Wermuth was born in South Dakota, but raised in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood at 3631 N. Janssen Avenue.

His father was a doctor and World War I veteran who died in 1937 and his mother was Clara Natalie Lorenz.

[7] He served in the infantry reserves as a second lieutenant in the Civilian Conservation Corps and was stationed near Watersmeet, Michigan.

In September, he was sent to Lipa City, Batangas and placed in charge of a 500-man work detail to construct a runway.

When he demanded that the Japanese commander take it easy on his men, he received a severe beating, damaging his kidneys and sending him back to a hospital.

[15] On October 13, 1944, he was transferred back to Bilibid until December, when he boarded the "hell ship" Oryoku Maru as one of 1620 prisoners.

[15] Because the prison ship was unmarked, it was bombed December 15, 1944, at Olongapo in Subic Bay by aircraft from USS Hornet who mistook it for a troop transport, killing several hundred POWs.

According to Wermuth, the man beside him died on his feet and was held in place by the crowd for the rest of the trip since there was no room to remove the corpse.

[16] Wermuth received his fourth Purple Heart due to the injuries sustained when bombers from the USS Hornet attacked Enoura Maru.

[17][18] Next he was transported to Japan, then to Pusan, Korea, then to Mukden, where his prison camp was liberated by the Russians in August 1945.

Wermuth returned to the United States on the transport SS Marine Shark, arriving November 1, 1945, in San Francisco.

[20] His divorce to Jean was finalized June 4, 1947, and the same day he married Patricia Steele, a 23-year-old parachutist from Denver, Colorado.