Utah+Brothers+Serving+In+WWII

World War II took the lives of many Utahns, but no family in the state sacrificed more for the Allied cause than Alben and Gunda Borgstrom of Thatcher, Box Elder County. Four of the five sons they sent off to battle died within a six-month period during 1944. "Few families in American history have been called upon to make such a tremendous sacrifice for the cause of freedom and liberty," one speaker noted at ceremonies honoring the Borgstrom brothers in 1946.

LeRoy Elmer Borgstrom was born April 30, 1914, in Thatcher. Like all his brothers he attended Bear River High School and was a farmer before the war. He was shipped overseas in March 1944 and participated in battles in Africa and Italy. He was killed in action in Italy on June 22, 1944.

Clyde Eugene Borgstrom was born February 15, 1916, in Penrose, Box Elder County. He enlisted in the Marines on October 14, 1940, before the U.S. was officially involved in the war, and was among the first Bear River Valley men to enter the service. He was killed in action on March 17, 1944, at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands.

Twin brothers Rolon Day and Rulon Jay Borgstrom were born May 5, 1925, in Tremonton. The boys were drafted into the Army on July 7, 1943, two weeks after their high school graduation. Rolon trained at Camp Walters, Texas, where he passed an examination to enter the Air Corps. He died in England on August 8, 1944, of injuries suffered during a bombing mission over France and Germany. Rulon, also a gunner on a heavy bomber, was killed in action on August 25, two and a half weeks after his twin.

Boyd Carl Borgstrom, born July 21, 1921, in Thatcher, had enlisted on October 14, 1940, with his brother Clyde. Upon news that his fourth brother was missing in action, Boyd was shipped from the South Pacific to Camp LeJeune, North Carolina, where he as discharged on October 7, 1944. In April 1959 the four Borgstrom brothers were honored when the Army named a reserve training center in Ogden in their honor. Gunda Borgstrom accepted a plaque with pictures of her sons at the dedication ceremony and saw a trophy case with her sons' records unveiled in the training center.