Carl R. Sandstrom received his commission through the ROTC at Kansas State College and his first assignment was at Headquarters, IX Army Corps, Fort Lewis, Washington, in 1941 and 1942. While there, in 1941, he served special duty in the office of Chief of Staff, IX Army Corps, Col. Dwight D. Eisenhower at Fort Lewis. From there he was sent to Headquarters XIII Corps in New England during 1943, transferring from Providence, Rhode Island, to Ft. Leavenworth to attend Command and General Staff School for nine weeks. Sandstrom was promoted to the rank of major in the Quartermaster Corps, stationed at the AP Hill Military Reservation at Fredericksburg, VA, HQ 13th Corps. Sometime later, Major Sandstrom, 164th QM Bn. Mbl., wrote from his new station at Fort Dix, NJ, “Am now starting to become a field soldier instead of an office flunky. Hoping you all the success for the year, as General Ike promised us all victory and we know he is the one officer that can do it.” Sandstrom made his first trip overseas, possibly in April 1943, entering Europe shortly after D-Day in June, 1944. The 164th QM Bn. was assigned to staging areas for the D-Day operation, responsible for providing all types of supplies to troops passing through the Welsh ports of Newport, Cardiff, Barry and Swansea. In Le Havre, the unit operated a bivouac area for incoming combat troops, besides aiding in the storage of rations. The 164th was then assigned to a quartermaster depot in Antwerp, Belgium, to aid in storage of supplies. The V-bombs began to fall, but the depot operated day and night. When the shortage of labor paralyzed production of Charleroi basin coal mines, the 164th was assigned to that area to aid in keeping 21 mines in operation. This work included control of distribution of 12,000 tons of coal mined daily. The unit supervised four U.S. quartermaster service companies and 6,000 German war prisoners in the operation of railheads and distribution points through which poured thousands of tons of gasoline, rations, clothing and other supplies enroute to the front. While serving with the quartermaster corps somewhere near Brussels, Belgium, Sandstrom was promoted from major to lieutenant-colonel. Lt. Col. Sandstrom commanded the 164th Battalion. HQ in undertaking the job of checking and storing supplies for redeployment to the Pacific theater. When Sandstrom returned to the United States, he was assigned to the Wyoming Military Reserve Corps and was relieved from active duty in 1947. Col. Sandstrom was recalled to active duty in 1948 with the rank of Major and was assigned as Director of Supply for Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn, NY, from August 1948 to February 1950. His next post was in Japan where he served 31 months with the 2nd Transportation Major Port at Yokohama as port G-4 (Director of Port Services), then as Port Quartermaster, where fleet reserves were outfitted for the Korean Operation from 1949-1952. A promotion to commanding officer of the 1st Training Group at the Quartermaster Replacement Training Center (QMRTC) in Fort Lee, Virginia, brought Col. Sandstrom back to the United States. A "Manhattan Mercury" article on November 2, 1956, stated, "Lt. Col. Carl R. Sandstrom, a 1938 graduate of K-State, recently was assigned to headquarters of the 7th Quartermaster Group at the Nahbollenbach Quartermaster Depot in Germany." After retiring from the military, Sandstrom lived in Abilene, Kansas, from 1958-76, working in banking and was a bank examiner for a decade, then was appointed Deputy Bank Commissioner in 1976 until retirement in 1985 at the age of 72. Sandstrom and wife Gladys Gugler retired in Topeka. Carl R. Sandstrom passed away March 5, 2007, at the age of 93.