Col. Jerry Meyer was our speaker on November 10, 2023 at Lincoln South Rotary Club. The topic was The Higgins Boat.
Jerry is the historian for the National Guard and well known for his expertise on Andrew Higgins and the Higgins boat.
A quote from Dwight D. Eisenhower:
"Andrew Higgins is the man who won the war for us. ...If Higgins had not designed and built those LCVP's , we never could have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different."
We had a timely presentation at Lincoln South Rotary Club on 11-10-23 by Col. Jerry Meyers - an expert on Higgins. His stories were amazing - his passion for preserving this history was honest. He announced that a documentary would be airing on Veterans Day - Saturday 11-11-23 - about the Higgins Boat.
Col. Meyer was a teacher in Columbus for a number of years. He and his students worked together to create the Andrew Higgins Memorial Park in Columbus. The students helped raise funds and build the memorial. It includes a steel replica of a Higgins boat surrounded by sand. The sand includes grains from many of the beaches where the Higgins boat landed during commission.
Andrew Higgins was born in Columbus, Nebraska - the youngest of 10 children. At the age of 7, his father passed away. His mother moved the family to Omaha. Andrew was always getting in trouble and asked to leave every one of the schools he tried to attend in Omaha. At the age of 16 his mother enrolled him in the National Guard. He thrived in that environment - the structure and discipline - and he became an officer early in his military career.
He landed in Louisiana and was in the lumber business. He found himself researching how to build a boat - of wood - to navigate the swamps in the area. He discovered a design that became the basis for the design of the amphibious Higgins boat which became critical to landing on beach areas during World War II. Designed with an unloading ramp, it allowed troops to unload on beaches - such as Normandy.
There were over 23,000 Higgins boats built and used during World War II, the Korean War and the Viet Nam War. Now there are only about 16 remaining that are displayed in museums around the world.
One of the remaining Higgins boats was discovered in Lake Shasta in California. It was determined that this particular Higgins boat had made port in Sicily. Among the soldiers on that boat - for that landing - was John Cattle of Seward, Nebraska. Seward and the relative of Cattle wanted the boat in Seward to be placed in the National Guard Museum.
Backed by the Cattle family, much coordination with Col. Meyer, donated services and hundreds of volunteer hours made that happen. Many of the volunteers were specialists that knew how to handle all aspects of the retrieval, transport and delivery of the boat.
The retrieval drew the interest of many including The Craftsman ( Eric Hollenbeck) who has created a documentary. And they were contacted by the New York Times for an interview and photos.
The boat was transported from California to Nebraska. It was in Seward on July 4 for dedication. And, they traveled to Columbus on July 5. That was a special trip to thank the community of Columbus for their work in creating the Higgins Memorial Park.
The boat was then returned to Seward and placed in the National Guard Museum where it is currently being restored.
BIO
Colonel Meyer was born and raised in Iowa. He is a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa, where he earned a bachelors’ degree in History and Wayne State College where he earned a masters’ degree in curriculum and instruction. He joined the Iowa National Guard in 1984 as a UH-1 “Huey” crew-chief. He later enrolled in ROTC and was commissioned in 1987. He has served in numerous capacities such as company commander, battalion commander and his last assignment was the G-4 in charge of logistics for the Nebraska National Guard. He has earned the crew member wings, airborne and air assault wings over his career. Colonel Meyer served in Afghanistan on three deployments and was awarded the Joint Commendation Medal and two Bronze Stars.
As a teacher at Columbus High School he was the designer of the Andrew Jackson Higgins National Memorial, a student project and a tribute to the WWII boat-builder and to all the veterans who participated in amphibious landings in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
Colonel Meyer is the currently the Nebraska National Guard historian. He is helping oversee the construction of new rooms and exhibits at the Nebraska National Guard Museum in Seward.
He is married to the former Mary Sullivan. They have three children: Jacob, Joshua and Meghan.
