During World War II, the 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division of the U.S. Army was stationed at Fort Devens and departed for England in August of 1942. They joined Operation Torch and invaded North Africa. They fought in Tunisia beginning in November of 1942.

They landed in Sicily on July 10, 1943. They fought in heavily defended areas against the Germans until August when the Sicily campaign ended.

They returned to England and were at Dorchester beginning in October of 1943 for additional training. They landed at Omaha Beach with the Normandy invasion for D-Day on June 6, 1944. They fought in France in July. In August, they fought in Belgium for three months in the Hurtgen Forest. From December through February of 1945, they fought in the Battle of the Bugle. They captured Bonn in March of 1945 and then moved on to the Harz Mountains. They joined the Third Army, moving into Czechoslovakia when the war ended in Europe on May 8, 1945.

Green County soldier Otto A. Kuenzi served with the 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division of the U.S. Army.

Otto Alfred Kuenzi was born September 19, 1921 in Monroe to Ernst and Klara (Friedli) Kuenzi.

From the 1930 and 1940 U.S. Census, the Kuenzi family lived in New Glarus Township in Green County. The household included father “Earnest,” mother “Clara,” and children William (Willie), Otto, Dora, Matilda (Tilly), Wilbert, Reinhardt (Hardy), Bernice, Lawrence, Betty, Rose, and Werner. Father Earnest was a laborer at a condensed milk factory.

On April 12, 1941, Otto Kuenzi married Hazel Jeannette Nall in Green County.

Otto A. Kuenzi enlisted for service as a Private with the U.S. Army on November 16, 1942 in Milwaukee. He had one year of high school and was married. His civilian occupation was “packing, filling, labeling, marking, bottling, and related occupations.”

From the September 25, 1944 Wisconsin State Journal article titled, “Kuenzi, New Glarus, Killed in Belgium,” the news from New Glarus was that “Pvt. Otto Kuenzi, 23, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Kuenzi, New Glarus, was killed in action in Belgium Sept. 1 (sic), his wife, who lives in Argyle was informed by the war department last weekend.

He entered service Nov. 30, 1942, and saw action in Africa, Italy, and France. He was employed by the Pet Milk Co. at New Glarus when inducted…

Survivors include his parents, his wife, the former Hazel Nall, Argyle, five brothers, Sgt. William, in Panama, and Hardy, Wilbert, Robert and Werner, all of New Glarus, five sisters, Tillie, Detroit, and Dorothy, Bernice, Betty and Rose Marie, all at home.”

From the February 8, 1945 Monroe Evening Times article titled “Pfc. Otto Kuenzi Is Awarded Bronze Star,” the article stated “Pfc. Otto A. Kuenzi, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Kuenzi, New Glarus, has been awarded the Bronze Star medal for heroic and meritorious service according to a government release received by The Times today...”

According to the U.S. Headstone & Internment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, Sergeant Otto A. Kuenzi died September 4, 1944. He received the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster. {Note: He received the rank of Sergeant and his awards posthumously.}

Sergeant Kuenzi was buried in the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial in Henri-Chapelle, Arrondissement de Verviers, Liege, Belgium. The 57-acre cemetery burial ground rests on a site liberated by the First Division just eight days after Kuenzi lost his life.

Thank you, Sergeant Otto Arthur Kuenzi, for your service to and ultimate sacrifice for this country. We honor you and remember you.