Daughter Honors Her Father On Trip to South Pacific Island
In the Spring of 2017, George Padar, our 24th Infantry Division Association historian, and Darrell Williams, our association chaplain, were contacted by a helicopter pilot in Papua, New Guinea, requesting assistance. The pilot wanted help discovering where the 24th Division was located during World War II on a small island east of Milan Bay in the South Pacific, called Goodenough Island.
The pilot had been hired by Marcia Luecke, the daughter of Chaplain Markus E. Lohrmann, to fly her on a pilgrimage of sorts to Goodenough Island. Luecke’s father was a US Army captain and Lutheran chaplain who served with the 3rd Battalion, 19th Infantry, 24th ID, during World War II. Chaplain Lohrmann died while trying to save his fellow 24th Infantry Division soldiers on March 6, 1944.
The pilot had been hired by Marcia Luecke, the daughter of Chaplain Markus E. Lohrmann, to fly her on a pilgrimage of sorts to Goodenough Island. Luecke’s father was a US Army captain and Lutheran chaplain who served with the 3rd Battalion, 19th Infantry, 24th ID, during World War II. Chaplain Lohrmann died while trying to save his fellow 24th Infantry Division soldiers on March 6, 1944.
Marcia Luecke, the daughter of Chaplain Markus E. Lohrmann, travelled to a remote island in the South Pacific to honor her father who served with the 24th Infantry Division during World War II.
Chaplain Lohrmann and a number of other officers and soldiers were out in a small ship several miles off the coast of Goodenough Island when the power on their ship failed. The mechanical breakdown left them without the ability to steer the craft, or even to communicate their position to the base on the island.
Concerned that they might drift farther and farther away toward Japanese waters, Lohrmann volunteered to swim the long distance back to the island to summon help. Two other soldiers volunteered to swim with him.
When the other two soldiers finally reached shore, Lohrmann was not with them. Swimming back, they found the chaplain’s body, pulled it to shore, and tried to resuscitate him on the beach, all to no avail. Lohrmann was buried near a temporary hospital the Army erected on Goodenough Island until he was reinterred back in the US years later.
Lohrmann’s daughter, and her helicopter pilot, wanted to visit Goodenough Island and find the location of the hospital, the 24th ID’s headquarters or any other areas associated with division’s stay on the island. Padar and Williams assisted the pilot and Luecke with as much historical information as they could discover, which helped to pinpoint the location of the division’s HQ and its staging area. The division’s location and was later confirmed by the natives on the island during Luecke’s visit.
Concerned that they might drift farther and farther away toward Japanese waters, Lohrmann volunteered to swim the long distance back to the island to summon help. Two other soldiers volunteered to swim with him.
When the other two soldiers finally reached shore, Lohrmann was not with them. Swimming back, they found the chaplain’s body, pulled it to shore, and tried to resuscitate him on the beach, all to no avail. Lohrmann was buried near a temporary hospital the Army erected on Goodenough Island until he was reinterred back in the US years later.
Lohrmann’s daughter, and her helicopter pilot, wanted to visit Goodenough Island and find the location of the hospital, the 24th ID’s headquarters or any other areas associated with division’s stay on the island. Padar and Williams assisted the pilot and Luecke with as much historical information as they could discover, which helped to pinpoint the location of the division’s HQ and its staging area. The division’s location and was later confirmed by the natives on the island during Luecke’s visit.
Goodenough Island was just one of many stops on the 24th ID’s island hopping journey across the South Pacific during World War II.
In November of 1943, an advance detachment of the 24th Infantry Division, under Colonel Homer Kiefer, found itself in the wilds of Goodenough Island, New Guinea, to select a staging area for the Taro Leaf troops who would arrive from Australia early in 1944. The island also became a medical staging area for US casualties and was a part of General Douglas MacArthur’s plan to seal off the Hollandia Airdome, preventing the Japanese from using the islands to run air raids.
The 360th Station Hospital and 9th US General Hospital were located on the island from August 1943 to the end of 1944. Approximately 60,000 US troops passed through the island during the war. The 24th ID arrived in total on the island by January 31, 1944 and by April 22, 1944 the division had moved on to island hop its way across the South Pacific in a series of extremely tough, yet victorious, battles.
Luecke successfully traveled to Goodenough Island on April 16, 2017 - Easter Sunday. She honored her father’s memory during a visit to one of the island’s beaches, and was able to reflect on her father’s sacrifice as she waded into the waters where he died. During her, visit Luecke was also able to place a special memorial plaque at the island’s Catholic Mission in memory of her father and the life he sacrificed to bring aid to his fellow 24th ID soldiers.
When asked about why she made her pilgrimage to Goodenough Island, Luecke explained, “I suppose it partly stems from the fact that I was just a baby when he died and never got to know him, and I thought the trip would somehow draw me closer to him, or to who he was.”
“Everyone always told me that my father had a great sense of humor,” explained Luecke, who was only 18 months old when her father passed away. “They all said that I looked like a female version of him, and I also seemed to have inherited his personality traits.”
“I am only now realizing how, subconsciously or not, much of my life has been a fulfillment of the life my father might have lived, had he not perished in the South Pacific,” said Luecke. “I do believe this was all part of God’s plan. Someday I will understand it fully.”
Information for this story was contributed by Darrell Williams, George Padar and Marcia Luecke. Luecke’s full, day-by-day account of her pilgrimage to Goodenough Island can be found HERE.
