Roy Fagerstrom
Era: World War II
Military Branch: Army
Roy Fagerstrom served during World War II in the U.S. Army from March 15, 1943, until December 24, 1945.
He was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, Glider Unit.
Mr. Fagerstrom enlisted at Fort Snelling, Minnesota and was sent to basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He then went to Louisiana for maneuvers and then to Kentucky before being sent to Boston to board a troopship bound for England. His rank was Sergeant.
His glider unit crossed the English Channel in the fall of 1944 and relieved a Canadian unit in the Netherlands. He and his unit then served throughout Northern Europe and were eventually assigned a patrol in Berlin after the German surrender.
Mr. Fagerstrom was born in 1922 in Duluth, Minnesota, the son of Edward and Alina Fagerstrom.
Source: Veterans’ Memorial Hall veteran history form; veteran reminiscences (below)
“Enlisted in March ’43 at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Then sent down to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, to the 75th Division Basic Training until January, 1944. Then sent to Louisiana for maneuvers and then on to a camp in Kentucky for a month or so, then to Boston to board a troopship to England. We then were assigned to the 82nd Glider Unit.
“On D-Day we waited on tarmac whether we were needed. We continued training at Leicester until fall when, in gliders, we flew across the channel and landed in the Netherlands to relieve a Canadian Unit at Nijmegan Bridge. We were at ‘clean-up’ of the Battle of the Bulge. We were involved in checking the Germans surrendering at the end of war.
“We were assigned to patrol a section of Berlin. Many close calls not to mention here. We arrived home for Christmas, 1945.”
