annie (Johnson) Axdahl. He was the husband of Sarah Fiddelke Axdahl. He attended school in Gaza, where he played on a trophy-winning basketball team, graduating in 1932. After completing airplane technical training in Omaha, Nebraska, he moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where he worked in an aircraft factory before being drafted into military service.

On January 22, 1942, he completed basic training at Fort Knox, where he later served as an instructor. Axdahl served in the United States Army with the 740th Tank Battalion in World War II. Known as the “Daredevil Tankers”, the 740th was a separate battalion that fought from Utah Beach all the way to the Baltic Sea in support of various divisions of the US war effort. While serving in the Rhineland campaign in Central Europe, he earned numerous honors and was honorably discharged on January 7, 1946.

In 1963, the family moved to a farm south of Sioux Rapids. Herman was actively involved in his community, serving on the school board, election board, as Lee Township clerk, on various church boards, with the Sioux Rapids Historical Society, the local American Legion post, and as an REA Director in O’Brien County. He died on October 23, 1994, and is now buried in the Lone Tree Cemetery, Sioux Rapids, Buena Vista County, Iowa, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com