Counselor's Corner: Local Scholarships

Colonel Delbert Townsend

Colonel Delbert L. Townsend Biography

Townsend Scholarship

by Sharee Dempewolf and Krickit Steinmetz

February 22, 2006

Delbert L. Townsend was born April 6, 1921, in Norcatur, Kansas. He spent his early childhood days on a farm near Danbury, Nebraska. He attended school for the first ten grades at Danbury and then attended Decatur Community High School where he graduated in May 1938. He remained out of school for just over a year working at various jobs from a farm near Kearney, Nebraska, to the dam in Ogallala, Nebraska.

Col. Townsend, Commander of the 16th Aviation Group, Americal Division at his desk in South Vietnam, August 1969

In August 1939, he enrolled at Kansas State College and graduated in December 1942 with a degree in Agriculture Economics. He entered the U.S. Army in early January 1943. In May 1943, he was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant of Infantry and joined Company A, 194th Glider Infantry, 17th Airborne Division at Camp Mackall, North Carolina. He completed glider training at camp Mackall and the Parachute School at Camp Forrest, Tennessee. He was shipped over to England in August 1944 with the 17th Airborne Division to join the war effort in Europe.

On January 7, 1945, he was wounded during the Battle of the Bulge and spent nearly two months in the hospital in England. He returned to Company A, 194th Glider Infantry just in time to make the Rhine River crossing in a CG4A Glider. He remained with Company A until VE Day.

With the end of the war in Europe, he transferred to the 82nd Airborne Division in June 1945 for a short tour of duty in Berlin. He returned to the States with the 82nd Airborne for the big parade in New York City in January 1946. Following the parade he moved with the Division to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he spent the next five years in various airborne assignments. He accepted his regular army commission in February 1947.

Col. Douglas P. Fraizer, Deputy Secretary to the General Staff, and Col. William Applegate pinning the eagles on Col. Townsend, Nov. 16, 1966

The remainder of his military service was standard for a career officer. He completed the Advanced Infantry School, the Command and General Staff College, and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. The school assignments were integrated into another tour of duty in Europe and Berlin, thirteen months in Korea, a three-year stint with the ROTC at the University of Kansas, and nearly twelve years in the Pentagon in three separate tours. He did manage to spend a year at Fort Rucker, Alabama, learning how to fly an airplane and a helicopter. This was followed by two tours of duty in Vietnam with the 52nd Aviation Battalion and the 16th Aviation Group.

He retired from the U.S. Army on July 1, 1973, as a Colonel after nearly thirty-one years of service.

The awards that he has received include the Glider and Parachute Wings, Senior Pilot Wings, Combat Infantry Badge, and three battle stars for service in Europe. Decorations include the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Purple Heart, four awards of the Legion of Merit, two Bronze Stars, two Army Commendation Medals, several Air Medals, and three Vietnamese Army decorations. He completed sixty-eight parachute jumps and logged over 2,500 hours of flight time as a pilot.

Following active duty and an eleven-year tour of the retail sales arena, he has been active in local civic and community activities. His major accomplishment to date has been the establishment of the Colonel Delbert L. Townsend Scholarship Program at the University of Nebraska Foundation and at the Kansas State University Foundation. Both programs have been completely funded and will support eight recipients at each university on an annual basis. Each scholarship is for eight semesters and currently provides approximately $3,000 each year for tuition, books, and fees, and approximately $1,200 toward the one-time purchase of a personal computer. Today, the pipeline is full (two seniors, two juniors, two sophomores, and two freshmen) at each university. As of 15 May, 2006, nine Townsend Scholarship recipients have graduated from the University of Nebraska and four from Kansas State University.