Eickhoff
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Harry Eickhoff was born in 1918 to Martin and Lena (Reusser) Eickhoff, growing up on the farm that would later be sold to Kent County Parks and be home to Fallasburg Park. He attended Fallasburg School before graduating from Lowell High School in 1934. Following graduation, Eickhoff worked for Roth Funeral Home in Lowell. He looked forward to attending the Michigan College of Mining and Technology (now Michigan Tech) in Houghton Michigan, and becoming an engineer. Unfortunately, the scholarship he earned didn’t cover the whole cost, so his plan was to work for a year and then attend school. Eickhoff was so impressed with Wesley Roth, and wanted to be like him, so instead he attended one of the top embalming schools in the country, Worsham’s College in Chicago. He finished school and came back to Roth Funeral Home to work as a mortician. Eickhoff was only 21 when he received his state license in 1939. He was the youngest funeral director in the state.
World War II interrupted many lives. In August of 1943 Eickhoff entered basic training at Camp Gruber in Oklahoma. After training he was deployed to Germany as part of the 42nd Rainbow Division Infantry, 122nd Medical Unit. Eickhoff didn’t just drive an ambulance, he was trained in first aid as a combat medic. On April 23, 1945, Eickhoff earned his first bronze star for heroic achievement in action. From the office of the Commanding General: “An infantry unit suffered nine casualties from enemy artillery and mortar fire. Corporal Eickhoff, though warned of the danger by battalion staff officers, drove his ambulance into Arnheim Germany and evacuated the wounded men. Later, when the battalion motor convoy was under heavy shelling, he remained on the road near Arnheim until all of the vehicles had withdrawn to safety, in case medical aid was required. Corporal Eickhoff’s heroic actions brought nine wounded men to needed medical attention and showed his great sense of responsibility to his fellow soldiers.” On April 26, 1945, Eickhoff earned his second bronze star. Instead of a second star, an oak leaf cluster is added to the first bronze star. From the office of the Commanding General: “Returning in his ambulance from a clearing company, Corporal Eickhoff was stopped and informed that a direct hit by enemy artillery on an infantry command post in a nearby woods had wounded several men. Although the shelling was continuing, he went in the woods and located the casualties. After administering first aid and blood plasma to the men, he evacuated them to the medical collecting station. Corporal Eickhoff’s prompt courageous action saved the wounded men from death due to their wounds or further injury from the enemy artillery concentration.” Days later, on April 29, Eickhoff was a part of liberating Dachau Concentration Camp. Eickhoff spoke of the horrors he saw in his letters home to his wife Margaret. “A few days ago, we ran across something I shall never forget. That something was one of Hitler’s largest concentration camps and a crematorium. Aways before this I have believed a lot of these atrocity stories were just propaganda. Seeing this changed my mind.” He went on to describe the thousands of bodies he saw, along with the ovens and furnaces. After this horror he says “while on our way out of the camp we came across the headquarters of the S.S. Troops. From this building I threw the Nazi flag.” Most likely there were many other ways Eickhoff would have liked to convey how he felt about the Nazis after seeing this, but this was the best way he could express himself at that moment. True vengeance was achieved days later, with Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender to the Allied Forces. This was May 8, 1945, remembered as VE Day. Eickhoff continued occupation duty until January of 1947. After the war, Eickhoff came home to his family. In 1947, he purchased the Olney funeral home in Mendon Michigan, where he and Margaret built their life. Eickhoff provided ambulance service through the funeral home, as was the common practice of the time. Eickhoff continued helping people. Along with his sons Rick and Dale, he was a certified first aid instructor and they held first aid classes. He served his community as a charter member of the Mendon Kiwanis Club and served as secretary and president. He was a member of the library board, the St. Edward’s church board and cemetery committee, the Mendon VFW, and the St. Joseph County Parks commission. In 1953 Eickhoff was elected as the Mendon Village president, defeating the incumbent. In 1954-55 he was President of the village and served as councilman. He was voted Citizen of the Year in 1974. In addition to the funeral home and ambulance service, he operated a Standard Oil Station from 1954-1961, and hardware store from 1965-1980. Eickhoff established the Mendon Ambulance Service in 1969 because of new regulations affecting the service. This was a volunteer service that provided emergency care to four townships in St. Joseph County. In 1984 Eickhoff’s son Dale and his wife purchased the Mendon Ambulance Service along with the funeral home. They continued to operate the ambulance service until 2006 when they sold assets to Life Care Ambulance of Battle Creek. They continued to volunteer with Life Care for several years and were proud of the fact that it was the first advanced care ambulance service in St. Joseph County. Harry Eickhoff passed away in 1996, but the Eickhoff Funeral Home is still run by the Eickhoff family, now in the third generation, operated by Dale’s son Glenn. The Eickhoff family is very proud of the fact that the funeral home has been independent, and family owned for the past 79 years. Images: Harry Eickhoff Harry Eickhoff Crossing the Danube Dachau Concentration Camp After the War Eickhoff siblings in 1978 |
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