Our global is marked by buildings that bear the name of ancestors that have had a lasting effect in all its surroundings, these structures have local importance, perpetuating the legacy of the person for whom they were named, unfortunately time can erase the reminiscence of the contribution and sacrifice that, above all, encouraged such distinction.
In the summer of 1960, the U. S. Army Corps of EngineersBut it’s not the first time He completed the acquisition of a 5-acre plot of land along Tanner Bridge Road in Jefferson City, near the city boundary. The box was soon damaged for the structure of a military education. mid-those years in planning.
“The main design of the Army Reserve Center will be an 18,000-square-foot two-story brick building,” the Jefferson City Post-Tribune reported on June 28, 1960. “The workshop will be a one-floor brick building. “
The army reserve center ended with a charge of approximately $300,000 and committed to a rite on November 11, 1961. The site was christened to perpetuate the reminiscence of a local soldier who died in action while serving his country years before World War II. .
Ralph W. Heisinger was born in Jefferson City on July 4, 1917, the son of William Heisinger and Carlena Popp. A 1936 graduate of Jefferson City Senior High, a member of the Jays football team and a member of the Jefferson City Symphony. He attended the local school and, in 1940, graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Business.
After graduating, Heisinger moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where he was hired as a workplace manager in General Motors’ Pontiac department. However, it was a short-lived race, as he soon joined the army a few weeks after the attack on Pearl. Port.
“In February 1942, he joined the army as a soldier in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and finished his fundamental education at Camp Wolters, Texas,” the Jefferson City Post-Tribune reported in its November 16, 1948 issue. assigned to the Officers Training School in Fort Benning, Georgia,” receiving his commission as a sub-lieutenant on August 4, 1943.
The Sunday News and Tribune reported on August 8, 1943 that the new officer had been able to return home on leave while his only brother, a younger brother named Vernon, was studying engineering at Chapman College, Los Angeles as a component of an army. Student Education Program.
His stopover in Jefferson City, though brief, was a memorable case when Heisinger and his fiancée, former Jeannette DeWyl, married in a rite celebrated at the United Central Church of Christ. Although the couple had a brief honeymoon, the young lieutenant Pronto had to appear in paintings on the west coast on August 19, 1943.
Shortly after arriving in Camp Roberts, California, he was assigned to Camp Adair, Oregon, and joined Company A, 362st Infantry Regiment of the 91st Infantry Division. Over the next few months, the regiment participated in education and maneuvers to prepare them for deployment.
“The 91st Infantry Division arrived in North Africa from April 18 to May 10, 1944 and trained extensively in Arzew and Renan, in French Morocco,” says a chronicle of struggle compiled through the Armed Forces from USA Italy on June 19, 1944 “.
The department moved north through Italy and reached the Arno River, where it organized and maintained defensive positions from July 24 to September 12, 1944. While there, he received an extensive education in preparation for an imminent attack on entrenched enemy forces.
An official history of the department states that “on September 12, 1944, the department began its attack on the rapid approaches of the Gothic line. “It was on this date that Lieutenant Heisinger led his platoon in an attack in which he controlled to annihilate fortified enemy positions that hindered his company’s advance. Reports imply that the officer was personally guilty of 4 enemy deaths and the capture of several others.
Later that day, a reconnaissance project near the mountain. Calvi, Italy, Heisinger was wounded by sniper shooting. A nurse came here to provide first aid, but she was also injured. When two infantrymen approached to help, Lieutenant Heisinger ordered them to return to a safe position until the end of the night. Although the attendance came a few hours later, the officer died from his injuries.
“(His) non-public heroism in attacking the fortified enemy, and his ordinary bravery in ordering his men not to threaten their lives to save their lives illustrate the best traditions of the infantry and army of the United States,” read in the quotation. for heisinger’s Pósyme Silver Star Medal.
His body was first buried in an army cemetery in Castelfiorintino, Italy, however, in November 1948, his remains were returned to jefferson City’s network of houses and buried in the city’s Riverview Cemetery.
During a rite on November 11, 1961, the network recalled one of the contributions to the freedom of a fallen local hero when a new US Army Reserve Center was in the process of being able to do so. But it’s not the first time He pledged to a reminiscence of Lieutenant Ralph W. Heisinger on Tanner Bridge Road.
Major General Curtis J. Herrick said in his inaugural address: “We are pleased that the Army has had men with a sense of duty like Lieutenant Heisinger. ” He added: “We pay tribute to him for his service and courage and hope that our education (of the soldiers) here will benefit from his shining example. “
Jeremy P. mick writes on behalf of Silver Star Families of America.