LEO ARTHUR HOEGH (March 30, 1908 - July 15, 2000) was a decorated U.S. Army officer, lawyer, and politician who served as the 33rd Governor of Iowa from 1955-1957.
Born in Audubon County, Iowa int...view moreLEO ARTHUR HOEGH (March 30, 1908 - July 15, 2000) was a decorated U.S. Army officer, lawyer, and politician who served as the 33rd Governor of Iowa from 1955-1957.
Born in Audubon County, Iowa into a Danish family, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Iowa in 1929 and from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1932. He started private practice in Chariton, the county seat of Lucas County in south central Iowa. In 1936, he was elected as a Republican to the first of his three terms in the Iowa House of Representatives. He resigned from the Iowa legislature when he was called up for duty as a junior officer in the Iowa National Guard in 1942. Rising quickly in the U.S. Army, he became a lieutenant colonel and the operations officer for the 104th Infantry Division, nicknamed the Timberwolf Division, and wrote the operations orders that carried the 104th through to the Rhine and into Germany. For his gallant action during World War II, Hoegh received several decorations, including the Bronze Star with cluster, Croix de Guerre with palm, and Legion of Honor.
At war’s end, when the 104th linked up with the Soviet forces in Germany, Lieut.-Col. Hoegh was in a group that flew behind the Soviet lines in a Piper Cub to establish liaison with Marshal Ivan Konev’s advancing army. In 1946 he wrote a history of the division, Timberwolf Tracks, with Howard J. Doyle. After the war, Hoegh returned to Iowa to resume his law practice in Chariton, and was elected to many civic and business leadership posts. In 1964, Hoegh moved his law practice to Chipita Park, Colorado, where he practiced until his retirement in 1985. He died in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 2000, aged 92.view less