Meet your neighbor and Veteran Jerald Boyd, drafted into the United States Army on October 3, 1951.
He and his good friend from La Harpe, Bob Lefler, took basic training together at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky. Jerald was then flown to Seattle, Washington where he boarded a troop ship and sailed to Anchorage, Alaska.
When he arrived in Anchorage he then boarded a train that took him to Fairbanks, Alaska. He was then stationed at the Ladd Air Force Base where he remained for a year and a half.
During his time there he was a mail clerk for Company A. He felt that this position suited him best out of any of the other duties he had.
"The winters had very short daylight hours and the coldest temperatures were 65 degrees below zero." " It was rainy, cold and generally miserable." he had written home to his parents Mr. and Mrs. Walter Boyd.
Cpl. Boyd was released from active duty to stand-by reserves at Camp Carson, Colorado on September 26, 1953. Gerald was discharged from the reserves on April 2, 1960.
Jerald and his wife Clara Jean live in La Harpe and have two married daughters, Diane Painter, Terre Haute and Susan English, Cedar Rapids, IA.