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Down the Road: The Andrew Jackson Higgins National Memorial remembers a native son.

Curt Arens, Editor, Nebraska Farmer

October 7, 2022

7 Slides

Dwight Eisenhower called Columbus, Neb., native Andrew Jackson Higgins “the man who won the war for us.” That’s high praise from the supreme commander of Allied forces at D-Day in World War II.

Higgins designed the innovative landing craft, vehicle, personnel — or LCVP — boats that allowed for amphibious landing of Allied troops, weapons and equipment on the beaches of Normandy in 1944. “If Higgins had not designed and built those LCVPs, we never could have landed over an open beach,” Eisenhower noted.

Columbus roots

Born in Columbus in 1886, Higgins spent his early life around the shallow waters of the Platte and Loup rivers. He built his first boat in the basement of the family home when he was 12. Moving south in 1906 to work in the lumber and boat business, he eventually would hold 30 patents covering amphibious landing craft and vehicles.

He established Higgins Industries Inc. in New Orleans, his company that at one time during the war had designed more than 90% of the vessels being used by the U.S. Navy. Higgins died after a stroke in New Orleans in 1952, and he is buried at Metairie Cemetery.

Dedicated in 2001, the memorial in his name in West Pawnee Park in Columbus is centered around the LCVP designed by Higgins, with statues of soldiers exiting this full-sized boat on a sandy beach. A nearby bronze sculpture depicting male and female soldiers honors the National Guard and Reserves. Another life-sized statue honors Higgins himself.

Freedom Eagle

After the U.S. was struck by terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, pieces of the devastated World Trade Center in New York City were secured and built into a sculpture at the Higgins Memorial, honoring those who were involved in the war against terrorism. A large bronze Freedom Eagle, with a wingspan of 8 feet, towers over the steel sculpture.

Learn more at andrewjacksonhigginsmemorialfoundation.org.

About the Author(s)

Curt Arens

Editor, Nebraska Farmer

Curt Arens began writing about Nebraska’s farm families when he was in high school. Before joining Farm Progress as a field editor in April 2010, he had worked as a freelance farm writer for 27 years, first for newspapers and then for farm magazines, including Nebraska Farmer.

His real full-time career, however, during that same period was farming his family’s fourth generation land in northeast Nebraska. He also operated his Christmas tree farm and grew black oil sunflowers for wild birdseed. Curt continues to raise corn, soybeans and alfalfa and runs a cow-calf herd.

Curt and his wife Donna have four children, Lauren, Taylor, Zachary and Benjamin. They are active in their church and St. Rose School in Crofton, where Donna teaches and their children attend classes.

Previously, the 1986 University of Nebraska animal science graduate wrote a weekly rural life column, developed a farm radio program and wrote books about farm direct marketing and farmers markets. He received media honors from the Nebraska Forest Service, Center for Rural Affairs and Northeast Nebraska Experimental Farm Association.

He wrote about the spiritual side of farming in his 2008 book, “Down to Earth: Celebrating a Blessed Life on the Land,” garnering a Catholic Press Association award.

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