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Obituaries courtesy of News-Banner publications, posted with permission.
Bluffton News-Banner, Monday, April 18, 1949
The body of Pfc. Merle C. Dick, who was killed in action in Germany on Feb. 23, 1945, will
arrive at Decatur at 10:10 p.m. Tuesday and will be escorted to the home of the parents
Mr. and Mrs. Carl C. Dick, 903 North Tenth street, Decatur, where it will remain until
time for services.
Funeral services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Thoma funeral home here, with
Rev. Harold Welty, pastor of the Decatur Missionary church, officiating. Burial will be in
the Fairview cemetery.
Members of Grover Sheets Post 111, American Legion, will conduct military rites.
Pfc. Dick was born in Bluffton on May 5, 1921, a son of Carl and Lucy Akers Dick. He was
graduated in 1941 from the Lancaster Central high school and enlisted in the army on Dec.
19, 1942.
The soldier was a member of the weapon platoon, company E, 301st infantry. On Feb. 23,
1945, after his outfit successfully completed an attack on Tabeh, Germany, Pfc. Dick was
killed instantly by fragments of an enemy artillery shell. His body was buried in an
American cemetery at Duchy in Luxenburg.
Surviving in addition to the parents are a brother, Clarence Vernon Dick, of Decatur, and
three sisters, Mrs. Peggy Lou Need, Fort Wayne, Mrs. Betty Ann Fox, of Decatur, and Nina
Jane Dick, at home.