Obituary - Evansville Courier - 6 Jun 1988

Benjamin Biederwolf

Benjamin J Biederwolf, 87, formerly of 315 SE Seventh St., died at 5:40 a.m. Sunday at Christopher East Living Center.

An attorney for 50 years in Evansville, he was president of the Evansville Bar Association in 1955 and a master in 1934 of the Reed Masonic Lodge No 316 F & AM.

Surviving are his wife of 52 years, Marguerite; a son, Ed of Evansville; four sisters: Tillie Czernick and Theresa Ferrarini, both of Oak Lawn, IL, Lucy Pouncey of Covina, CA, and Mary Ann Kampa of Hilbert, WI; and two grandchildren.

Private graveside services will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Sunset Memorial Park cemetery.

There will be no visitation at Boone Funeral Home.

HISTORY - Told by Ed Biederwolf - 6 Jun 1999

After we talked today, it dawned on me that most of my relations know as little about my dad and I as I know about them. So, here goes the Ben J Biederwolf history.

Dad came to Evansville in the early 1930's. He had a brand new law degree and started right in with a law firm here. He also got into the Naval Reserve here as a lieutenant. He did real well in the law business, and also was the commander of the Naval Reserve when the flood of 1937 hit. His radio station and reservists were the only official outside link to the world for several weeks.

As he told it to me, in 1939 the Navy called for volunteers to go active. It involved a rank of Lt. Commander for him. He said he could see the war clouds coming our way, so he went. On Dec 7, 1941, he was in command of the Naval Radio Station in Washington, DC.

He was transferred to Adm. Nimitz's staff in Hawaii when the big command shake up happened after Pearl Harbor. He stayed there until sometime in 1944 when he took command of the Naval Radio Station in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

While he was at San Juan, the US Navy captured a German submarine, the U505. (That's the one in the museum in Chicago.) He was flown out to where the capture took place to translate the controls so the personnel towing it wouldn't sink it by mistake.

He always said he wondered if being sent out to be on Adm. Nimitz's staff was an honor, or because he had the German background. He said there were a lot of German names assigned to the Pacific side of the war. He was a full Commander at war's end.

He came back to Evansville after the war and had a small law practice until he retired in 1965. He wanted to move back to Wisconsin and buy a dairy farm, but my mother would have no part of that.