Alan Nathan Dickson

While at the university, Captain Dickson studied mechanical engineering and participated in the drill team and Scabbard and Blade. He was also a member of the Society of American Military Engineers and a member of the Pershing Rifles organization.

He joined the US Army on March 6, 1941, and took courses in maintaining mechanized equipment at the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan, as well as at Fort Ord, California, graduating from his training in November 1941 as a 2nd lieutenant.

Following completion of his training, Dickson was assigned to the 13th Engineer Combat Battalion at Fort Ord and, later, at Camp San Louis Obispo.

Dickson was deployed to the Aleutian Islands in April 1943, where he took part in the Battle of Attu against Japanese forces in Alaska. He was wounded in action during this engagement and received the Purple Heart.

Dickson was promoted to captain and continued to fight with the 13th ECB through their campaigns in the Marshall Islands and Leyte. Sadly, Captain Dickson was killed on Oct. 21, 1944, during the Battle of Leyte. He was survived by a wife, Margaret, and an infant son.

He was initially buried overseas, but his remains were repatriated in 1948. He is buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Madison, Wisconsin.