textthompsonjackdean1946.html

North High School Wall of Honor
Jack Dean Thompson
Class of June, 1946

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

Jack Dean Thompson

Jack was in the June, 1946 graduating class. At the time, his next of kin was Mrs. Mildred Groff, 812 Pleasant Street, Des Moines, IA. His service number is 17205919.

Jack Dean Thompson

Year		Rank		Status

June, 1946	x	Graduated	x	Graduated from North High, Des Moines, IA
August 28, 1946	x	US Army	x	Drafted into US Army, Des Moines Recruiting Center, Des Moines, IA immediately following graduation (photo of 1946 group recruited on that day)
Sept, 1946		US Army	x	7th Infantry Division?, Fort Snelling, MN. One month.
date		US Army	x	Basic training where?
date	x	US Army	x	Basic training to Fort Stoneman, CA (near Antioch, CA)
Nov. 22, 1946	x	US Army	x	Fort Stoneman, CA. Ferry to troop ship in San Francisco, CA
Nov-Dec, 1946	x	Enroute	x	What troop ship from San Francisco, CA to Osaka, Honshu, Japan? *25th Infantry Division
date	x	US Army	x	Did Jack go from Osaka, Honshu, Japan on to Korea?
December,1947	x	US Army	x	Onboard which carrier from Korea or Japan to San Francisco, CA?
December 11, 1947	x	US Army/ Sgt/T4	x	San Francisco, CA to Fort Stoneman, CA. Discharged/mustered out.
date	x	Civilian	x	Train to Des Moines, IA?
December 10, 1947	x	US Army Reserves	x	Joined US Army Reserves. Also, in ROTC while attending Iowa State.
March 8, 1948	x	Family	x	Married Marjorie L. Mobley at First United Methodist Church, Des Moines, IA
1950	x		x	Iowa State College, Ames, IA. Architectural studies
December 9, 1951	x	USAR	x	Discharged from the US Army Reserves on December 9, 1951. **Member of National Society of Scabbard & Blade
1953	x		x	Graduated from Iowa State College, Ames, IA. Architectural studies
1953	x	Employment	x	Moved to Decorah, IA. Employed as architect with Charles Altfillisch. Then downtown merchant in Decorah when he and Marge purchased Vanberia International Gifts in 1974. They later started Norsk Engros USA, Inc., a wholesale needlework business.
1974	x	Employment	x	Bought Vanberia Scandinavian Imports in Decorah, IA
2011	x	Retirement	x	Living in Decorah, IA
June 3, 2011	x	Deceased	x	Inurnment in Phelps Cemetery, Decorah, IA

Ft. Snelling; Fort Polk, LA?; Fort Stoneman, CA pic; Fort Stoneman Embarkation graphic

*Which troop ships from San Francisco to Osaka, Honshu, Japan and return?
Troop ships from San Francisco to Japan and return.

*25th Infantry Division
OCCUPATION AND THE COLD WAR
In late September 1945 the 25th Division was ordered to Japan to serve as occupation forces on the main Japanese island of Honshu with headquarters in the city of Nagoya. The 25th Division departed by ship from the Philippines in late September 1945 and began landing at Nagoya in early October. The division immediately undertook the missions of disarming all Japanese forces in its area and destroying all Japanese military equipment in its area of responsibility.

On 1 November 1945, in what was essentially a redesignation and a change of colors, the 161st Infantry was inactivated and was replaced by the 4th Infantry Regiment. Beginning in January 1946 the 25th Division's area of responsibility was greatly increased when it was ordered to assume the occupation areas formerly under the control of the inactivating 33rd and 98th Infantry Divisions. To better control its expanded area of responsibility the 25th Division headquarters and its service support units moved to the city of Osaka in January 1946. Throughout the 25th Division's area most Japanese were amazed and grateful for the kindness and helpfulness displayed by Tropic Lightning soldiers. It was in Osaka that the 27th Infantry and the 8th Field Artillery adopted a children's orphanage and received worldwide recognition for their generosity.

By 1946 the Cold War had begun, with the Soviet Union establishing an Iron Curtain across Europe from the Baltic to the Adriatic Seas. And in the Far East the Korea was divided at the 38th parallel with the North Koreans vowing to unite the peninsula under Communism.

Commanders in Japan faced a continuing struggle to balance occupation duties with maintaining combat readiness and for the most part occupation duties took priority. For example, when a serious epidemic of typhus erupted in Osaka the 4th Infantry Regiment was used to deploy some three hundred teams to work with the Japanese authorities in successfully eliminating the disease among the Japanese using DDT and inoculations.

Later, as the Cold War intensified the United States focused on Europe and began strengthening the Armed Forces there. In the Far East the opposite was happening. The Army divisions occupying Japan were reduced in strength and were left with old and often unserviceable equipment left over from WW II.

In the case of the 25th Division, only the 24th Infantry Regiment, which replaced the 4th Infantry on 1 February 1947, was kept at full strength. Both the 27th and 35th Infantry had only two battalions and the field artillery battalions had only two firing batteries. The division tank battalion had only one company active and it was equipped with light instead of heavy tanks because of the fragile Japanese road system. It was under such conditions that the 25th Infantry Division was to enter combat against the North Korean army in July 1950.

**Scabbard & Blade Military Honor Society
Scabbard and Blade is a college military honor society founded at the University of Wisconsin in 1904. Although membership is open to R.O.T.C. cadets and midshipmen of all military services, the society is modeled after the U.S. Army and its chapters are called companies and are organized into regiments in order of their establishment. Originally founded as a men's organization, it is now co-educational.

Scabbard and Blade is a member of the Association of College Honor Societies, a coordinating and certification organization for collegiate honor societies.

The national headquarters is located at Stillwater, Oklahoma.


South Korea. Note Inchon and Seoul	Inchon, South Korea (get appropriate photos)

		Photo of Jack Dean Thompson "in the field"
Participated in construction of Camp Tahigwa, Waterloo	Nordic Fest Flag Recipient	Photo of Jack Dean Thompson "in the field"

	Jack Dean Thompson Sergeant/T4 25th Infantry Division US Army
American Victory Medal; Army Occupational Medal; Expert M1 Rifle; Sharpshooter M1 Carbine

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/. Jack Dean Thompson's 1946 class page can be viewed at http://www.ndmhs.com/pages/yearclass1946(2006.60).html.

09/04/11. Died 06/03/11.

Music: "Wind Beneath My Wings"