textdutcherherbertalan1946.html

North High School Wall of Honor
Herbert Alan Dutcher
Graduated January, 1946

Research done by Claradell Shedd, class of 1953. PAGE IN PROGRESS

Herbert Alan Dutcher

Herb graduated from North High in January, 1946. Enlisted in Des Moines, IA. At the time of his enlistment, was he single with no dependents? At the time of his enlistment, his next of kin was Mr. and Mrs. Monroe S. Dutcher, 803 Hickman Road, Des Moines, IA. His service number was 3231265.

Herbert Alan Dutcher

Year		Rank		Status

Janaury, 1946	x	Graduated	x	Graduated from North High, Des Moines, IA.
January, 1946	x	US Navy	x	Two weeks after graduation, enlisted in US Navy at Old Federal Court House, Des Moines, IA. Had pre-induction physical before North High graduation.
January, 1946	x	US Navy	x	Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, IL. 8 weeks
January, 1946	x	US Navy	x	Contracted scarlet fever, then rheumatic fever. Spent nine months in hospital at Great Lakes, IL. Because the climate was better for this physical condition, Herb was relocated to *Carl Vinson VA Medical Center, Dublin, GA.
November, 1946	x	US Navy/ Seaman 2ndC/E3	x	US Naval Training Center, Bainbridge, MD. Finished Boot Camp there as Seaman 2nd Class.
December, 1946		US Navy/ Fireman 2nd Class		To San Francisco. Boarded **USS Henry W. Tucker (DDR-875) as fireman and chief mess cook. Fireman 2nd Class. Brother Phil Dutcher was on this destroyer as well.
February, 1947	x	US Navy	x	From San Francisco, CA. Fleet maneuvers off coast of Hawaiian Islands. One week to ten days.
1947		US Navy		Back to San Diego. Traded crews with ***USS John A. Bole (DD-755). Phil Dutcher was also on the crew traded and was now on the USS John A. Bole (DD-755) as well.
1947- July, 1947	x	US Navy	x	On USS John A. Bole (DD-755) took Naval Reservists on annual cruises (1) one cruise to Acapulco, Mexico, and (2) two cruises to Alaska via Seattle (Ketchikan, AK and Prince Rupert, BC)
November, 1947	x	US Navy/ Discharged	x	San Diego. Discharged/mustered out at San Diego Naval Training Center.
November, 1947	x	Enroute	x	Train back to Des Moines, IA.
January, 1948	x		x	Drake University; 1-1/2 years.
1950	x	Employment	x	Worked with father in stockyards in Des Moines.
February 3, 1951	x	Family	x	Married Ruth Thomas in Carlisle, IA
1953	x	Employment	x	Firestone Tire and Rubber, Des Moines, IA
1963	x	Employment	x	Farm Bureau as adjuster
date	x	Employment	x	Retail Credit Insurance as investigator. Four years.
date	x	Employment	x	30 years with various companies
January, 1993	x	Retired	x	Retired for six months
June, 1993- Present	x	Employment	x	Mail Contractors of America. Driving 53-foot trailer with full size tractor. Drove freight trucks; then later drove semis. Schedule is 11 hours driving time; then 10 hours off


Old Federal Court House, Des Moines, IA	*Carl Vinson VA Medical Center; Dublin, GA

*Carl M. Vinson VA Medical Center; Dublin, GA
On January 22, 1945, the hospital was ready for full operation. Five hundred beds were in place with room for an additional three hundred and fifty more for emergency purposes. Because the climate was better for treating his rheumatic fever physical condition, Herb was relocated from the Great Lake Naval Training Center Hospital in Illinois to the *Carl Vinson VA Medical Center, Dublin, GA.

**USS Henry W. Tucker (DDR-875)

	N - B - H - K

**USS Henry W. Tucker (DDR-875)
1945-1950
Henry W. Tucker was laid down by the Consolidated Steel Corporation at Orange, Texas on 29 May 1944, launched on 8 November 1944 by Mrs. Henry Walton Tucker, the mother of the late Pharmacist’s Mate Third Class Henry W. Tucker, and commissioned on 12 March 1945.

Henry W. Tucker operated with the United States Seventh Fleet in support of United Nations Forces during the Korean War, and participated in the Blockade of Wonsan and other North Korean ports. After she alernately served on the United States West Coast and in Hawaiian waters with deployments to the Western Pacific with the Seventh Fleet. She underwent an extensive Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) overhaul at the Boston Naval Shipyard in Boston, Massachusetts, between 13 December 1962 and 4 December 1963. During the Vietnam War Henry W. Tucker served as plane guard for aircraft carriers on Yankee Station in the Tonkin Gulf, participated in Operation Sea Dragon and Operation Market Time, patrolled on search and rescue duties, and carried out naval gunfire support missions.

***USS John A. Bole (DD-755)

N - K - N - Z

**USS John A. Bole (DD-755)
Following shakedown training out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, John A. Bole escorted Template:USS Franklin north to New York, arriving on 24 April 1945. After moving to Boston to join Saint Paul, she sailed on 15 May for the Pacific during the final push in the war against Japan. Steaming via the Panama Canal, she arrived Pearl Harbor on 7 June 1945. The ship joined a carrier group in Hawaiian waters, took part in the air strike on Wake Island on 20 June, and escorted a carrier to Eniwetok, arriving on 21 June.

Bole arrived Okinawa on 29 June for picket and patrol duty; and, although ground fighting had virtually ceased, weeks of intermittent air raids and dangerous picket duty were still in store for the fleet. The ship remained off Okinawa until the Japanese acceptance of surrender terms on 15 August, then departed for the East China and Yellow Seas to support the occupation and to take part in minesweeping operations. Bole joined a cruiser-destroyer force on 8 September off Jinsen, Korea, to cover the landings of troops at that important port. She remained until 25 September, and arrived 3 days later at Saishu To, south of the Korean Peninsula, to accept the surrender of the island and demilitarize it.

The veteran destroyer remained in the Far East after the end of the war to carry mail and passengers between Japan, Korea, and Chinese ports, supporting the efforts of American marines to protect Allied lives and stabilize the Chinese situation. While at Tsingtao on 20 February 1946, upon receiving a distress signal from a sinking merchantmen, she succeeded in rescuing 13 survivors. Bole departed on 5 March for San Francisco and, after stopping at Guam and Pearl Harbor, arrived on 27 March 1946.

Following a long repair period to prepare her for peacetime service, the destroyer arrived San Diego on 10 April 1947 to begin a regular schedule of training maneuvers and cruises for Naval Reservists. She continued to operate on the West Coast, with occasional visits to Hawaii, through 1949.

	Herbert Alan Dutcher Fireman 2nd Class US Navy Herbert Alan Dutcher correct photo coming
Examples (correct medals coming): Asiatic Pacific w/2 stars; WWII Victory Medal; American Area Campaign, Philippine Liberation

References

The comprehensive list of names from North High's 1893-2018 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/. Herbert Alan Dutcher's 1946 class page can be viewed at
http://www.ndmhs.com/pages/yearclass1946(2006.60).html.

09/12/11. Living in IA. Died 07/30/22 in Des Moines, IA.

Music: "Anchors Aweigh"