Earl Otto Ganzow was born on September 11, 1924 in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin and attended local schools through the seventh grade. He married Marian Woltemate on March 9, 1943 before entering the service later that month. Their daughter, Ruth, was born in September 1943.
Ganzow received basic training at Camp Butner, North Carolina as part of Company F, 310th Infantry Regiment, 78th Division. In January 1944 he took part in the Tennessee Maneuvers as part of a Fence Repair Company. He went overseas to Europe in May and, as a member of the 237th Combat Engineer Battalion, was part of the third wave of the Normandy Invasion on D-Day. Remaining in Europe, Ganzow was part of a demolition team that destroyed bridges as his unit moved east through France and into Germany. As the Battle of the Bulge began, Ganzow went missing. Upon returning to his unit in February 1945 he was allowed to remain with his unit until May, when he was sent to the Loire (France) D.T.C. as a penalty for his absence without leave. There, he lost his pay, was allowed a limited number of V-mails to write home, and performed hard labor. In the autumn he was restored to active duty and he remained in Europe through the end of November 1945. He then returned to the United States and was honorably discharged on January 3, 1946.
Ganzow remained in the Fort Atkinson area after the war, where he worked for General Motors Assembly Division for twenty-six years and also helped to build and maintain the county parks. He was an active member of the Paul Frank Florine Post No. 166 (American Legion) and the Edwin Frohmader Post No. 1879 (V.F.W.). He passed away on March 20, 1991 in Fort Atkinson.
