Obituary of Colonel Harold G. DeArment

Harold Griswold DeArment, 96, passed away on April 11, 2018 at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, Florida. He was born on September 21, 1921 in Bessemer, Pennsylvania to Roy and Mearl DeArment.. He graduated from Bessemer High School, and, before West Point, attended and played football at Youngstown State. When he entered West Point he both wrestled and played football where his powerful and determined play as a fullback earned him the lifelong nickname "Tank". He graduated on D-Day, June 6, 1944, with a BS in Electrical Engineering. He later earned an MS in Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. After West Point Harold joined the 42nd "Rainbow" Infantry Division as an artillery officer. He fought in southern France and Germany. He was among the soldiers who discovered and liberated the Dachau Concentration Camp on April 29, 1945. Immediately after the German surrender, he was stationed in Salzburg Austria administering displaced persons camps that resettled refugees, including thousands of Jewish refugees striving to go to Israel. During his military career, he served in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Alabama (Air Force Command and Staff School), Korea, West Germany, Pennsylvania (US Army War College) and Virginia at the Pentagon. During the Vietnam War, he commanded the largest artillery group in Vietnam, with batteries all across the center of the country. He retired from the Army in 1970. Among the military awards he received were the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star with a V for Valor and two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Legion of Merit with an Oak Leaf Cluster and the Air Medal with 17 Oak Leaf Clusters. After retirement, he joined the American Kennel Club in New York as an Assistant to the President where he undertook the computerization of the AKC's records. He has a long connection to the AKC having raised purebred collies for many years. He and his wife Elizabeth DeArment divorced in 1977. After the AKC project, he worked as a real estate broker in Virginia and taught graduate and undergraduate courses for the University of Southern California. In 1980 he and his second wife Diana moved to St. Petersburg, Florida where he continued to work as a real estate broker. He was an avid golfer and with Diana he played golf until he was 94. During his Florida golfing years, he was lucky enough to have two holes-in-one. He and Diana raised more than 200 orchids, and he served as President of the Florida West Coast Orchid Society. He is survived by his beloved and devoted wife of 38 years, Diana DeArment of St Petersburg, Florida; two sons, Roderick (Ann Marie) DeArment of Boyce , Virginia and Shawn (Michele) DeArment of Nokesville, Virginia; three grandchildren, Andrea (Evan) Parke of Kensington, Maryland, Clayton (Serra) DeArment of Richmond, Virginia and Danielle (Terence) Donohue of Boyce, Virginia; and five great-grandchildren, Nathaniel and Nadia Parke; Samuel and Nora Donohue and William DeArment. He was predeceased by his eldest son, Harold DeArment, Jr., but survived by Harold Jr.'s widow Laura Kuest of Kensington, Maryland. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent in Harold's name to the Huguenot Church, P.O. Drawer 917, Charleston, South Carolina 29402 or the Tampa Bay SPCA, 9099 130th Ave N., Largo, Florida 33773. A visitation will be held on Monday, April 23rd at 6pm at Anderson-McQueen Funeral Home 2201 Dr. MLK Jr St N. St. Petersburg 33704. Condolences may be made to www.andersonmcqueen.com.