Ardery, Edward R.., COL

Edward Rice "Ted" Ardery, 85, a retired Army colonel who served in three wars and later built power plants for Pepco, died of cancer June 9, 2006, at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington. He was an Alexandria, Virginia, resident. Colonel Ardery was born in the District and graduated from Culver Military Academy in Indiana in 1939. He received a bachelor's degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1943 and a master's degree in civil engineering from MIT in 1949.

 
During the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, he was commander of A Company, 3rd Army, 11th Armored Division, 56th Armored Engineer Battalion. The 11th Armored Division met elements of the 1st Army in Belgium, ending Nazi attempts to reach Antwerp to divide the Allied forces and retake Belgium and Luxembourg.
 

After the division liberated the Mauthausen and Gusen concentration camps near Linz, Austria, Colonel Ardery organized care for the survivors. He remained in Europe after the war to aid reconstruction projects, including replacement of many of the bridges destroyed during fighting.
 

From 1947 to '48, he worked with Navy surveyors aboard the icebreaker USS Edisto as an observer in Antarctica for a development project code-named Operation Windmill. The mission was to determine whether wheeled planes could land on the continent. He discovered 50 years later that an island surveyed during the expedition was named for him. Ardery Island is a Specially Protected Area for petrels, a kind of bird.
 

During the Korean War, Colonel Ardery was assigned to the Korean Military Advisory Group. During the Vietnam War, he oversaw maintenance and repair of U.S. facilities throughout Vietnam as chief of Facilities Divisions with 8th Army Headquarters.
 

Shortly after retiring from the military in 1973, he joined Rummel, Klepper and Kahl Consulting Engineers, for which he supervised construction of Metro's Farragut North Station and adjacent tunnels. From 1975 to 1994, he was manager of construction for Pepco and was involved with construction of plants.
 

After retiring a second time, he was involved with several professional organizations, serving on committees dealing with construction and safety issues and publishing articles and papers. He also played golf, bicycled and skied and, in his eighties, was a medal winner in various ski races in Colorado. His wife, Muriel Moran Ardery, died in 1999.
 

Survivors include five children, Edward P. Ardery of Arlington, Ann B. Ardery of Alexandria, Richard C. Ardery of Bethesda, Joan Ardery Sullivan of Potomac and Lisa J. Ardery of Atlanta; a sister; and five grandchildren.

In Memoriam

Col. Edward R. (Ted) Ardery
United States Army, Retired
 

Immediate Past President Ted Ardery A56ENG passed away on Friday, June 9, 2006 at the age of 85, following a lengthy illness. He was born on October 2, 1920 in Washington D.C., the son of a US Army Engineer. After attending Quaker and Military High Schools, he entered the US Military Academy at West Point in 1939. Upon graduation in January 1943, he was assigned to the 11th Armored Division as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 56th Armored Engineer Battalion. During combat in the European Theater of Operations, he assumed command of Company A, 56th Armored Engineer Battalion, with the rank of Captain. He was twice wounded, and was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star (twice in addition to the "V" for valor). Captain Ardery earned and enjoyed the respect of all who served in his command.
 

Upon liberation of Konzentrationslager Mauthausen in 1945, he provided troops and equipment to prepare graves for the thousands of unburied dead.. Even though still recovering from wounds, he participated in the removal of explosives from the underground factory known as Bergkristall, where the Messerschmidt ME 262 jet fighter planes were assembled.
 

Following WWII, then Major Ardery remained in Germany where he managed the construction of US Army facilities, and guided restoration of the German infrastructure. In 1947 he joined an inter-service team in Antarctica, to study the feasibility of developing aircraft landing sites on the ice cap. 
 

During the Korean war, Lt. Col. Ardery served as an advisor to the Korean Army. He returned to Germany during the Berlin crisis, where as a full Colonel, he commanded Engineer combat units. He later served on the steering committee that developed specifications for the M-1 Abrams tank.
 

During the Vietnam War, he managed the operation of US Army facilities.
 

After his retirement from the US Army in 1973, Ted supervised the construction of portions of the Washington D.C. subway system. He later served as Construction Manager for the Potomac Electric Power Company, retiring in 1994. For several ensuing years, he chaired the Construction Committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

In 1951, Ted married US Air Force Major Muriel Moran. Together they raised five children. Edward is an attorney and Administrative Law judge with the Equal Opportunity Commission; Ann is an Architect; Richard is a Hospital Administrator; Joan is an Attorney in private practice; and Lisa is an Investment Banker. Muriel preceded her husband in death. She died of cancer in 1999.

The membership of the 11th Armored Division Association extends sincere sympathy to the family of Edward R. (Ted) Ardery. We honor and respect him as a professional engineer and soldier, a great leader, an exemplary role model, and a patriot a who devoted a lifetime of service to our country.