Adeline Virginia Kohus and brother Herbert B Kohus Jr.
Herbert Kohus Sr. holding son Herbert Kohus Jr. 1917.
Herbert Bernard Kohus Jr. is the son of Herbert Bernard Kohus Sr. 1886-1969 and Mabel Julia Duncan 1890-1970. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on 27 Feb 1917. Herbert grew up in Cincinnati. At the age of 20 he entered the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) on 2 Oct 1937 and was stationed near the town of Defiance in northern Ohio. The CCC was a measure enacted by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933 as part of the New Deal. It put unemployed young men to work when there were few jobs to be had. Roosevelt planned a fight against soil erosion and declining timber resources, utilizing the unemployed of large urban areas.
CCC Camp 1937-1939
Herbert worked as a laborer and sent most of his $22 monthly allotment home to his parents to help them out in hard times. While serving in the CCC he was attending a local dance one evening in Defiance where he met his future wife Virginia Louise Mihm, daughter of Justice Mihm and Ada Clouse of Van Wert, Ohio.
Virginia Louise Mihm 1921-2003
Herbert was standing on the sidelines when Virginia tripped and fell on the dance floor in front of him. Herbert rushed over and helped her up. That was how they met. They were married on 7 Jun 1939 in Defiance. Virginia later admitted she tripped on purpose. Herbert was discharged 11 Sep 1939 from the CCC. He and Virginia went to live in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. By 1943 Herbert and Virginia had 2 daughters, Rebecca and Evelyn. The second World War had begun and Herbert felt the call of duty like so many other young men at that time. On 2 Dec of 1943 he enlisted in the US Army. He first tried to join the Marines but was turned down and told they were not taking any more recruits that month. On his way out of the Federal Building in Cincinnati an Army recruiter approached him and offered to sign him up and Herbert agreed.
He entered the Army on 3 Dec 1943. Herb took basic training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, near San Antonio, with the newly formed 723rd Railroad Operating Battalion. He trained there until March 13, 1944, when the entire battalion boarded trains and shipped out for Lincoln, Nebraska, where they received technical training on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. His wife Virginia, then living back in Van Wert, Ohio, went to see him while he was in Lincoln. He got a 3-day leave while she was there and was several days AWOL before returning to camp. After training in Nebraska, the battalion shipped out. At 10:30AM on 11 Aug 1944, the men of the 723rd were aboard the Ship, Edmund B. Alexander, and pulling away from the dock in N.Y. City, heading for England, though they did not know the destination until they were underway. Herbert said they left port in a large formation of ships. He said ships were to the horizon in every direction and he was feeling pretty comfortable. When he awoke the next day he looked out and he could not see a single ship. He disliked the quarters below deck and spent most of the journey on deck, even sleeping on deck at night. Below is a photo of the Edmund B. Alexander taken in 1945.
Edmund B. Alexander
After a 12-day voyage across the Atlantic, they spent only 30 hours on English soil then departed 25 Aug aboard the English Ship Chelsea for the trip across the English Channel to France. They landed on Utah Beach at 4:00PM on the 26th. That was about 2 months after the infamous D-Day invasion on June 6,1944, when Utah Beach was used as one of the landing spots by the Allies to invaded Europe. Herbert served his duty in France, Belgium and Germany. He worked mostly guarding trains taking supplies to the front lines and bringing back German Prisoners. He did not realize at the time, nor did I until I started researching this family tree, that he was very near where his great grandfather lived before immigrating to Cincinnati almost 100 years earlier and where his cousins, descendents from the Kohues family from Ostbevern, were serving in the German Army. At some point while overseas, Herbert transferred to the 718th Railroad Battalion. He was with the 718th at the time the war ended in Europe. After the war was over in Europe, Herbert returned to the U.S. and was discharged on 8 Dec 1945. He received the Victory Medal, Good Conduct Medal and the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with 3 Bronze Stars. Herbert is very proud of his service to his country and considers himself a patriotic American always flying a flag in front of his house.
Herbert B Kohus Jr.
Returning home to Cincinnati after the war, Herbert settled into civilian life with his wife and 2 daughters. After working a few jobs here and there he was hired at the Cincinnati Street Railway Company. This was the company his father worked at as a street car conductor for many years.
about 1946 2622 Hackberry Street, Cincinnati, Ohio
In November 1947 Herbert and Virginia had their last child, Michael. At that time they were living at 2622 Hackberry Street in Cincinnati. It was the first house they ever owned. They purchased it on 23 May 1946 with a $200 down- payment on a $6,000 loan, secured by the Veterans Association. It was a 2-story older house and Herbert's parents and sister lived upstairs on the second floor. The family lived there until 1953 when they sold the house and moved to Mt. Repose, Ohio, about 25 miles east of Cincinnati.
House on Floyd Place being built, about 1953
At that time, Mt. Repose was no more than a church, gas station, a few farm houses and a newly built subdivision on a dead end street named Floyd Place. The Kohus Family was one of the first residents on the street, moving in before all the houses were built. In 1953 you could stand in the yard on Floyd Place and see farm fields no matter what direction you looked. Today the area is heavily populated and is mostly wooded.
(L-R) Rebecca, Michael and Evelyn Kohus
Their children were all living there when each left home. First Rebecca Sue Kohus got married and then Evelyn. Michael was the last child to leave home in 1966. The Cincinnati Street Railway, a privately owned company where Herbert worked was eventually bought out by city government and renamed the Queen City Metro. Herbert retired from the Metro as a bus mechanic in 1983. Herbert and Virginia enjoyed retirement together.
September 2002
Herbert's wife Virginia (Mihm) Kohus died on his 86th birthday, 27 Feb 2003 at 82 years of age. She was buried in Greenlawn Cemetery, Milford, Ohio.