Helmer Swenholt

Helmer Swenholt
Born (1886-06-28)June 28, 1886
Wittenberg, Shawano County, Wisconsin
Died May 8, 1952(1952-05-08) (aged 65)
Tucson, Pima County, Arizona
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch United States Army
Rank Colonel
Unit 332nd Engineer Special Service Regiment
Commands held 332nd Engineer Special Service Regiment
332nd Engineer General Service Regiment
Southern Base Engineer Group No. 2
Awards Legion of Merit
Bronze Star
Purple Heart
Legion of Honor(France)

Helmer Swenholt (28 June 1886 - 8 May 1952) was born in Wittenberg, Shawano County, Wisconsin (near Shawano, Wisconsin). Having pursued a degree in engineering, he put his education to work in the Army Corps of Engineers. He was an officer and Veteran of World War I, and after the war continued his service in the Army Corps of Engineers. In World War II, Swenholt organized one of the first of the Engineer Regiments, a new type of combat engineer organization. At the war's conclusion Swenholt returned to the United States and retired from the Army.

Family

His father was Jonas Swenholt, who served in the Wisconsin State Assembly.[1][2]

Education

He graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1908 in engineering. Swenholt had played basketball at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he was named to the All Big Ten team.[3] Swenholt, a forward on the basketball team, was elected captain for the 1907-1908 season of the Badger squad. He had tied with a teammate for the honor and the election was decided by a coin toss.[4] He joined the National Guard.

World War I

He became a captain in an engineer company in World War I and was wounded in France in 1918. Captain Swenholt worked on the railroad from Murmansk with the Bolsheviks. In 1918 he decided to stay in the Regular Army. He briefly visited his hometown and then left for Morgantown, West Virginia for service at the state university.[5] He was assigned to serve as an ROTC engineer instructor at West Virginia University. He would occasionally return to his home in Madison, Wisconsin to visit his parents and sister...[6][7]

Between wars / Corps of Engineers

He was assigned in 1922 to Camp Humphreys, Gary, Indiana, with the engineers in the regular army. He was a Federal instructor with the National Guard unit of Indiana. In one incident his car caught fire but no one was injured.[8] n 1928 he moved to New Orleans where he was assigned to the River and Harbor Engineer District Office. In 1930 he went to Panama where he worked with the Eleventh Engineers for two years. He was assigned in 1932 to Fort Dupont, Delaware, to organize the Civilian Conservation Corps units to provide housing, food, and medical care in the U.S. National Forest Service in the National Forests in Idaho. There was a brief period in 1932 where the War Department considered retiring Colonel Swenholt (with many other officers) during a time when there was a military downsizing .[9] This did not happen and Swenholt remained in the Army. In 1935 he was ordered back to Dupont, Delaware, and to Oakland, California, where he was assigned to the Topographic Engineers at Fort Stevens, Oregon,[10] to map various areas in three states along the Pacific Coast. In 1937 he mapped Centralia, Washington and Fort Barry, California, for the same company (Company A, 29th U.S. Engineers.[11] This was one of the first times the airplane was used to make ground maps by making photographs and the Army was working in conjunction with the Coast Survey and Geodetic Survey departments to map this part of the country.[12] In September 1938 Swenholt was assigned to command the District Engineer Office, Omaha, Nebraska. One of their assignments was to stabilize the banks of the Mississippi by sinking pilings along the northern edge of Omaha in an effort to change the channel.[13] In early 1941 when the Army foresaw the need to begin armament, Major Swenholt's command was assigned the task of relocating roads, railroads and sewer lines in preparation for building the plant which would make the Martin B-26 Bomber.[14] Bids for building the plant (estimated to be $10M) were solicited February 9, 1941.[15] The plant was known as the Fort Crook Bomber Plant.[16] Groundbreaking was Monday March 3, 1941 with Major Swenholt turning the first shovelful of dirt.[17] Glenn Martin attended the event. Swenholt was to supervise the construction of the plant.[18]

World War II

In May 1942 the colonel was assigned to command and train the 332nd Engineer Special Service Regiment (later reclassified as the 332nd Engineer General Service Regiment) at Camp Claibourne, Louisiana, for heavy construction overseas. His charge to the unit was "To Build - To Conquer." This became the motto of the unit. Colonel Helmer Swenholt commanded the 332nd Engineer General Service Regiment until 28 November 1945 when he retired from the Army. Colonel Swenholt died 8 May 1952 in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona.[19]

Chronology of life events

References

  1. ↑ 'Jonas Swenholt, 67, Fatally Stricken,' Wisconsin State Journal, March 9, 1923, pg. 10
  2. ↑ 'History of Dane County: Biographical and Genealogical,' vol. 1, Elisha Williams Keyes, Western Historical Association: 1906, Hon. Jonas Swenholt, pg. 870-871
  3. ↑ "Honors and Awards" (pdf).
  4. ↑ The Sheboygan Daily Press, Friday April 3, 1908
  5. ↑ The (Madison) Capital Times, Friday October 24, 1919
  6. ↑ The (Madison) Capital Times, Thursday January 6, 1921
  7. ↑ The (Madison) Capital Times, Monday June 5, 1922
  8. ↑ The (Gary, IN) Times, Monday August 16, 1926
  9. ↑ The La Crosse Tribune and Leader-Press, Thursday May 12, 1932
  10. ↑ The San Antonio Light, August 23, 1935
  11. ↑ The Chehalis (Washington) Bee-Nugget, Friday October 16, 1936
  12. ↑ The Centralia Daily Chronicle, Wednesday January 13, 1937
  13. ↑ The Nebraska State Journal, Thursday November 24, 1938
  14. ↑ Waterloo Daily Courier, Sunday January 5, 1941
  15. ↑ The Nebraska State Journal, Wednesday February 5, 1941
  16. ↑ The Nebraska State Journal, Wednesday, February 19, 1941
  17. ↑ The Nebraska State Journal, Sunday, March 2, 1941
  18. ↑ The Nebraska State Journal, Tuesday, March 4, 1941
  19. ↑ Tucson Daily Citizen, Friday, May 9, 1952

External links

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