Sam Dobervich - 1st Lieutenant

Biography

Sam had five brothers - one of which who was present during the fall of the Philippines in 1942.

Dobervich graduated from North Dakota State College in Fargo, North Dakota. He and his wife lived in Ames while he did graduate work at ISU in the Department of Vocational Education. He earned his Master's of Science in 1940 and later became a supervising teaching of vocational agriculture in Lake City, Iowa.

Sam enlisted in the Marine Corps in February 1942. In January of 1944, he entered the Pacific Theater. He became a veteran of campaigns in the Marshal Islands, Tinian, Saipan, Roi, and Namur.

Shortly before his death, he was awarded the Bronze Star. Lieutenant Sam Dobervich was killed in the opening days in the Battle of Iwo Jima, February 22, 1945.

According to a newspaper clipping at that time, "Lieutenant Colonel Michiel Dobervich "was one of the six American officers who lived through the 'March of Death' after the fall of Corregidor and later escaped. He is now executive officer for the Central Procurement Division of the U.S. Marine Corp at Chicago."