Service Number 0482950
Unit Prisoner of War Camp, Crossville, Tennessee, Chaplin, Company 1457 SCU, Camp Forrest, Tennessee
Enlistment July 25, 1942
Discharge April 25, 1946

It is the amateur radio operator, way of saying "Good-bye" or so long."

Pastor Kanning knows, because, aside from his duties as pastor of the rural church, he spends quite a bit at time assembling, building, and repairing "ham" radio equipment. His radio station can letters are WOWCC, which are assigned by the federal communications commission in Washington, the "watch-dog" of the radio waves. Pastor Kanning became interested in radio in 1922, when he was pastor of a church at Royal, Iowa. In those days, he recalls, the ordinary home set such as most Americans now have, cost as much as several hundreds of dollars.

Football Enthusiasts
But in Royal, a group of football and radio enthusiasts got together, formed a radio "club," which purchased and installed the equipment along with a loud speaker so the whole town could hear. Mr. Kanning happened to catch a broadcast of the Iowa-Yale football game during that season (Iowa won, 2-0). He got interested in radio work as a hobby and began building his own receiving sets. In 1934, he began studying for his amateur operator's license and passed the FCC examination two years later.

A graduate of Concordia seminary, Springfield, Illinois, Pastor Kanning spent several years at Annandale, Minnesota, as a pastor before the war.

In 1942, he went into the army as a chaplain and served until April 1946, as a Chaplain at the German Prisoner of War Camp near Camp Forrest, Tennessee.

The Audubon County pastorate is his first since the war. He came here in 1946.

Belongs to Network
Like his professional counterparts in the standard broadcasting industry, Kanning belongs to a network. WOWCC is affiliated with the Iowa amateur network. Every afternoon at 12:30 all members of the network check in with the control station at Mitchellville, Iowa, to find out if there are any messages to be relayed or delivered.

Pastor Kanning's radio and electronics hobby proved to be a boon to the congregation of his church. In 1946, shortly after he came here, the church constructed a new home for the minister and his family. He did all the electrical wiring in the home himself.

There have been other occasions when Pastor Kenning's neighbors appreciated his ham equipment.

During the 1990 Armistice Day snow storm in Minnesota, he relayed dozens of messages from marooned hunters to their worried families.

Storm Work
During last winter's severe sleet and ice storms in southwest Iowa, the Ham Operator Kanning radioed a message to a Des Moines radio station asking that an announcement of closing of schools at nearby Manning be made.

On another occasion last winter he received a message from another ham in northeast Missouri, asking that a traveler believed to be in an Atlantic hotel be notified that he should return to his home because of a death.

Within 20 minutes after Pastor Kanning picked up the message he had located the traveler and delivered the message.

Pastor William D. Kanning, 60, serving Trinity Lutheran congregation in Lincoln Township, Audubon County, for eleven years, died unexpectedly at Manning General Hospital Thursday afternoon, March 28, 1957, from a heart block. He entered the hospital that morning for treatment.

Final rites were conducted from Trinity church Monday afternoon at 2 o'clock, with services in charge of Pastors H. Stahnke of Villisca, Richard Lammers of Alta and George B. Eschenbacher of Manning. Burial was in the Manning Cemetery. Pallbearers were William Ahrendsen, Lorenz Ahrendsen, Elmer Noelck, Amos Asmus, Harold Asmus, and Detlef Sonksen. Military honors were carried out by the ceremonials team of Manning's American Legion Post 22.

MOMENT OF SILENCE
When the news of the death of Pastor W.D. Kanning was put on the Iowa 75 emergency network by Warren Timmerman last week, all short waves were silenced for one minute out of respect for the deceased. Pastor Kanning was an ardent short wave enthusiast, maintaining a station in his home. He was known far and wide for his participation in all short wave projects and his voice was familiar to operators in many foreign countries.

The body remained at Ohde Funeral Home until 9 a.m. Monday when it was taken to Trinity Church where it lay in state until time for the funeral.

Pastor Kanning was born March 26, 1897, at Churdan, son of Richard D. and Mary (Schroeder) Kanning.

While a child, the family moved to Alta, where he was confirmed in the Lutheran faith in 1909. The family later returned to Churdan, where he graduated from high school.

He attended Concordia College at St Paul, Minnesota, for two years, then Concordia Seminary at Springfield, Illinois. While attending seminary, he served during World War I for a few months in 1918. He graduated from the seminary in 1920, and was ordained at Lakefield, Minnesota, in August, 1920. He served as assistant pastor there 1922-23, when he went to Royal and served one year.

Pastor Kanning served at Fergus Falls, Minnesota, from 1922-30; at Annandale, Minnesota, from 1930-41; and was civilian pastor for military personnel at Spartanburg, South Carolina, in 1941 and 1942. From 1942-46 he served as a chaplain in the U.S. Army.

In the fall of 1946, he came to Trinity Lutheran Church in Lincoln Township, Audubon County. He held a commission as a major in the inactive reserve of the army.

He was married to Louise Hackbarth February 24, 1923, in Chicago. Surviving with his wife are two sons, William Kanning, Audubon, and Richard Kanning, Griswold, one daughter, Mrs. Robert (Ruth) Hansen, Audubon; six grandchildren; two brothers, John and Otto Kanning, both of Churdan, and four sisters, Mrs. Mary Abbas, Latimer; Mrs. William (Anna) Klawitter, Lu Verne; Mrs. Henry (Emma) Sell, Churdan, and Mrs. William C. (Helen) Mahnsen, Churdan.

His parents and one brother, Fred Kanning, preceded him in death.