John E. Van Oordt was born in Ferrysburg on Jan 9, 1920 and attended the Ferrysburg school and Grand Haven High school from which he was graduated in 1938. He was employed at the Construction Aggregate company and by the Oldberg Manufacturing company where he worked three years prior to his induction. He was a member of the local company of Michigan State troops at the time he was inducted. He was a member of the First Reformed church of Spring Lake. The young soldier was trained at Camp Blanding, Fla and later was sent to Fort Meade, Maryland. John served in the U.S. Army during World War II as a Private First Class in the 1st Infantry Division. Although he had been in service less than a year, having entered the service Nov 18, 1943, Van Oordt was a veteran of the European theatre having gone into France on D-day. He participated with a cannon company in the break-through that carried the allied armies out of the Normandy peninsula to go through France. He had received a citation and medal after the D-day action. He was Killed in Action on September 23, 1944 in Germany at the age of 24 and is now buried in Spring Lake Cemetery, Spring Lake, Ottawa County, Michigan, USA. His name is commemorated on the First Infantry monument in Henri-Chapelle, Belgium and ranked as a Private.
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