Henry Gerdts
Army
Ridge
Henry John Gerdts was born on July 29th
1919 in Ozone Park, New York. He was the son of Henry Otto Gerdts
and Maria Korn Gerdts. The family bought five acres of land in 1938
in Ridge and were living on Giant Oak Road when Henry entered the
service on Mar. 11, 1943 in the Army in New York City.
Gerdts trained at
Fort Dix, New Jersey for 3 months. He then traveled across the
Atlantic Ocean on the Queen Mary. He was stationed in England, and
arrived on Normandy the day after D-Day. He took part in the Battle
of the Bulge. Gerdts also served in North Africa and Sicily where he
contracted malaria. After the war ended he sailed for home on the
Francis Marion. He was discharged from Fort Dix on September 18,
1945.