Hugh Lampert: local guy who heeded Uncle Sam’s call

Over 80 years ago marked the end of the Second World War. As history becomes more distant, Hugh Lampert’s legacy remains intact. An ordinary boy’s life changed quickly when he became a service member. Like the thousands of young men who served from Minnesota during the war, Lampert’s story of serving under Patton’s command is one of those stories not fully told until now.
Just two weeks after graduating high school, Lampert was drafted into the Army on June 30, 1943. As he said, “he was selected by Uncle Sam.” He reported to Fort Snelling for two weeks before being shipped off to Fort Wallace, which is between Galveston and Houston, Texas. Hugh received his basic training at Fort Wallace and then was transferred to Fort Bliss, Texas. Around Christmas time that year, a movie star and idol of Hugh’s, Ginger Rogers, came to the camp but according to his memoir, when he saw her up close, he was turned off due to the amount of makeup and powder on her face.
Both of Lampert’s brothers, Blair and Len, were drafted in the service at the onset of World War II.
Lampert was shipped off to Camp Bowie where he officially became part of the 4th Army. In other words, the company was referred to as ordinance evacuation. He received instruction on how to drive all the vehicles the army had.
Lampert was shipped out of Boston Harbor on the British liner H.M.S. Sythia. Once he arrived in England, Lampert was stationed in Liverpool and Taunton. The 4th Army was reassigned to the 3rd Army under General George S. Patton. He was then sent to Cherbourg, France where, as they entered the harbor, one of the ships hit a mine killing all the English crew. In Metz, France, Hugh saw Charles De Gaulle from a distance driving by.
As the Battle of the Bulge went on, Lampert was about to volunteer to fight but then one of his sergeants talked him out of doing it. A man from Minneapolis named Mealhouse was transferred to the infantry and died shortly after volunteering to fight. Lampert and his fellow soldiers were ordered to move an ammo dump to a safer location during this time. He remembered having to pick up debris and finding burned bodies mangled in the equipment.
Lampert was transferred to Zirndorf, Germany where he was until the war’s ending. He was able to visit King Ludwig’s castle on the Chem zee but more notable for him was seeing Hitler’s Eagle Nest in Berchtesgarden. Herman Goering’s house was right below but did not have as good of views, Lampert said. Allied shelling had damaged much of it along with an S.S. barracks. A day after Dachau was liberated, Lampert opted to not see it but remembered his fellow companymen wishing they had not gone to see the aftermath of the camp.
Following the war, Lampert was assigned to be the driver for the head of the 3rd Army ordinance where he would drive on the Auto Bohn between Munich and Nuremberg. A fond memory was when they arrived at a collection point where German equipment was being assembled. Lampert described the moment in his memoir when he saw Patton: “He insisted on walking through ankle deep mud while wearing his brown polished cavalry boots. I saw him climb up on tanks and open their hatches to check the inside. He opened breaches on artillery pieces and inspected them.”

CENTRAL HIGH GRADUATE
Hugh Martin Lampert was born Jan. 17, 1924 in Thief River Falls, and died on Sept. 10, 2025, at Johanna Shores in Arden Hills.
Lampert moved to Saint Paul when he was two months old into a house near Ramsey Hill. He attended Groveland Park Grade School after transferring from Randolph Heights Grade School. He would hike and bike ride at the Highland Tower, Minnehaha, and the Ford Bridge. He would go to the Grandview theater nearly every Saturday for the matinee.
Lampert attended St. Paul Central High School and played varsity baseball, basketball, and football lettering in basketball three times.
Following Lampert’s discharge from the Army, he returned home and helped his father out with accounting for a short time before deciding to go to college. He went to St. Thomas his first two years and then transferred to Macalester for his remaining two years of undergrad, majoring in business administration. He played intramural basketball and recalled a scrimmage against the Minneapolis Lakers in which they “beat the pants off of us with no sweat.”
He would soon meet his future wife Jan Olson on a blind date. Olson went to the University of Minnesota. Friends of theirs had arranged the date and Lampert said of Jan that she “was truly something very special. She was attractive, intelligent, healthy, religious, extroverted, etc. She had all the attributes I wanted for a lifelong companion and wife.” After being together for over a year, Lampert proposed and they were married on June 12, 1950, at Hamline United Methodist Church. They had three children: David, Nancy, and Wendy.
Lampert worked with many firms and this led him to getting his role at the U of M where he was in charge of buying supplies, including building supplies, athletic wear and more to keep the university going.
Lampert recounted an experience at the admissions office during the Vietnam war protests where he worked to keep everyone calm when outside protesters were trying to get in. One of them had a handgun.
He retired from the U of M in 1988 and worked on renovation of the cabin with family and friends before selling his house in Roseville and then moving to the cabin at Big Lake in 2001.
When reflecting on how family was a big part of his life, Lampert said, “I feel our experience was a miracle with our marriage and our three children, and we feel very blessed.”