Ogden Rafferty Dalrymple

CPL in 603rd Engineer Camouflage Bn : Co D

ASN#12088727

Born 1908 in NY, Died 1991

Artist

County of residence at enlistment: New York County, NY

Other residence(s): New York, NY; Ann Arbor, MI; New Haven, CT; Mexico City, Mexico; Sioux Falls, SD

United States Army, did not accompany the unit to Europe

College education before the war: Univ. of Michigan, Yale

College education after the war: Cranbrook Academy of Art

Notes: Transferred to the 606th Engineer Camouflage Battalion and served in Europe with that unit; achieved the rank of S/SGT

Source: 603rd Camouflage Engineer Roster provided by W. Anderson; Bernie Mason Company D Roster

Ogden Dalrymple was born on March 5, 1908 in Manhattan, NY, the middle of three children. His father owned a lumberyard, but by the 1930s had become a concert manager and impresario.

He graduated from George Washington High School in New York City in 1928 (where he drew cartoons for the school newspaper) and then enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1931 to study art and compete on the swim team.

He was one of 102 participants in the 1932 Olympic swimming trials, held in Cincinnati, OH in his sophomore year. While he did not make the team in his specialty, the 100-meter freestyle, he did achieve some notoriety for beating Duke Kahanamoku in his heat at the trials. (Kahanamoku had won the gold in the 1912 and 1920 Olympics, and finished second to Johnny Weissmuller in 1924.) In 1934, he and his Michigan teammates set a New England AAAU record in the 400-yard freestyle relay, and in 1935 they won the national intercollegiate title in the 300-yard medley relay, setting a new American record in the process.

After graduating from Michigan in 1935, he went on to study at Yale School of Fine Arts, finishing a six-year BFA program, with a focus on sculpture, in five years. (His performance there earned him a merit scholarship after completing only one semester of his education.) After graduating in 1940, he spent a year working at the NYC Loft Studio, and he registered for the draft on October 16, 1940 while he was still living in New York. In 1941, he relocated to Mexico City where he met the leading Mexican muralists, including Diego Rivera, and did poster art and other freelance work there. His idyll in Mexico was cut short when he enlisted on June 27, 1942, and, like many other New York artists, he was assigned to the 603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion.

By 1943, or so, he had been transferred to the 606th Engineers, so did not go to Europe with the Ghost Army. He spent two years doing camouflage work, training and teaching stateside, and finally was sent to Germany where he recalls that he did exactly one-half day of camouflage work, teaching a tank outfit how to hide their equipment.

He was discharged on October 7, 1945. Then he used his GI Bill benefits to study at the prestigious Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. There he met a man named Palmer Eide, who was a member of the art faculty at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD, and Eide convinced Ogden to come and teach at Augustana, which he did in the fall of 1946.

Ogden married Janet Snyder on July 3, 1954, in Rock Valley, IA. They would go on to have four daughters: Madeleine, Georgina, Kathryn, and Maggie. All four of them would graduate from Augustana.

He would remain an assistant/associate professor of art there until 1973, and then an artist in residence until his death in 1991. He was also well-known in the wider arts community of Sioux Falls through his vocations as teacher, patron, and commissioned artist. Although his talents included drawing, painting, and design, his most enduring work was in carving, medals/medallions, and sculpture. The official mace he carved is still used in all Augustana College processions, and his work is installed in many buildings across the campus and in several area churches. First Congregational Church in Sioux Falls is the home of his only known mosaic, positioned above the six wooden panels he carved for the church's main portal.

His medallions earned widespread recognition with exhibits in New York, Paris, and Florence. He gained national attention in 1974 for his commemorative medal honoring composer Charles Edward Ives, and also for the US Treasury's selection of his design as a semifinalist in the American Bicentennial Coinage competition.