March 27, 1941 - June 6, 1945

On March 27, 1941. Dean Malmgren was drafted by the U .S. army. He had his physical and induction on the 28th, at Fort Douglas. He was part of the first draft in Sanpete County. After his induction, he was sent to Fort Lewis by train. He was part of the 41st Division. They were in training at Fort Lewis until Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. They were afraid that the Japanese would come and attack the coast, so they were scattered all along the coast in Washington and Oregon. 

After guarding the coast for awhile, on April 18, 1942, they loaded on a ship and were sent to Australia. It took about a month to get there. They were sent to Australia because Australia's troops were in South Africa fighting the Germans. They arrived in Melbourne, Australia on March 10, 1942. They stayed in a big empty warehouse. This was the only time he had stayed in a building during his whole military career. The rest of the time, he stayed in a six man tent. The Japanese were already in New Guinea, so they were guarding making sure they didn't attack Australia. Dean's group was part of Battalion Headquarters in the message center, d which was part of the communication section.  He was responsible for using and safeguarding the battalion code machine.  Later he served as the squad leader.

In Australia, tea was rationed.  The crew working around the camp would take a break at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. for tea.  One man would build a fire and put on the can of water.  Each one had to furnish their own tea.  they saw a lot of koala bears in Australia.  The eucalyptus trees were everywhere.  In January of 1943, he was moved up to Buna, New Guinea.  Their job there was to clean up after this area was taken from the Japanese.  In October of 1943, they were moved back to Rockhampton, Australia where they practiced for beach landings.  From there they were shipped back to New Guinea to help chase the Japanese from the coast and cut off supplies for those that went further in land. 

Next the Division minus one regiment was sent to land on Biak Island.  The Japanese had one air strip in use and another under construction, which the U.S. Air Force needed to be closer to their work.  the landing was more complicated than planned as the Japanese were using some deep caves overlooking the air strip.  the ship guns and air force bombs could not penetrate the caves.  They had to be taken with flame throwers.  With this accomplished, they could move forward gain.

One night while marching across the island to secure the unfinished air strip, a group of Japanese tried to use the same trail.  they were met with heavy machine gun fire.  The next morning about a hundred Japanese needed burial.  After about six months on Biak, the 41st Division was shipped to the Philippines.  While there, Dean found he had been chosen for rotation back to the States.  Just one catch, he had to follow the troops in on two more island invasions and unload supplies.  On the island of Zambowango, the Japanese dropped a bomb on a pile of gasoline drums, just unloaded from the ship next to his.  As soon as the unloading was finished, they left.

Dean was on his way home when President Roosevelt died.  He left the ship in San Diego on April 18, 1945, three years to the day from loading to go over seas.  During the two weeks he was home, he got married.  By then, the Germans had surrendered.  Dean had enough points during his four year career that Sergeant Henry Dean Malmgren was discharged at Fort Douglas on June 6, 1945.

Dean was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge, Bronze Star Medal, Good Conduct Medal, American Defense Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Service Medal with three Bronze Battle Stars.