Bert Richard Noorda was born on January 8, 1919 in Ogden, Utah. His parents Bertus and Alida were born in Holland and Utah, respectively. His father worked as a wholesale drug company shipping clerk. Bert had two younger sisters, and one younger brother. By 1940 Bert had completed four years of high school. He was serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which began in Holland but was moved to the eastern United States after the war in Europe started.

He married Arline Hurt of Richmond, Virginia. They had one son.

He was drafted into the army on June 6, 1942. He became a private first class in Company G, 2nd Battalion, 322nd Infantry Regiment, 81st Infantry Division (nicknamed "Wildcat"). His service number was 39027028. The 81st ID left for Hawaii in June 1944. Pfc. Noorda first saw action at Angaur Island on September 17, 1944 as part of the operation to seize the Palau Island chain.

The Japanese put up stiff resistance even though outnumbered seven to one. By the end of the first week of October, all major resistance was wiped out, but the remaining Japanese who would not surrendered, continued to ambush, snip or set booby-traps to inflict casualties. Pfc Noorda was felled by one of these causes on October 14, 1944. The island was finally declared secure eight days later at a cost of 260 dead Americans.

His grave is at Aultorest Memorial Park in Ogden, Utah. I don't know what happened to his widow or son.

Bert's younger brother Ray served in the navy during the war working on radar systems. In 1983 Ray founded Novell which was an early PC software leader in the 1980s. Ray was often in the news as Novell CEO, often in conflict with Microsoft's Bill Gates.

Thank you Pfc. Noorda for your sacrifice.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

References: Ancestry.com, Findagrave.com

Bert R Noorda