Dale Riordan

RIORDAN BAKER KIRCHNER

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 10/14/2010 at 19:55:33

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

Dale Riordan
By Dale Riordan

Albert Dale Riordan was born March 14, 1920, on a farm two miles east of Pierson, the oldest child of Gladys (Baker) Riordan and Albert H Riordan. He attended the Pierson School and having been interested in mechanics since a child, he became employed at the early age of seventeen at the F H Anderson & Son Chevrolet Garage at Correctionville.

Being drafter into the US Army in October 1942, he left his job only to return to it upon discharge from the service. He was inducted at Ft Crook, Nebraska, and was taken to Leavensworth, Kansas for a few days where he was given Army Fatigues and sent his civilian clothes home. He was then transported to Louisiana by way of a stock train and remained in Louisiana for about three weeks. The days were hot but the nights unusually cold.

They left the port by ship, not knowing their destination. There were many ships in the convoy-one hitting a mine and having part of the ship destroyed. They were on the water for fourteen days. The beds were in the ship’s hold’ but it was shot and crowded so some would sneak out and sleep in the lifeboats which were on deck, covered with canvases because it rained a lot.

The ships entered the ‘locks’ in the Panama Canal at night. He didn’t known until later he was to be stationed there for thirty-six months, some of the time on the ‘locks’, some on the road, and some in the jungle. It rained almost every day and was hot and humid, often 100 degrees. At night it was nice and cool and one needed a sheet for cover.

Dale was a mechanic at the Motor Pool and at one time taught mechanics for over six months. He was also assigned to check vehicles on the road, making sure everything was in running order. He was on gun remount in the jungle also for about six months.

After the World War II was over and the peace treaty signed, the battleship, USS Missouri stopped for a while in the Canal and the men were allowed to view it at a distance. He remained in Panama waiting for a boat to arrive to bring them home. He was fortunate and caught a C54-a converted cargo plane- and landed in Florida in the middle of the night. He then boarded a train, with sleeping births, and was discharged November 1945 in Missouri. Another train brought him to Sioux City.

Upon returning home, he found his job at the F H Anderson & Son Chevrolet Garage waiting for him. While working there he met Effie Kirchner who later became his wife. Dale returned to Pierson and was employed by the E A Karsten Implement Company. Effie Kirchner was employed at the Corn Belt State Bank in Correctionville and after their marriage, September 29, 1946, they resided in Pierson, making their first home on Main Street in a large one-room apartment. They now live on an acreage in the southeast part of Pierson, having purchased it in 1953.

Dale started his own business known as the Riordan Garage in May 1949, and did all the auto repair, small engine and tractor repair. He is semi-retired.

They have two sons:
1( Gary Wayne born August 19, 1950. He married Cindy Lou Harrison, born July 11, 1959, of Kingsley, January 6, 1978. They have one son, Garret Wayne, born January 13, 1979. They had a daughter (stillborn) Shanda Renee, November 23, 1983.
2( Roger Dale born June 29, 1954. He married Debra Lee KLaschen, born September 3, 1956, of Pierson, February 2, 1973. They also have two sons: Billy Dale, born August 27, 1973; and Bobby Lee, born June 25, 1977.
Note: Gary Wayne, died 14 September 2010.