Eckert selected for 35th Division Hall of Fame

A former Jackson County resident who served in the Kansas National Guard during World War II is one of three veterans of the 35th Infantry Division who will be inducted into the 35th Division Hall of Fame, it has been reported.

Col. Richard E. “Dick” Eckert, who served in the Pacific theater during WWII, will be inducted into the 35th Division Hall of Fame alongside Second Lt. Burnett G. Bartley and Major Norvin L. Vogel Sr. at a ceremony to be held at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 12 at 35th Division Headquarters at Fort Leavenworth.

The Hall of Fame itself is located in the 35th Division Museum, part of the Museum of the Kansas National Guard in Topeka.

Born in the Arrington community in western Atchison County, Dick Eckert graduated from Denison High School in 1940 and from Washburn University before his mobilization as a private in Company E, 137th Infantry Division and sent to Camp Robinson, Ark. Eckert completed officer candidate school and the U.S. Army Parachute School at Fort Benning, Ga., in 1943.

Eckert served with the 11th Airborne Division in the Pacific theater as a rifle platoon leader, stationed in the Philippines, Okinawa and Japan during the rest of WWII. He remained in active duty until February 1946, but rejoined the 137th in 1948 and served on the 35th Division staff.

In 1949, Eckert was hired to teach and coach at Netawaka High School, where he coached boys’ baseball and basketball and girls’ basketball, taking his boys basketball team to the state tournament in 1959, 1960 and 1962. He remained active in the Guard until going full-time in 1963 and was promoted to the rank of colonel in July of 1971.

Eckert was later appointed to the position of Chief of Staff-Army for the Adjutant General Kansas Army National Guard and served in that position for nine years before retiring in December 1980 with 40 years of active and reserve service. During his career, he earned the Legion of Merit, the Parachute Badge and the WWII Victory Medal.

He was inducted into the Infantry Officer Candidate Hall of Fame at Fort Benning, Ga., in May 1991 and the Kansas National Guard Hall of Fame in Topeka in November 1991. He was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives 60th District in 1982 and was re-elected in 1984, 1986 and 1988. Eckert died in April 2009.

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