David Carl Hedlund

He graduated from Moline High School in 1942 as an honor student, and was admitted to Augustana College in nearby Rock Island, Illinois. He started college classes in 1942, but like most men in his high-school class, he was drafted into the Army a few months later.

After Army training, Dave was shipped to Normandy, France in mid-1944, about a month after D-Day. He served first as a rifleman and later on a mortar squad, fighting across France and into the Low Countries. In November 1944, while in in northern Luxemburg, his mortar squad was hit by enemy artillery, and his right arm was severed. Initially his mother was told that he was MIA, but later she received another telegram that he was in an Army hospital. He spent more than a year in 7 different Army hospitals in France, England, and the U.S. while his right arm was partially mended. After an Honorable discharge in 1946, he returned to Augustana College on the G.I. Bill, graduating in Geology in 1951. He went on to earn his Masters and a PhD in Geology from the University of Wisconsin.

Dave joined the U.S. Geological Survey and worked mainly in the southwestern U.S. -

Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada. He was with them for 30 years. Many of his projects involved basic quadrangle mapping, minerals assessments including uranium, and studies of the Nevada Test Site. In the early 1970’s he spent two years with the U.S. G.S. in Brazil, evaluating chromite deposits. He authored or co-authored at least 19 professional publications for USGS, a list of which can be viewed here: https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/search?q=david+hedlund.

When asked, what his favorite assignments sere, he said his very favorite was Brazil, followed by the mapping of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison area. He retired from the U.S.G.S. in the mid-1980’s.

David married Margaret Cahill in the 1960’s. They had a lovely home and resided in Golden, Colorado, and had no children of their own. She predeceased David in 1997 and he was heartbroken to loose her.

In the spring of 1998, David was taking a cruise of Scandinavia and met a beautiful young woman reading a book on a park bench in Oslo, Norway. He fell in love and won her heart, and in 2001 he married Ingrid Thomassen Brierly of Norway. Ingrid remains in Norway with her son and daughter.

He dearly loved his time at, and often spoke of his professors and experiences at Augustana College, and also at the University of Wisconsin.

David asked that in lieu of flowers, please send donation to his beloved Augustana College in his name: https://www.augustana.edu/giving