Ellend O Palmer Jr. (1922 - 2015)

Born 17 Apr 1922 in Clifford, North Dakota, United States

Died 28 Jun 2015 at age 93 in Fargo, Cass County, North Dakota, United States

Biography

parents: Ellend O. and Agnes (Quam) Palmer.

enlisted in the Army and reported in the spring of 1943. He was assigned to the 1902 Engineer Aviation Battalion, nicknamed the "Wild Deuces." He began his duty at Washington State's Geiger Field and then was deployed to the Pacific theater with his unit. His unit built airstrips in Hawaii and islands dotting the Pacific Ocean, all leading to Japan. He said that on many of the islands he traded his pick and shovel for a rifle and bayonet. His unit saw combat action in the Philippines, on Fukuoka, Ie Shima, and Sasebo. He was in combat on Okinawa, the bloodiest battle of the War in the Pacific. His unit was the first to land in Nagasaki just three days after the atomic bomb was dropped. They were there to build an airstrip for Marines to land at the devastated city.

preceded in death by his wife, Grace, his son, Steve, and sisters, Joyce Palmer Strong and Ellen Ann Palmer Folschow.--1942, while in Seattle, he married Grace Bergan, also from Fargo.

Riverside Cemetery Mausoleum - Fargo 2102 5th St. S. Fargo, ND, 58103

Sources

• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KM9H-F4K : accessed 8 September 2015), Ellend O Palmer in household of Ellend O Palmer, Fargo, Fargo City, Cass, North Dakota, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 9-46, sheet 6A, family 116, NARA digital publication T627 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012), roll 2996.

• http://www.hansonrunsvold.com/obituaries/Ellend-Palmer/#!/Obituary