textandersongeraldgeorge1946.html

North High School Wall of Honor
Gerald George Anderson
Class of August, 1946

Research done by Claradell Shedd, class of 1953.

Gerald George Anderson

Jerry was in the August, 1946 graduating class. At the time, his next of kin was Mrs. B.M. Anderson, 2021 East 29th Street, Des Moines, IA. His service number is 55039181.

Gerald George Anderson

Year		Rank		Status

August, 1946	x	Graduated	x	Graduated from North High, Des Moines, IA
1946	x	Employment	x	Central National Bank. 1-1/2 years.
1947-1950	x	Employment	x	Full time at Home Federal Savings and Loan, Des Moines, and parttime at Drake
October 2, 1950		US Army	x	Drafted into US Army, Des Moines, IA
date		US Army	x	Boot camp at Fort Leonard Wood, MO. *83rd Army Engineer Construction Battalion
date	x	US Army/PFC	x	Fort Leonard Wood, MO to school in Kansas for clerk-typist training. Six weeks.
date	x	US Army/PFC	x	School in Kansas to Fort Sill, OK
May 10, 1951	x	Enroute	x	Brookyn Army Base to west coast of France, settling in the EUCOM Zone of Communication, Landes de Bussac
June 10, 1952	x	US Army	x	**Rented jeep and toured Europe for about 30 days with two other Army buddies.
1952	x	US Army	x	Troop transport from France to New York
April, 1952	x	US Army/PFC	x	Discharged. Mustered out at Fort Custer, MI
September 19, 1952	x	US Army/PFC/T	x	Discharged and transferred to US Army Reserve
1952	x	Employment	x	Full time at Home Federal Savings and Loan, 6th and Grand. Parttime at Drake University
1952	x	Enroute	x	Train to Des Moines
1954-1957	x		x	Drake to complete college. Graduated 1957. Accounting major
Sept. 12, 1954	x	Family	x	Married Joan Howard, St. Lutheran's Church, 6th and Keo.
1957	x	Employment	x	Augustine and Company, Des Moines, IA. CPA. Ten years.
1967	x	Employment	x	Private business as CPA. Audit and tax practice. 41 years.
2008	x	Employment	x	Retired.
March 6, 2015	x	Deceased	x	Windsor Heights, IA 50324

*83rd Engineer Construction Battalion
83RD ENGINEER BATTALION Reprinted from a book by Joan Ann Wood Moore in 1970.
The 83rd Engineer Battalion was officially activated at Fort Sill, Okla. on May 25, 1949. However, the history of the 83rd does not begin merely with the activation at Fort Sill, Its direct ancestors are first mentioned in military records as far back as 29 July 1921, when a unit known as the First Battalion, 345th Engineer Regiment (Gen Svc) was designated by the Department of the Army.

When the United States entered the Second World war, the 345th came to life. The unit was activated on 15 June 1942 at Camp Crowder, Mo. The unit sailed for the Mediterranean Theater, landing in Italy. The unit received credit for three campaigns in Italy the Naples-Foggia, The Rome-Arno, and the North Apennines campaigns, With the completion of WWII in Europe, the 345th was deactivated at Foggia, Italy on June 30, 1946. The colors of the battalion were cased on the first active chapter of its history, thus resting the parental line of the 83rd Engineer Battalion.

Captain John 0. Buchanan arrived at Fort Sill. OK. on May 25, 1949 to take command of the 83rd Engineer Battalion (Construction). On March 1951 the 83rd was alerted for overseas shipment to Europe, and on May 10, 1951 sailed from Brooklyn Army Base, under the command of Lt. Col. Gray. Instead of landing at Bremerhaven and Battling in Germany, as was originally scheduled, the battalion was ordered to disembark on the west coast of France and settle in the EUCOM Zone of Communication, Landes de Bussac. Obviously, the primary mission of the 83rd was to build, and this the 83rd did from one end of France to the other. In June 1959 the Battalion moved from Landes de Bussac to Fontenet. In late 1963. the battalion headquarters, along with A Company and B Company moved to Chinon, France.

In the summer of 1966, the battalion began its duties in FRBLOC (Fast Relocation from France).
Under this operation, Companies C and D, were forced to dismantle and ship a great percentage Of the buildings the battalion had constructed over the previous 15 years. Each project in FRELOC was aggresively and rapidly completed. All schedules were met and the unit's move from France was almost flawless.

Lt. Col. R.C. Gray commanded from August 1949 to September 1950.
Lt. Col. E.B. Butler commanded from September 1950 to June 1952.

**Note from Gerald George Anderson:
"Our trip of 20+ days started in Bussac-to Paris-to German border-to Switzerland-to border of Italy-to French Riveria-to San Sebastian, Spain-to Bussac...On June 10, 1952, we (myself and two other draftees from Colorado and Michigan) arrived in Interlaken, Switzerland at approximately 4:00PM. Directly after leaving Bern, I noticed a drastic change in scenery. The mountains became much more prominent and the lakes and streams became a beautiful clear green color. Interlaken is a majestic "tourist" town connecting two lakes and resting in a valley among a hugh chain of mountains. Its beauty is tremendous. Many people speak English. Almost everything is written three times; once each in German, French, and English. On June 11, 1952, we attempted to go to the mountain peaks."

Fort Leonard Wood, MO; Fort Sill, OK, and Fort Custer, MI


Interlaken-Jungfrau, Switzerland	Home Federal Savings & Loan

Gerald George Anderson
PFC
83rd Army Engineer Battalion
5th US Army

References

The comprehensive list of names from North High's 1893-2019 graduation classes are from Claradell Shedd's North Des Moines High School website. The names of all North High School graduates can be found online at http://www.ndmhs.com/. Gerald George Anderson's 1946 class page can be viewed at
http://ndmhs.com/pages/yearclass1946(2006.60).html.

09/07/11: Living in IA. Died: 03/06/15.

Music: "Wind Beneath My Wings"