Leif J. Sverdrup
Encyclopedia
Leif Johan Sverdrup was a Norwegian
born, American civil engineer
and general with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his service in the Southwest Pacific Area during World War II
where he was Chief Engineer under General of the Army
Douglas MacArthur
.
The son of a distinguished Norwegian family, Sverdrup emigrated to the United States
in 1914. After serving with the US Army in World War I
, he earned a degree in civil engineering
at the University of Minnesota
in 1921. He worked for a time for the Missouri State Highway Department
before founding Sverdrup & Parcel
, a civil engineering firm specializing in bridge construction, with John Ira Parcel, his former University of Minnesota engineering professor. His firm was involved in the construction of a number of important bridges, including the Washington Bridge
and Amelia Earhart Bridge
over the Missouri River
and the Hurricane Deck Bridge
over the Lake of the Ozarks
.
In 1941, Sverdrup became involved with the construction of a chain of airstrips across the Pacific Ocean
to enable heavy bombers to be delivered to the Philippines
. He was re-commissioned in the US Army as a colonel
in 1942 and became Chief of the Construction Section in General MacArthur's Southwest Pacific Area. In 1942 he made three treks across the Owen Stanley Range
in Papua
and New Guinea
on engineer reconnaissance missions into enemy-occupied territory, for which he was decorated with the Silver Star
and the Distinguished Service Medal
. In 1944 he became the theater's Chief Engineer.
After the war he commanded the 102nd Infantry Division of the US Army Reserve from 1947 to 1958. Sverdrup & Parcel went on to design and oversee the construction of many major projects, including the Arnold Engineering Development Center
and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel
, the latter being named one of the Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World after its completion in 1964. The firm's reputation was later tarnished by the collapse of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge on 1 August 2007.
, Norway
on 11 January 1898, the son of Johan Edvard Sverdrup
, a high school teacher and Lutheran minister, and his second wife Agnes née Vollan. The family was a distinguished one in Norway: Leif was the great-nephew of Johan Sverdrup
, the former Prime Minister of Norway
; the grandson of Harald Ulrik Sverdrup
, the politician; the cousin of Otto Sverdrup
, the Arctic
explorer; the half-brother of the oceanographer
and meteorologist
Harald Sverdrup
; and the brother of the mining engineer and businessman Einar Sverdrup
and women's rights activist Mimi Sverdrup Lunden.
Leif was educated at Nordstrand Middle School and Aars and Voss School in Oslo. Following a quarrel with his father, Leif left Norway for America to stay with his relatives in Minnesota
, the family of his cousin George Sverdrup, the son of the theologian Georg Sverdrup, who had settled in Minneapolis in 1874. Arriving in New York City
on 7 December 1914, he entered Augsburg College
, Minneapolis, in September 1916, and graduated with his Bachelor of Arts
degree in May 1918.
on 26 July 1918. He was posted to Camp Devens, Massachusetts
for training with the 36th Division. While there he took advantage of a regulation waiving the normal five-year residency requirement for members of the armed services seeking to take out US citizenship
. Sverdrup formally took the oath as a citizen in Boston
on 30 September 1918. The US Army then sent him to the Field Artillery's Officer Training Center at Camp Zachary Taylor
, near Louisville, Kentucky
, where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant
on 18 January 1919. The war having ended, Sverdrup was immediately placed in the inactive reserves
. He was honorably discharged after nominally serving two five-year terms on 17 January 1929.
course at the University of Minnesota
in 1919. During the 1921 Spring break
he returned to Norway, where he was reconciled with his father, accompanying his parents on a short holiday in Germany
. He graduated with his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering degree in June 1921. While at the University of Minnesota he met Helen Laura (Molly) Egilsrud, a recent immigrant from Norway like himself. She agreed to marry him, but only after she had graduated, worked for a year, and taken a trip to Europe
. They were finally married on 26 November 1924. Their union produced two sons, Johan Norman (Jack) Sverdrup, born in 1926, and Ralph Lee Sverdrup, born in 1928, who died of encephalitis
in 1932. In the meantime, Sverdrup took a job with the Missouri State Highway Department
. His first major project involved supervising the construction of a bridge for U.S. Route 50 in Missouri
over the Gasconade River
. Around this time, frustrated by Americans who pronounced his name "leaf" instead of "lafe", he started calling himself "Jack".
In 1928, Sverdrup joined with his former University of Minnesota engineering professor John Ira Parcel in the formation of Sverdrup & Parcel
, a civil engineering firm with a speciality field of bridges. Parcel had tenure
at Minnesota for a long time and was reluctant to sever his ties completely, but eventually he decided to join the new company, taking an unpaid Sabbatical from the university for one year. Sverdrup owned 60% and Parcel 40%of the new firm, which opened its doors on 1 April 1928. Most of the company's projects were initially located in the St. Louis, Missouri
area near the company's headquarters. Sverdrup & Parcel's first contract was for the design of a bridge over the Missouri River
at Hermann, Missouri
, for which it received a fee of $33,000. While at the Missouri State Highway Department Sverdrup met D. C. Wolfe and E. R. Grant, and he asked them if they would join the company. Sverdrup subsequently hired design engineer Brice R. Smith from Missouri's leading supplier of bridge components. By 1936, all three would become partners in the firm.
Initially the young firm struggled, with no contracts for major jobs lined up after the Hermann bridge, and by early 1929 it faced insolvency. However neither Sverdrup nor Parcel wished to let well-trained employees go, something which became an informal company policy over the years. A $17,000 fee for the design and supervision of the construction of the 7th Street Trafficway Bridge
in Kansas City, Kansas, and then a $32,000 one for the Fairfax Bridge over the Missouri River helped Sverdrup & Parcel weather the worst of the Great Depression
. The subsequent New Deal
involved a major program of public works. Sverdrup & Parcel applied to the Public Works Administration
for the design commissions for the Washington Bridge
over the Missouri River at Washington, Missouri
and the Hurricane Deck Bridge
over the Lake of the Ozarks
in Camden County, Missouri
. Sverdrup & Parcel was awarded both contracts, valued at $42,000 and $43,000 respectively. During 1934, it was awarded the contract for what is now known as the Amelia Earhart Bridge
over the Missouri River between Atchison, Kansas
and Buchanan County, Missouri
. Sverdrup & Parcel was now becoming involved in projects further afield. A project to generate electricity from tidal power
at Passamaquoddy Bay
brought Sverdrup into contact with Captain Hugh J. (Pat) Casey
of the US Army Corps of Engineers, the chief engineer on the project. The project folded when federal funding was withdrawn in 1936, but Sverdrup and Casey became friends. In 1940, Sverdrup was appointed to the board of inquiry that investigated the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge
.
ordered work to commence on a chain of airstrips to enable heavy bombers to be flown from the United States to the Philippines
. The existing route, via Midway Atoll
, Wake Island
and Guam
was considered to vulnerable to disruption by Japanese forces located on nearby islands. A more secure route via Christmas Island
, Canton Island, Fiji
, Noumea
, Rockhampton
, Darwin
and Fort Stotsenburg
was urgently required. An initial sum of $5 million was allotted to construct three 7000 feet (2,133.6 m) runways at each site, along with appropriate fuel and maintenance buildings. The project was given the highest possible priority rating. On 16 November, Sverdrup arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii
and signed a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract
for architectural and engineering services in connection with the construction of the airstrips on the route that lay in British, French and Australian territory. The contract was soon expanded to include the supervision of the construction. Sverdrup flew to Fiji, and was able to report that work had started at Nadi, Fiji on 21 November. On Noumea he found that hills obstructed the approaches to Tontouta
. Accordingly, he arranged for the Australian workmen there to complete it as an emergency field only and for development of the major airbase to be carried out at Plaine Des Gaiacs Airfield
. Sverdrup was working in Suva
when he heard the news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
. He arrived in Sydney
on 30 December. In January 1942 Sverdrup signed a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide architectural and engineering services to US Army Forces in Australia (USAFIA). The contract remained in force until 15 May, when it was terminated by mutual agreement and Sverdrup & Parcel employees in Australia became civilian employees of the US Army. On 16 April, Sverdrup boarded the first of a series of aircraft that would return him to the United States.
Pat Casey, now the Chief Engineer at General
Douglas MacArthur
's General Headquarters (GHQ) Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA), obtained MacArthur's permission to appoint Sverdrup as the chief of his Construction Section, with the rank of colonel
. On 8 May 1942, in Washington, DC, Sverdrup was directly commissioned as a colonel in the US Army. He was soon on his way back to Australia. Initially, the construction effort focused on bases in northern Australia but after the Battle of the Coral Sea
, MacArthur was convinced that the Japanese would make another attempt to capture Port Moresby
and ordered improvements to the airfields there and the construction of new bases at Merauke
and Milne Bay
in order to cover the approaches to Port Moresby. The July 1942 decision to attack the Japanese base at Rabaul
altered priorities and added a requirement for the development of bases on the northern coast of Papua
around Buna. The commander of Allied Air Forces, Lieutenant General
George Brett called for 12 additional airstrips: four each at Port Moresby, Milne Bay and Buna. Sverdrup estimated that this would take a year, and suggested that either Brett lower his requirements or Casey obtain more engineer units. Casey ordered every available engineer unit to Papua and attempted to reduce the workload by cutting back on airbase facilities, shortening runways from 6000 feet (1,828.8 m) to 4000 feet (1,219.2 m), and substituting Marsden mat
for pavement.
In September 1942, MacArthur decided to outflank Japanese troops on the Kokoda Trail by sending an American regimental combat team
over the Owen Stanley Range
. Two alternate means of crossing the mountains seemed possible. One, the Kapa Kapa Trail
was known to climb to elevations above 9000 feet (2,743.2 m) and present formidable obstacles. The other, known as the Abau Trail held the possibility. Casey and Sverdrup took charge of investigating the Abau Trail. They reached Abau on 18 September. Casey explored the harbor, taking depth soundings from a native canoe. Sverdrup set out for Jaure with a party of one American, two Australians from the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit
, ten native police from the Royal Papuan Constabulary
and 26 native carriers. After eight days on the trail, scaling heights of 5000 feet (1,524 m), Sverdrup concluded that it would not be practical for troops to traverse the route and turned back, reaching Abau on 3 October. Meanwhile Casey had concluded that the harbor was too shallow even for lighters
. However, the trip was not a total loss, for Sverdrup had sighted a plateau north of the Owen Stanley Range that he believed could be suitable for airstrips, allowing troops to be flown across the Owen Stanley Range. His opinion was supported by Cecil Abel, a missionary who knew the area well, who recommended establishing an airstrip at Fasari in the Musa River valley. Abel was flown to Fasari to make a start on an airstrip on 11 October, while Sverdrup set out from Abau with 190 men, including Flight Lieutenant
M. J. Leahy, an expert on Papua, who knew many of the tribal chiefs personally. They reached Fasari on 18 October. Abel had cleared the site by burning and all that remained was some stumping and grubbing. A DC-3 was able to land the next day on the strip, which became known as Abel's Landing. Sverdrup and Leahy set out on 20 October to explore further north and found another suitable airstrip site near the village of Embessa and Kinjaki, which Sverdrup had cleared. A message dropped by air instructed him to go to Pongani
, where he found troops of Company C, 114th Engineer Battalion that had flown to Wanigela airstrip
and had made their way to Pongani by travelling along the coast by boat. Sverdrup supervised the construction of Pongani airstrip
. All three airstrips were soon in use. In December 1942, Sverdrup made a third trip, from the Australian base at Bena Bena through the Markham Valley
to the vicinity of the Japanese base at Lae
. On each expedition he submitted detailed reports on the possibility of construction in the area. Sverdrup was awarded the Silver Star
. His citation read:
Sverdrup was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Service Medal
. His citation read:
(USASOS) was ready to take over. Sverdrup became acting Chief Engineer, GHQ SWPA in Casey's absence. On 12 January 1945, MacArthur personally decorated Sverdrup with the Distinguished Service Cross
. His citation read:
Sverdrup became the first American to be decorated for the Luzon campaign
. MacArthur, in making the presentation, said: "This is the engineer soldier at his best."
Sverdrup was promoted to major general in March 1945. On 6 March 1945, the Engineer Construction Command (ENCOM) was formed under USASOS to handle all military and civilian construction in the Philippines and Sverdrup was appointed to command it. Later in 1945 MacArthur made a more personal gesture. He presented Sverdrup with his personal Gold Castles
insignia, a gift from his father, Arthur MacArthur, Jr.
, on his graduation from the U.S. Military Academy. MacArthur had not worn them since he had transferred to the infantry. He told Sverdrup that "they deserved to be worn by a real engineer" and made him promise that they would not end up in a museum.
to Washington, DC for a series of meetings at The Pentagon
before going on leave. The Surrender of Japan
caused Sverdrup to cut short his leave and return to GHQ in Manila
. On 29 August 1945, Sverdrup landed in Japan. He entered Tokyo
the next day with Casey to find a site for GHQ, which they decided to locate in the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo
. On 2 September, Sverdrup attended the formal surrender aboard the . He received the Legion of Merit
on 21 September before departing for home again the next day.
in 1946. That year it was awarded the contract for a complex of wind tunnel
s at the Arnold Engineering Development Center
, with a fee in excess of $1 million. Sverdrup & Parcel continued, becoming Sverdrup Civil, and more recently Jacobs Sverdrup, a portion of one of the world's largest civil engineering groups. In the 1960s, Sverdrup Civil oversaw the successful design and construction of the additional "parallel trestles" of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel
(CBBT), doubling the non-tunnel sections, adding the capacity of two more lanes and adding emergency turnouts to the bridge-tunnel
facility. The CBBT was still the longest in the world 30 years after Leif Sverdrup and his company completed the original project. However the company image was tarnished in August 2005 by the effect of Hurricane Katrina on the Louisiana Superdome
, which Sverdrup & Parcel had been involved in designing, and the collapse of Sverdrup & Parcel's I-35W Mississippi River bridge across the Mississippi River
at Minneapolis, Minnesota
, on 1 August 2007.
On 3 June 1947, the 102nd Infantry Division was activated as part of the Organized Reserve, with Sverdrup in command. Sverdrup retired from the Army on 31 January 1958, at the age of 60. He attended annual reunions of MacArthur's key officers, held on MacArthur's birthday, starting in 1949. That year Sverdrup was presented with his Commander of the Order of the British Empire by the Australian Ambassador to the United States, Norman Makin
, in a ceremony at the Embassy of Australia in Washington, D.C.
When Sverdrup heard that MacArthur was returning from Japan after being relieved by President
Harry S. Truman
in April 1951, Sverdrup flew to greet him on arrival, along with Hanford MacNider
and William C. Chase
. On 2 May 1975, Sverdrup attended the Engineer Dinner at Fort Belvoir
, Virginia which marked the US Army Corps of Engineers' 200th anniversary and presented MacArthur's Gold Castles insignia to the Chief of Engineers
, Lieutenant General
William C. Gribble, Jr.
.
, a suburb of St Louis, with full military honors. A number of professional organizations also began annual award programs in his honor and memory. The John I. Parcel – Leif J. Sverdrup Civil Engineering Management Award is awarded annually by the American Society of Civil Engineers
. Since 1980, the Sverdrup Medal of the Society of American Military Engineers has been awarded annually in his memory. At Augsburg College, the annual Sverdrup Visiting Scientist Program is endowed by the Sverdrup family and by NASA
through the Minnesota Space Grant Consortium. The business/technology complex at Webster University
's main campus is named after Sverdrup. The building houses the School of Communications and the School of Business and Technology, as well as the May Gallery of art. Camp Sakima at the S-F Scout Ranch is also named for Sverdrup.
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
born, American civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
and general with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his service in the Southwest Pacific Area during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
where he was Chief Engineer under General of the Army
General of the Army
General of the Army is a military rank used in some countries to denote a senior military leader, usually a General in command of a nation's Army. It may also be the title given to a General who commands an Army in the field....
Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...
.
The son of a distinguished Norwegian family, Sverdrup emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1914. After serving with the US Army in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he earned a degree in civil engineering
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
in 1921. He worked for a time for the Missouri State Highway Department
Missouri Department of Transportation
The Missouri Department of Transportation is a state government organization in charge of maintaining public roadways of the U.S. state of Missouri.-External links:*...
before founding Sverdrup & Parcel
Sverdrup & Parcel
Sverdrup & Parcel was an American civil engineering company formed in 1928 by Leif J. Sverdrup and his college engineering professor John I. Parcel. The company worked primarily in a specialty field of bridges. Many of the company's projects were located in the St...
, a civil engineering firm specializing in bridge construction, with John Ira Parcel, his former University of Minnesota engineering professor. His firm was involved in the construction of a number of important bridges, including the Washington Bridge
Washington Bridge (Washington, Missouri)
The Washington Bridge is a cantilevered truss bridge over the Missouri River at Washington, Missouri over which Route 47 passes between Franklin County, Missouri and Warren County, Missouri....
and Amelia Earhart Bridge
Amelia Earhart Bridge
The Amelia Earhart Memorial Bridge is a truss bridge over the Missouri River on U.S. Route 59 between Atchison, Kansas and Buchanan County, Missouri.It was built in 1937–1938 by the Works Progress Administration. It was designed by Sverdrup & Parcel...
over the Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
and the Hurricane Deck Bridge
Hurricane Deck Bridge
Hurricane Deck Bridge is a truss arch bridge located on Lake of the Ozarks in Camden County, Missouri. It carries Missouri Route 5 across the Osage Arm of the lake. It is perhaps one of the most distinctive features on the lake. It is the only truss-type bridge remaining on the lake...
over the Lake of the Ozarks
Lake of the Ozarks
The Lake of the Ozarks is a large reservoir created by impounding the Osage River in the northern part of the Ozarks in central Missouri. Extents of three smaller tributaries to the Osage, the Niangua River, Grandglaize Creek, and Gravois Creek, are included in the impoundment...
.
In 1941, Sverdrup became involved with the construction of a chain of airstrips across the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
to enable heavy bombers to be delivered to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. He was re-commissioned in the US Army as a colonel
Colonel (United States)
In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, colonel is a senior field grade military officer rank just above the rank of lieutenant colonel and just below the rank of brigadier general...
in 1942 and became Chief of the Construction Section in General MacArthur's Southwest Pacific Area. In 1942 he made three treks across the Owen Stanley Range
Owen Stanley Range
Owen Stanley Range is the south-eastern part of the central mountain-chain in Papua New Guinea. It was seen in 1849 by Captain Owen Stanley while surveying the south coast of Papua and named after him. Strictly, the eastern extremity of the range is Mount Victoria , which was climbed by Sir William...
in Papua
Papua (Australian territory)
The Territory of Papua comprised the southeastern quarter of the island of New Guinea from 1883 to 1949. It became a British Protectorate in the year 1884, and four years later it was formally annexed as British New Guinea...
and New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
on engineer reconnaissance missions into enemy-occupied territory, for which he was decorated with the Silver Star
Silver Star
The Silver Star is the third-highest combat military decoration that can be awarded to a member of any branch of the United States armed forces for valor in the face of the enemy....
and the Distinguished Service Medal
Distinguished Service Medal (United States)
The Distinguished Service Medal is the highest non-valorous military and civilian decoration of the United States military which is issued for exceptionally meritorious service to the government of the United States in either a senior government service position or as a senior officer of the United...
. In 1944 he became the theater's Chief Engineer.
After the war he commanded the 102nd Infantry Division of the US Army Reserve from 1947 to 1958. Sverdrup & Parcel went on to design and oversee the construction of many major projects, including the Arnold Engineering Development Center
Arnold Engineering Development Center
Arnold Engineering Development Center is a ground-based flight test facility operated by the US Air Force Materiel Command.-Mission statement:The AEDC mission is to:...
and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel
Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is a long fixed link crossing the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and connecting the Delmarva Peninsula's Eastern Shore of Virginia with Virginia Beach and the metropolitan area of Hampton Roads, Virginia...
, the latter being named one of the Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World after its completion in 1964. The firm's reputation was later tarnished by the collapse of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge on 1 August 2007.
Early life
Leif Johan Sverdrup was born in Ytre SulaSolund
Solund is a municipality in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sogn. Solund is the westernmost island municipality in Norway, and the only municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county that is made up only of islands...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
on 11 January 1898, the son of Johan Edvard Sverdrup
Edvard Sverdrup
Johan Edvard Sverdrup was a Norwegian educator, author and church leader. Edvard Sverdrup was one of the key theologian in the Church of Norway in the first few decades of the 1900s.-Biography:...
, a high school teacher and Lutheran minister, and his second wife Agnes née Vollan. The family was a distinguished one in Norway: Leif was the great-nephew of Johan Sverdrup
Johan Sverdrup
Johan Sverdrup was a Norwegian politician from the Liberal Party. He was the first Prime Minister of Norway after the introduction of parliamentarism. Sverdrup was Prime Minister from 1884 to 1889.- Early years :...
, the former Prime Minister of Norway
Prime Minister of Norway
The Prime Minister of Norway is the political leader of Norway and the Head of His Majesty's Government. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Stortinget , to their political party, and ultimately the...
; the grandson of Harald Ulrik Sverdrup
Harald Ulrik Sverdrup (politician)
Harald Ulrik Sverdrup was a Norwegian priest and politician.He was born at Jarlsberg Manor in Vestfold. His brother Johan Sverdrup would found the Liberal Party and become Prime Minister of Norway in 1884....
, the politician; the cousin of Otto Sverdrup
Otto Sverdrup
Otto Neumann Knoph Sverdrup was a Norwegian sailor and Arctic explorer.-Early and personal life:...
, the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
explorer; the half-brother of the oceanographer
Oceanography
Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...
and meteorologist
Meteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
Harald Sverdrup
Harald Sverdrup
Harald Ulrik Sverdrup was a Norwegian oceanographer and meteorologist who made a number of important theoretical discoveries in these fields. Having first worked in Bergen and Leipzig he was the scientific director of the North Polar expedition of Roald Amundsen aboard the Maud from 1918 to 1925...
; and the brother of the mining engineer and businessman Einar Sverdrup
Einar Sverdrup
Einar Sverdrup was a Norwegian mining engineer and businessman. He was the CEO of the Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani, operating at Svalbard...
and women's rights activist Mimi Sverdrup Lunden.
Leif was educated at Nordstrand Middle School and Aars and Voss School in Oslo. Following a quarrel with his father, Leif left Norway for America to stay with his relatives in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, the family of his cousin George Sverdrup, the son of the theologian Georg Sverdrup, who had settled in Minneapolis in 1874. Arriving in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on 7 December 1914, he entered Augsburg College
Augsburg College
Augsburg College is a selective liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Augsburg was named for the Augsburg Confession, the document of Lutheran belief. The school was founded in 1869 in Marshall, Wisconsin as Augsburg Seminary and moved...
, Minneapolis, in September 1916, and graduated with his Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in May 1918.
World War I
Sverdrup enlisted in the US Army at Fort Snelling, MinnesotaFort Snelling, Minnesota
Fort Snelling, originally known as Fort Saint Anthony, was a military fortification located at the confluence of the Minnesota River and Mississippi River in Hennepin County, Minnesota...
on 26 July 1918. He was posted to Camp Devens, Massachusetts
Fort Devens
Fort Devens is an active United States military installation in the towns of Ayer and Shirley, in Middlesex County and Harvard in Worcester County in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It was named after jurist and Civil War general Charles Devens. The nearby Devens Reserve Forces Training Area is...
for training with the 36th Division. While there he took advantage of a regulation waiving the normal five-year residency requirement for members of the armed services seeking to take out US citizenship
Citizenship in the United States
Citizenship in the United States is a status given to individuals that entails specific rights, duties, privileges, and benefits between the United States and the individual...
. Sverdrup formally took the oath as a citizen in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
on 30 September 1918. The US Army then sent him to the Field Artillery's Officer Training Center at Camp Zachary Taylor
Camp Zachary Taylor
Camp Zachary Taylor was a military training camp in Louisville, Kentucky. It opened in 1917, to train soldiers for U.S. involvement in World War I, and was closed three years later. Its name live on as the Camp Taylor neighborhood of Louisville...
, near Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
on 18 January 1919. The war having ended, Sverdrup was immediately placed in the inactive reserves
Individual Ready Reserve
The Individual Ready Reserve is a category of the Ready Reserve of the Reserve Component of the Armed Forces of the United States composed of former active duty or reserve military personnel, and is authorized under...
. He was honorably discharged after nominally serving two five-year terms on 17 January 1929.
Between the wars
Sverdrup decided to become an engineer and enrolled in a civil engineeringCivil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
course at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
in 1919. During the 1921 Spring break
Spring break
Spring break – also known as March break, Study week or Reading week in the United Kingdom and some parts of Canada – is a recess in early spring at universities and schools in the United States, Canada, mainland China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, the United...
he returned to Norway, where he was reconciled with his father, accompanying his parents on a short holiday in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. He graduated with his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering degree in June 1921. While at the University of Minnesota he met Helen Laura (Molly) Egilsrud, a recent immigrant from Norway like himself. She agreed to marry him, but only after she had graduated, worked for a year, and taken a trip to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. They were finally married on 26 November 1924. Their union produced two sons, Johan Norman (Jack) Sverdrup, born in 1926, and Ralph Lee Sverdrup, born in 1928, who died of encephalitis
Encephalitis
Encephalitis is an acute inflammation of the brain. Encephalitis with meningitis is known as meningoencephalitis. Symptoms include headache, fever, confusion, drowsiness, and fatigue...
in 1932. In the meantime, Sverdrup took a job with the Missouri State Highway Department
Missouri Department of Transportation
The Missouri Department of Transportation is a state government organization in charge of maintaining public roadways of the U.S. state of Missouri.-External links:*...
. His first major project involved supervising the construction of a bridge for U.S. Route 50 in Missouri
U.S. Route 50 in Missouri
In the U.S. state of Missouri, U.S. Route 50 is a major east-west route.-Route description:US 50 enters Missouri from Kansas along Interstate 435 around Kansas City and then it runs concurrently with Interstate 470 to Lee's Summit. It then runs as an expressway to Sedalia. From Sedalia to...
over the Gasconade River
Gasconade River
The Gasconade River is about long and is located in central and south-central Missouri in the United States.The Gasconade River begins in the Ozarks southeast of Hartville in Wright County and flows generally north-northeastwardly through Wright, Laclede, Pulaski, Phelps, Maries, Osage and...
. Around this time, frustrated by Americans who pronounced his name "leaf" instead of "lafe", he started calling himself "Jack".
Sverdrup & Parcel
Sverdrup & Parcel was an American civil engineering company formed in 1928 by Leif J. Sverdrup and his college engineering professor John I. Parcel. The company worked primarily in a specialty field of bridges. Many of the company's projects were located in the St...
, a civil engineering firm with a speciality field of bridges. Parcel had tenure
Tenure
Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...
at Minnesota for a long time and was reluctant to sever his ties completely, but eventually he decided to join the new company, taking an unpaid Sabbatical from the university for one year. Sverdrup owned 60% and Parcel 40%of the new firm, which opened its doors on 1 April 1928. Most of the company's projects were initially located in the St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
area near the company's headquarters. Sverdrup & Parcel's first contract was for the design of a bridge over the Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
at Hermann, Missouri
Hermann, Missouri
Hermann is a city designated in 1842 as the county seat of Gasconade County, Missouri, United States. It is near the center of the Missouri Rhineland and south of the Missouri River. The population was 2,674 at the 2000 census....
, for which it received a fee of $33,000. While at the Missouri State Highway Department Sverdrup met D. C. Wolfe and E. R. Grant, and he asked them if they would join the company. Sverdrup subsequently hired design engineer Brice R. Smith from Missouri's leading supplier of bridge components. By 1936, all three would become partners in the firm.
7th Street Trafficway Bridge
The 7th Street Trafficway Bridge is a one level deck truss bridge over the Kansas River and BNSF Railway tracks on 7th Street.It was built in 1932, It connects the Armourdale district of Kansas City, Kansas, to the east end of the Argentine district of Kansas City, Kansas.In 1970, the bridge was...
in Kansas City, Kansas, and then a $32,000 one for the Fairfax Bridge over the Missouri River helped Sverdrup & Parcel weather the worst of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. The subsequent New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
involved a major program of public works. Sverdrup & Parcel applied to the Public Works Administration
Public Works Administration
The Public Works Administration , part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Recovery Act in June 1933 in response to the Great Depression...
for the design commissions for the Washington Bridge
Washington Bridge (Washington, Missouri)
The Washington Bridge is a cantilevered truss bridge over the Missouri River at Washington, Missouri over which Route 47 passes between Franklin County, Missouri and Warren County, Missouri....
over the Missouri River at Washington, Missouri
Washington, Missouri
Washington is a city on the Missouri River in Franklin County, Missouri, United States. The population was 13,243 at the 2000 census. It is the corn cob pipe capital of the world, with Missouri Meerschaum located in Washington.-Geography:...
and the Hurricane Deck Bridge
Hurricane Deck Bridge
Hurricane Deck Bridge is a truss arch bridge located on Lake of the Ozarks in Camden County, Missouri. It carries Missouri Route 5 across the Osage Arm of the lake. It is perhaps one of the most distinctive features on the lake. It is the only truss-type bridge remaining on the lake...
over the Lake of the Ozarks
Lake of the Ozarks
The Lake of the Ozarks is a large reservoir created by impounding the Osage River in the northern part of the Ozarks in central Missouri. Extents of three smaller tributaries to the Osage, the Niangua River, Grandglaize Creek, and Gravois Creek, are included in the impoundment...
in Camden County, Missouri
Camden County, Missouri
Camden County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. As of 2000, the population was 37,051. Its county seat is Camdenton. The county was organized in 1841 as Kinderhook County and renamed in 1843, for Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, Chancellor of England, and leader of the Whig...
. Sverdrup & Parcel was awarded both contracts, valued at $42,000 and $43,000 respectively. During 1934, it was awarded the contract for what is now known as the Amelia Earhart Bridge
Amelia Earhart Bridge
The Amelia Earhart Memorial Bridge is a truss bridge over the Missouri River on U.S. Route 59 between Atchison, Kansas and Buchanan County, Missouri.It was built in 1937–1938 by the Works Progress Administration. It was designed by Sverdrup & Parcel...
over the Missouri River between Atchison, Kansas
Atchison, Kansas
Atchison is a city situated along the Missouri River in the eastern part of Atchison County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 11,021. It is the county seat and most populous city of Atchison County...
and Buchanan County, Missouri
Buchanan County, Missouri
Buchanan County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. As of 2010, the population was 89,201. Its county seat is Saint Joseph. When originally formed in 1838, the county was named Roberts County, after settler Hiram Roberts; it was renamed in 1839 for James Buchanan, then a U.S....
. Sverdrup & Parcel was now becoming involved in projects further afield. A project to generate electricity from tidal power
Tidal power
Tidal power, also called tidal energy, is a form of hydropower that converts the energy of tides into useful forms of power - mainly electricity....
at Passamaquoddy Bay
Passamaquoddy Bay
Passamaquoddy Bay is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy, between the U.S. state of Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick, at the mouth of the St. Croix River. Most of the bay lies within Canada, with its western shore bounded by Washington County, Maine. The southernmost point is formed by...
brought Sverdrup into contact with Captain Hugh J. (Pat) Casey
Hugh John Casey
Hugh John Casey was a Major General in the United States Army. A 1918 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Casey served in Germany during the Occupation of the Rhineland...
of the US Army Corps of Engineers, the chief engineer on the project. The project folded when federal funding was withdrawn in 1936, but Sverdrup and Casey became friends. In 1940, Sverdrup was appointed to the board of inquiry that investigated the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge
Tacoma Narrows Bridge (1940)
The 1940 Tacoma Narrows Bridge was the first incarnation of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, a suspension bridge in the U.S. state of Washington that spanned the Tacoma Narrows strait of Puget Sound between Tacoma and the Kitsap Peninsula. It opened to traffic on July 1, 1940, and dramatically collapsed...
.
Airbase construction
In October 1941, the War DepartmentUnited States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...
ordered work to commence on a chain of airstrips to enable heavy bombers to be flown from the United States to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. The existing route, via Midway Atoll
Midway Atoll
Midway Atoll is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago, about one-third of the way between Honolulu, Hawaii, and Tokyo, Japan. Unique among the Hawaiian islands, Midway observes UTC-11 , eleven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time and one hour...
, Wake Island
Wake Island
Wake Island is a coral atoll having a coastline of in the North Pacific Ocean, located about two-thirds of the way from Honolulu west to Guam east. It is an unorganized, unincorporated territory of the United States, administered by the Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior...
and Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
was considered to vulnerable to disruption by Japanese forces located on nearby islands. A more secure route via Christmas Island
Kiritimati
Kiritimati or Christmas Island is a Pacific Ocean raised coral atoll in the northern Line Islands, and part of the Republic of Kiribati....
, Canton Island, Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, Noumea
Nouméa
Nouméa is the capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian , Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians,...
, Rockhampton
Rockhampton, Queensland
Rockhampton is a city and local government area in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Fitzroy River, approximately from the river mouth, and some north of the state capital, Brisbane....
, Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
and Fort Stotsenburg
Fort Stotsenburg
Fort Stotsenburg, during the World War II era, was the location of the Philippine Department's 26th Cavalry Regiment, 86th Field Artillery Regiment, and 88th Field Artillery Regiment; along with the Philippine Division's 23rd and 24th Field Artillery Regiments...
was urgently required. An initial sum of $5 million was allotted to construct three 7000 feet (2,133.6 m) runways at each site, along with appropriate fuel and maintenance buildings. The project was given the highest possible priority rating. On 16 November, Sverdrup arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
and signed a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract
Cost-plus contract
A cost-plus contract, also termed a Cost Reimbursement Contract, is a contract where a contractor is paid for all of its allowed expenses to a set limit plus additional payment to allow for a profit. Cost-reimbursement contracts contrast with fixed-price contract, in which the contractor is paid a...
for architectural and engineering services in connection with the construction of the airstrips on the route that lay in British, French and Australian territory. The contract was soon expanded to include the supervision of the construction. Sverdrup flew to Fiji, and was able to report that work had started at Nadi, Fiji on 21 November. On Noumea he found that hills obstructed the approaches to Tontouta
La Tontouta International Airport
La Tontouta International Airport or Nouméa - La Tontouta International Airport is the main international airport on New Caledonia. The airport is in the municipality of Païta, approximately 52 km northwest of Nouméa. In 2006, 415,813 passengers used the airport...
. Accordingly, he arranged for the Australian workmen there to complete it as an emergency field only and for development of the major airbase to be carried out at Plaine Des Gaiacs Airfield
Plaine Des Gaiacs Airfield
Plaine Des Gaiacs Airfield is a former World War II airfield on New Caledonia, Melanesia in the South Pacific. It is located at Plaine Des Gaiacs near the village of Pouembout...
. Sverdrup was working in Suva
Suva
Suva features a tropical rainforest climate under the Koppen climate classification. The city sees a copious amount of precipitation during the course of the year. Suva averages 3,000 mm of precipitation annually with its driest month, July averaging 125 mm of rain per year. In fact,...
when he heard the news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
. He arrived in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
on 30 December. In January 1942 Sverdrup signed a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide architectural and engineering services to US Army Forces in Australia (USAFIA). The contract remained in force until 15 May, when it was terminated by mutual agreement and Sverdrup & Parcel employees in Australia became civilian employees of the US Army. On 16 April, Sverdrup boarded the first of a series of aircraft that would return him to the United States.
New Guinea Campaign
In Australia, meanwhile, Brigadier GeneralBrigadier general (United States)
A brigadier general in the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, is a one-star general officer, with the pay grade of O-7. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general. Brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed...
Pat Casey, now the Chief Engineer at General
General (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, general is a four-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-10. General ranks above lieutenant general and below General of the Army or General of the Air Force; the Marine Corps does not have an...
Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...
's General Headquarters (GHQ) Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA), obtained MacArthur's permission to appoint Sverdrup as the chief of his Construction Section, with the rank of colonel
Colonel (United States)
In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, colonel is a senior field grade military officer rank just above the rank of lieutenant colonel and just below the rank of brigadier general...
. On 8 May 1942, in Washington, DC, Sverdrup was directly commissioned as a colonel in the US Army. He was soon on his way back to Australia. Initially, the construction effort focused on bases in northern Australia but after the Battle of the Coral Sea
Battle of the Coral Sea
The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought from 4–8 May 1942, was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. The battle was the first fleet action in which aircraft carriers engaged...
, MacArthur was convinced that the Japanese would make another attempt to capture Port Moresby
Port Moresby
Port Moresby , or Pot Mosbi in Tok Pisin, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea . It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the southeastern coast of the island of New Guinea, which made it a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43...
and ordered improvements to the airfields there and the construction of new bases at Merauke
Merauke
Merauke is a town considered to be one of the easternmost towns in Indonesia, located in Merauke Regency, Papua province, Indonesia. It is next to Maro River.In 2006 it had a population of 71,838....
and Milne Bay
Milne Bay
Milne Bay is a large bay in Milne Bay Province, southeastern Papua New Guinea. The bay is named after Sir Alexander Milne.The area was a site of the Battle of Milne Bay in 1942....
in order to cover the approaches to Port Moresby. The July 1942 decision to attack the Japanese base at Rabaul
Rabaul
Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the...
altered priorities and added a requirement for the development of bases on the northern coast of Papua
Papua (Australian territory)
The Territory of Papua comprised the southeastern quarter of the island of New Guinea from 1883 to 1949. It became a British Protectorate in the year 1884, and four years later it was formally annexed as British New Guinea...
around Buna. The commander of Allied Air Forces, Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General (United States)
In the United States Army, the United States Air Force and the United States Marine Corps, lieutenant general is a three-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-9. Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general...
George Brett called for 12 additional airstrips: four each at Port Moresby, Milne Bay and Buna. Sverdrup estimated that this would take a year, and suggested that either Brett lower his requirements or Casey obtain more engineer units. Casey ordered every available engineer unit to Papua and attempted to reduce the workload by cutting back on airbase facilities, shortening runways from 6000 feet (1,828.8 m) to 4000 feet (1,219.2 m), and substituting Marsden mat
Marsden Matting
Marsden Matting is standardized, perforated steel matting material originally developed by the United States at the Waterways Experiment Station shortly before World War II, primarily for the rapid construction of temporary runways and landing strips...
for pavement.
Regimental combat team
A regimental combat team was a provisional major infantry unit of the United States Army during the World War II and the Korean War, and of the U.S. Marine Corps to the present day...
over the Owen Stanley Range
Owen Stanley Range
Owen Stanley Range is the south-eastern part of the central mountain-chain in Papua New Guinea. It was seen in 1849 by Captain Owen Stanley while surveying the south coast of Papua and named after him. Strictly, the eastern extremity of the range is Mount Victoria , which was climbed by Sir William...
. Two alternate means of crossing the mountains seemed possible. One, the Kapa Kapa Trail
Kapa Kapa Trail
The Kapa Kapa Trail is a steep, little-used, mountain trail that stretches from the Kapa Kapa village on the south coast of Papua New Guinea, across the extremely rugged Owen Stanley Range, to the vicinity of Jaure on the north side of the Peninsula...
was known to climb to elevations above 9000 feet (2,743.2 m) and present formidable obstacles. The other, known as the Abau Trail held the possibility. Casey and Sverdrup took charge of investigating the Abau Trail. They reached Abau on 18 September. Casey explored the harbor, taking depth soundings from a native canoe. Sverdrup set out for Jaure with a party of one American, two Australians from the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit
Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit
The Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit was a civil administration of Territory of Papua and the Mandated Territory of New Guinea formed on 21 March 1942 during World War II...
, ten native police from the Royal Papuan Constabulary
Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary
The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary is a national police force with jurisdiction throughout all of Papua New Guinea.-History:The RPNGC was formed from two predecessor bodies that existed prior to the independence of Papua New Guinea....
and 26 native carriers. After eight days on the trail, scaling heights of 5000 feet (1,524 m), Sverdrup concluded that it would not be practical for troops to traverse the route and turned back, reaching Abau on 3 October. Meanwhile Casey had concluded that the harbor was too shallow even for lighters
Lighter (barge)
A lighter is a type of flat-bottomed barge used to transfer goods and passengers to and from moored ships. Lighters were traditionally unpowered and were moved and steered using long oars called "sweeps," with their motive power provided by water currents...
. However, the trip was not a total loss, for Sverdrup had sighted a plateau north of the Owen Stanley Range that he believed could be suitable for airstrips, allowing troops to be flown across the Owen Stanley Range. His opinion was supported by Cecil Abel, a missionary who knew the area well, who recommended establishing an airstrip at Fasari in the Musa River valley. Abel was flown to Fasari to make a start on an airstrip on 11 October, while Sverdrup set out from Abau with 190 men, including Flight Lieutenant
Flight Lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. It ranks above flying officer and immediately below squadron leader. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is never shortened to "lieutenant"...
M. J. Leahy, an expert on Papua, who knew many of the tribal chiefs personally. They reached Fasari on 18 October. Abel had cleared the site by burning and all that remained was some stumping and grubbing. A DC-3 was able to land the next day on the strip, which became known as Abel's Landing. Sverdrup and Leahy set out on 20 October to explore further north and found another suitable airstrip site near the village of Embessa and Kinjaki, which Sverdrup had cleared. A message dropped by air instructed him to go to Pongani
Pongani, Papua New Guinea
-History:During World War II, the area around the village was used as a staging area for allied forces for the Battle of Buna-Gona. The United States 126th Infantry Regiment and 128th Infantry Regiment of the 32nd Infantry Division together with Australian 2/6th Independent Company staged in...
, where he found troops of Company C, 114th Engineer Battalion that had flown to Wanigela airstrip
Wanigela Airport
Wanigela Airport is an airport in Wanigela, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea .-History:Built by Australia New Guinea Administrative Unit authorities in July 1942 during World War II. Consisting of a single grassed runway. The airfield was used primarily for transport flights.-Airlines and destinations:...
and had made their way to Pongani by travelling along the coast by boat. Sverdrup supervised the construction of Pongani airstrip
Pongani Airfield
Pongani Airfield was an aerodrome built during World War II at Pongani village Papua New Guinea.Built by native Pongani village men, women and children, under the supervision of Australia New Guinea Administrative Unit officer Jack Wilkinson, cleared a single grass runway built on kunai field...
. All three airstrips were soon in use. In December 1942, Sverdrup made a third trip, from the Australian base at Bena Bena through the Markham Valley
Markham Valley
Markham Valley is a geographical area in New Guinea. It is described as "Flatter than a pancake for miles and miles in all directions, until it runs into the mountains that surround it on three sides" and "Always hot, and usually bone dry." The Highlands Highway runs through the valley. The Markham...
to the vicinity of the Japanese base at Lae
Lae
Lae, the capital of Morobe Province, is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located at the start of the Highlands Highway which is the main land transport corridor from the Highlands region to the coast...
. On each expedition he submitted detailed reports on the possibility of construction in the area. Sverdrup was awarded the Silver Star
Silver Star
The Silver Star is the third-highest combat military decoration that can be awarded to a member of any branch of the United States armed forces for valor in the face of the enemy....
. His citation read:
Distinguished Service Medal (Army)
The Distinguished Service Medal is a military award of the United States Army that is presented to any person who, while serving in any capacity with the United States military, has distinguished himself or herself by exceptionally meritorious service to the Government in a duty of great...
. His citation read:
Philippines Campaign
Sverdrup was promoted to brigadier general in May 1944. In July, Casey was appointed to head the Army Service Command (ASCOM), a special force designed to provide logistical support, establish bases, and run them until the US Army Services of SupplyServices of Supply
The Services Of Supply or "SOS" branch of the Army of the USA was created on 28 February 1942 by Executive Order Number 9082 "Reorganizing the Army and the War Department" and War Department Circular No. 59, dated 2 March 1942. Services of Supply became one of the three autonomous components of the...
(USASOS) was ready to take over. Sverdrup became acting Chief Engineer, GHQ SWPA in Casey's absence. On 12 January 1945, MacArthur personally decorated Sverdrup with the Distinguished Service Cross
Distinguished Service Cross (United States)
The Distinguished Service Cross is the second highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of the United States Army, for extreme gallantry and risk of life in actual combat with an armed enemy force. Actions that merit the Distinguished Service Cross must be of such a high degree...
. His citation read:
Sverdrup became the first American to be decorated for the Luzon campaign
Battle of Luzon
The Battle of Luzon was a land battle fought as part of the Pacific Theater of Operations of World War II by the Allied forces of the U.S., its colony The Philippines, and Mexico against forces of the Empire of Japan. The battle resulted in a U.S. and Filipino victory...
. MacArthur, in making the presentation, said: "This is the engineer soldier at his best."
Sverdrup was promoted to major general in March 1945. On 6 March 1945, the Engineer Construction Command (ENCOM) was formed under USASOS to handle all military and civilian construction in the Philippines and Sverdrup was appointed to command it. Later in 1945 MacArthur made a more personal gesture. He presented Sverdrup with his personal Gold Castles
Gold Castles
Gold Castles is the name of the 14K gold insignia pin handed down from General Douglas MacArthur to his chief engineer Major General Leif J. Sverdrup in 1945, who established a tradition in 1975 that it shall be given to each successive Chief of Engineers of the United States Army Corps of...
insignia, a gift from his father, Arthur MacArthur, Jr.
Arthur MacArthur, Jr.
Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur, Jr. , was a United States Army General. He became the military Governor-General of the American-occupied Philippines in 1900 but his term ended a year later due to clashes with the civilian governor, future President William Howard Taft...
, on his graduation from the U.S. Military Academy. MacArthur had not worn them since he had transferred to the infantry. He told Sverdrup that "they deserved to be worn by a real engineer" and made him promise that they would not end up in a museum.
Occupation of Japan
In August 1945, Sverdrup flew home on MacArthur's private aircraft, the Bataan, accompanying Lieutenant General Richard K. SutherlandRichard K. Sutherland
Richard Kerens Sutherland was a Lieutenant General of the US Army and General of the Army Douglas MacArthur's Chief of Staff in the South West Pacific Area during World War II.-Early life:...
to Washington, DC for a series of meetings at The Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
before going on leave. The Surrender of Japan
Surrender of Japan
The surrender of Japan in 1945 brought hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent...
caused Sverdrup to cut short his leave and return to GHQ in Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
. On 29 August 1945, Sverdrup landed in Japan. He entered Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
the next day with Casey to find a site for GHQ, which they decided to locate in the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo
Imperial Hotel, Tokyo
The Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, Japan, was created in the late 1880s at the request of the Japanese aristocracy to cater to the increasing number of western visitors to Japan. The hotel site is located just south of the Imperial Palace grounds, next to the previous location of the Palace moat...
. On 2 September, Sverdrup attended the formal surrender aboard the . He received the Legion of Merit
Legion of Merit
The Legion of Merit is a military decoration of the United States armed forces that is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements...
on 21 September before departing for home again the next day.
Post-war
Sverdrup returned to Sverdrup & Parcel, but with much less personal involvement than before, as Grant was now running the company, which was incorporatedIncorporation (business)
Incorporation is the forming of a new corporation . The corporation may be a business, a non-profit organisation, sports club, or a government of a new city or town...
in 1946. That year it was awarded the contract for a complex of wind tunnel
Wind tunnel
A wind tunnel is a research tool used in aerodynamic research to study the effects of air moving past solid objects.-Theory of operation:Wind tunnels were first proposed as a means of studying vehicles in free flight...
s at the Arnold Engineering Development Center
Arnold Engineering Development Center
Arnold Engineering Development Center is a ground-based flight test facility operated by the US Air Force Materiel Command.-Mission statement:The AEDC mission is to:...
, with a fee in excess of $1 million. Sverdrup & Parcel continued, becoming Sverdrup Civil, and more recently Jacobs Sverdrup, a portion of one of the world's largest civil engineering groups. In the 1960s, Sverdrup Civil oversaw the successful design and construction of the additional "parallel trestles" of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel
Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is a long fixed link crossing the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and connecting the Delmarva Peninsula's Eastern Shore of Virginia with Virginia Beach and the metropolitan area of Hampton Roads, Virginia...
(CBBT), doubling the non-tunnel sections, adding the capacity of two more lanes and adding emergency turnouts to the bridge-tunnel
Bridge-tunnel
A fixed link, fixed crossing, or bridge-tunnel is a persistent, unbroken road or rail connection across water that uses some combination of bridges, tunnels, and causeways and does not involve intermittent connections such as drawbridges or ferries.The Confederation Bridge was commonly referred to...
facility. The CBBT was still the longest in the world 30 years after Leif Sverdrup and his company completed the original project. However the company image was tarnished in August 2005 by the effect of Hurricane Katrina on the Louisiana Superdome
Effect of Hurricane Katrina on the Louisiana Superdome
The Louisiana Superdome was used as a "shelter of last resort" for those in New Orleans unable to evacuate from Hurricane Katrina when it struck in late August 2005.- Background :...
, which Sverdrup & Parcel had been involved in designing, and the collapse of Sverdrup & Parcel's I-35W Mississippi River bridge across the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
at Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
, on 1 August 2007.
On 3 June 1947, the 102nd Infantry Division was activated as part of the Organized Reserve, with Sverdrup in command. Sverdrup retired from the Army on 31 January 1958, at the age of 60. He attended annual reunions of MacArthur's key officers, held on MacArthur's birthday, starting in 1949. That year Sverdrup was presented with his Commander of the Order of the British Empire by the Australian Ambassador to the United States, Norman Makin
Norman Makin
Norman John Oswald Makin AO , Australian politician, was a Cabinet minister, Speaker of the House of Representatives and diplomat.-Early life:...
, in a ceremony at the Embassy of Australia in Washington, D.C.
Embassy of Australia in Washington, D.C.
The Embassy of Australia in Washington, D.C. is the diplomatic mission of the Commonwealth of Australia to the United States. The chancery is located on Embassy Row at 1601 Massachusetts Avenue NW, at Scott Circle in Washington, D.C....
When Sverdrup heard that MacArthur was returning from Japan after being relieved by President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
in April 1951, Sverdrup flew to greet him on arrival, along with Hanford MacNider
Hanford MacNider
Hanford “Jack” MacNider was a United States diplomat and United States Army General, serving in both World War I and World War II. He was a Scottish Rite Freemason.-Biography:...
and William C. Chase
William C. Chase
Major General William Curtis Chase was an American soldier and General in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his service in the South West Pacific Area during World War II and in the Occupation of Japan....
. On 2 May 1975, Sverdrup attended the Engineer Dinner at Fort Belvoir
Fort Belvoir
Fort Belvoir is a United States Army installation and a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Originally, it was the site of the Belvoir plantation. Today, Fort Belvoir is home to a number of important United States military organizations...
, Virginia which marked the US Army Corps of Engineers' 200th anniversary and presented MacArthur's Gold Castles insignia to the Chief of Engineers
Chief of Engineers
The Chief of Engineers commands the US Army Corps of Engineers. As a staff officer at The Pentagon, the Chief advises the Army on engineering matters and serves as the Army's topographer and the proponent for real estate and other related engineering programs....
, Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General (United States)
In the United States Army, the United States Air Force and the United States Marine Corps, lieutenant general is a three-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-9. Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general...
William C. Gribble, Jr.
William C. Gribble, Jr.
William C. Gribble, Jr. graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1941 and was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers....
.
Legacy
Leif J. Sverdrup died on 2 January 1976 and was interred in Valhalla Cemetery in Hanley HillsHanley Hills, Missouri
Hanley Hills is a village in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 2,101 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Hanley Hills is located at ....
, a suburb of St Louis, with full military honors. A number of professional organizations also began annual award programs in his honor and memory. The John I. Parcel – Leif J. Sverdrup Civil Engineering Management Award is awarded annually by the American Society of Civil Engineers
American Society of Civil Engineers
The American Society of Civil Engineers is a professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. It is the oldest national engineering society in the United States. ASCE's vision is to have engineers positioned as global leaders who strive toward...
. Since 1980, the Sverdrup Medal of the Society of American Military Engineers has been awarded annually in his memory. At Augsburg College, the annual Sverdrup Visiting Scientist Program is endowed by the Sverdrup family and by NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
through the Minnesota Space Grant Consortium. The business/technology complex at Webster University
Webster University
Webster University is an American non-profit private university with its main campus in Webster Groves, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. Webster University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools...
's main campus is named after Sverdrup. The building houses the School of Communications and the School of Business and Technology, as well as the May Gallery of art. Camp Sakima at the S-F Scout Ranch is also named for Sverdrup.