Andrew Jackson Higgins Memorial

West Pawnee Park, Columbus, NE 68601
(402) 564-2769

The Andrew Jackson Higgins Memorial in Columbus pays homage to a local man who changed the history of the entire world. Andrew Jackson Higgins designed and built the landing craft used to storm enemy-held beaches during World War II. Following the war, Dwight D. Eisenhower was quoted as saying that Higgins “is the man who won the war for us.”

The memorial includes a replica of one of his Higgins Boats and a squad of bronze soldiers staged as if bravely storming a foreign beach. Walking trails meet here, and a bronze bald eagle surveys the scene from atop a steel beam salvaged after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.