April 3, 1944

William Lee Gerig died; he is buried at the Rose Hill Cemetery in Arkadelphia (Clark County). During his lifetime, he was considered a leading authority on the construction of earthen dams and served as the consulting engineer for all dams constructed by the Corps of Engineers from 1923 to 1938. In 1946, a ship was named for Gerig and launched in Pascagoula, Mississippi. A bronze plaque was placed at the chief engineer’s office in Washington DC in honor of Gerig’s accomplishments.