Obituary of Colonel Henry Settle

COL. Henry C. Settle, U.S. Army, Retired, of Santa Cruz died August 8, 2012. He was born in Atlanta, GA, on January 5, 1911, and shortly thereafter moved to Maryville, Tennessee, which Henry called his home town and state. He attended Maryville College and the University of Tennessee, with a major in engineering. At the age of 16, he entered the Army National Guard as a private, was promoted to sergeant after six years, and soon thereafter was commissioned as an officer. While in the National Guard, his civilian jobs included restaurant work and then a machinist with Alcoa Aluminum. After joining the Field Artillery, he was called to active duty in 1941 and he was promoted to Major. In early 1942, he left New York for London, a journey taking 26 days. In London, he served in the European Theatre Headquarters and usually slept through all the night bombings and rocket attacks launched by Germany. One of his duties there was supervising a group of thirty members of the Women's Army Corps, an enviable job at the time. In 1943, he was re-assigned to France and returned to the United States on a Liberty Ship in 1945, several months after Victory in Europe Day. In June 1946, he married Joyce Ireland and honeymooned in Cuba. He then served at Fort Bragg, spent eighteen months in the Korean War, and was involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis while stationed at Fort Jay in New York City. His last assignment was at Camp Roberts, just north of Paso Robles, CA. During his army career, he earned many awards and medals, including the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Army Achievement Award, and the Order of Santa Barbara. After retiring from the Army with 39 years of service, he and Joyce moved to Santa Cruz in 1967. He was the Purchasing Agent for Santa Cruz City Schools, did volunteer work preparing income tax returns for seniors, and won many blue ribbons at the Santa Cruz County Fair for his plants and flowers. He was a member of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, Sons In Retirement, the Military Officers Association of America, and the Elks. Full military funeral honors will be held at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA at a later date.