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park rapids enterprise | Saturday, November 11, 2023
| VETERAN’S DAY SALUTE | B1
Veterans Day Salute AREA VETS SAW COMBAT WITH
‘THE WALKING DEAD’
Dewane Morgan opens up about his Vietnam war experience By Robin Fish Park Rapids Enterprise Dewane Morgan of Park Rapids shares a rare distinction with two other current or former members of the local Star of the North Detachment, Marine Corps League. Morgan, as well as John Warren of Pine River and the late Bob Johnson, saw combat action in the Vietnam war with the 1st Battalion 9th Marines, briefly known as the 1/9. For a relatively rural area, that may seem like a high number of veterans returning from an infantry battalion that also bears another name: the Walking Dead. “The 1st Battalion 9th Marines in Vietnam sustained the highest number of killed in action of any battalion in the history of the Marine Corps, over the period of time that that battalion was in Vietnam,” Morgan said. “Ho Chi Minh gave the battalion the name Walking Dead. He
had a Vietnamese name for it that was translated to Walking Dead.” It’s a phrase that veterans of the Vietnam-era 1/9 have embraced. It shows up on the logo of the 1st Battalion 9th Marines Network, which has been organizing reunions of the combat outfit every couple years since around the turn of the century. The network is an extension of the fact that Marine buddies who made it back from the war have remained friends for life. “Once you’re in combat with fellow Marines, or even Army, there’s a bond that’s created that’s kind of hard to describe,” said Morgan. “I still have contact with some Marines that I served with in Alpha Company.” One of Morgan’s buddies from the 1/9 is Ken Irish of Saginaw, Mich. A fellow member of the 1/9’s Alpha
MORGAN: Page B2
Moving from survival to living
Network keeps the 1/9 brotherhood alive By Robin Fish Park Rapids Enterprise John Warren, another member of the Vietnam-era 1st Battalion 9th Marines, discussed how associations like the 1/9 Network help veterans live with what they’ve survived. “The brotherhood of the Marine Corps is tight, very tight,” he said. “It continues even after you get out. They always go, ‘There’s no ex-Marine or former Marine.’ Once a Marine, always a Marine.” The 1/9 was a combat outfit, Warren stressed. Infantry, snipers and such. They went on a lot of search-and-destroy missions. They put their bodies and lives in harm’s way, every day, in an increasingly hostile area. Many of those who came back, came wounded or with long-term health issues.
Warren, who went on to a nearly 30-year career on the benefits side of the Veterans Administration (VA), lost the use of his right arm, and is now being treated for Agent Orangerelated lung cancer. “I felt an advantage, talking to and assisting our veterans and their families,” he said of his VA career, “because I sat on both sides of the fence. There’s the government side, and then there’s the military side that they had gone through. I believe I had a good rapport with all our veterans that I dealt with over the years.” Straddling fences is something he knows about, as the son of a French Canadian mother and a halfSeminole, half-African American father. Serving after the armed forces
WARREN: Page B2
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MORGAN From Page B1
Company, Irish put in his full 13 months in Vietnam and ended up as one of only two men in the battalion who were never wounded during that period. “Everybody had a Purple Heart,” said Morgan. “It seemed like that was normal.”
Infantry by choice
When Morgan landed in Vietnam in August 1965, he was assigned to an artillery battery. “From Day 1, from boot camp all the way through, it was not what I wanted,” he said, recalling the artillery as a spit-and-polish outfit, with routines and inspections carried over from their stateside training – “which was pretty ridiculous,” said Morgan. One day, while he was driving trash to the dump, Morgan spotted an infantry unit walking along the road and offered them a ride. “I got to talking to them,” he said, “comparing notes as to what they were doing in Vietnam and what I was doing in the artillery battery in Vietnam, and it wasn’t the same. “These guys, they looked grungy. I mean, they didn’t polish their boots. They didn’t wear rank out in the field. You didn’t salute officers out in the field. … But it was a really tight group. It just seemed like a whole different atmosphere.” After that, Morgan requested a
transfer and change of Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) to infantry, and was eventually reassigned to Alpha Company, 1st Battalion 9th Marines. When he first arrived, he said, “they thought I was being punished. They didn’t realize that I requested that transfer, that change of MOS. They thought I was a total, what they call in the Marine Corps, shitbird. A really undesirable person to have in your unit.” Assigned to a platoon – a 42-person unit at full strength – and a squad within the platoon, Morgan joined in their patrols. At first, assuming he was a shitbird being punished, they always had him walking “tail end Charlie.” “I never complained,” he said. “I wanted to be there. I wanted to do what they were doing. I wanted to help them out. I wanted to be part of that group, an infantry group.” In short order, the platoon’s leadership realized Morgan was OK. More to the point, they noticed he could read maps and could look at the terrain and pinpoint where they were. “That was a big asset,” he said. “I ended up working with our squad leader, helping him go on patrols and know where to go. A lot of times I would walk point, just because I knew where I was going. So, I went from being at the tail end to walking to the front. Everybody in the squad totally trusted my judgment in how to get through the villages where we were on patrol.”
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Game of nerves
Morgan recalls arriving in Vietnam under the impression that the South Vietnamese people wanted U.S. service members’ help resisting Communist aggression. But as they patrolled through villages in the heavily populated, rice-growing area south of Da Nang, he came to realize they were in hostile territory. “You’d go through these villages and you’d never see men, other than old men,” he said. “They didn’t want us there. You’d go walking through a village and somebody would always get blown up from what we called booby traps. They call them IEDs today. Contributed / Dewane Morgan We’d lose at least one person Corp. Morgan often walked point on infantry a day, just on normal, routine patrols in Vietnam, due to his ability to look at patrols.” the terrain and pinpoint where his unit was on Little children would be a map. playing, women carrying out the activities of daily life, and as the platoon walked It got to where platoons on patrol through the village, somebody would would set up camp for the night, then get blown up. get up after dark and very quietly “There wasn’t a day that went by that we didn’t have somebody shooting at move to another spot. us, just sniping somewhere, especially at night,” he said. MORGAN: Page B3
WARREN From Page B1
Contributed / Dewane Morgan
A sticker of the 1/9’s logo depicts a pale reaper. According to Dewane Morgan, “The Walking Dead” came from a Contributed / John Warren Vietnamese name Ho Chi Minh gave The 1/9 Network’s first reunion met in Washington, D.C., with subsequent reunions taking place in different parts of the the battalion. country to accommodate surviving members of “The Walking Dead” who are spread all over. were desegregated, he found that from a diversity standpoint, “War does bring people together.”
From battlefield to barracks “Vietnam was pretty rough,” said
Warren. “Purple Heart and all that good stuff. I got shot up pretty good in the Quang Tri province, up by the DMZ. … I had the last rites twice. I got hit multiple times. Small arms fire. It wasn’t shrapnel. You kind of take that
personally. Shrapnel is more like, ‘To of being in units, you get close to some, and they come and go. whom it may concern.’” “When you get there, it’s all about Warren didn’t go into detail about what he experienced in Vietnam, helping the country that you’re in except to say, “Lost a lot of Marines. Friends that you meet. In the process WARREN: Page B4
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| VETERAN’S DAY SALUTE | B3
“Everybody had a Purple Heart. It seemed like that was normal.”
MORGAN
But as it turned out, the record of his six-month extension had conveniently From Page B2 vanished from his records – which he suspects was the doing of the “When we’d make that second company 1st sergeant. move, we had to be really quiet,” said “I got back to the United States on Morgan. “Across the rice paddy, you’d Aug. 2, 1966,” he said, reporting that see a muzzle flash, and somebody’d be at that time, veterans were not being shooting at you. The only thing they mistreated upon their return. “I was were doing was trying to get us to give home for 35 days, and then I requested away (our position). They’d always to be stationed at Infantry Training want somebody to fire back, and then Regiment in Camp Pendleton, Calif. they could shout orders, attacking. It That’s where I spent the remainder of was a game of nerves.” my time in the Marine Corps.” To this day, Morgan dislikes deer Until his discharge on Dec. 1, 1967, season. “It reminds me of walking Morgan laid it on the line for his into an ambush, when I hear a lot of trainees, telling them up front what shootiing at one time,” he said. “I statistics showed: Within a year of have to really keep cool, even after all going to Vietnam, 20% of them would these years.” die. He used his experiences to train them accordingly. Tour extended, then cut short “I took that job really seriously,” After two months in Alpha Company, he said, adding that when his former Morgan was meritoriously promoted trainees returned from Vietnam, some to corporal. of them thanked him for saving their Meantime, with his transfer to the lives. infantry, his tour in Vietnam was extended for another six months – Divine intervention from a year to 18 months, total. In a second account of the ambush But then, in May 1966, he got shot. where he was wounded, Morgan His platoon was out on patrol, and added details he hasn’t shared since Morgan was walking point. Due to he returned from Vietnam. He had a weird feeling, a feeling casualties and a lack of replacements, they were down to 18-20 men. As that something was wrong, Morgan they approached the tree line at the said. Running to take shelter under a end of a village, there was a sudden tree, he was shot in the shoulder. “It felt like somebody had hit me in explosion. Morgan took shrapnel in his leg the back with a 2-by-4 as hard as they from a grenade thrown, he learned could, and it burned,” he said. “The later, by a sniper up in a tree. This was next thing I know, I’m going through the signal for the North Vietnamese this gray tunnel, and I’m floating over soldiers on the other side of the the battlefield, out of my body. It was just as peaceful as can be.” hedgerow to open fire. As he hovered, he was told, “You’re “Nobody got killed,” he said in his first try at telling the story, “but there going to be safe. Nobody’s going to get killed today. Everything is going were nine of us wounded.” After two weeks on board a U.S. Navy to be OK.” Then he was sucked back through hospital ship offshore in Yokosuka, the tunnel and found himself standing Japan, Morgan returned to his unit. As he was preparing to take a patrol upright, hanging onto a tree and out, the platoon sergeant approached coughing up blood. Offshore in Yokosuka, a doctor on and said, “Pack your stuff. You’re the “USS Repose” told him that if going home.” “No, I’m not. I’ve still got six he had fallen down, he would have months left,” Morgan replied, having drowned in his own blood. Instead, seen his records during his hospital stay.
MORGAN: Page B11
Contributed / Dewane Morgan
U.S. Marine buddies Ken Irish, at left, and Dewane Morgan relax together in March 1966 during their tour in Vietnam. The friends remain in touch to this day.
Contributed / Dewane Morgan
Morgan, at left, and Irish get together in March 2010 at Irish’s home in Saginaw, Mich.
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WARREN From Page B2
remain free. Then you get there and all you think about is survival,” he said. Warren said that with his Catholic upbringing, he went to Vietnam unsure about whether he could kill another human being. A short time after landing, he said, “Your very first firefight that you’re attacked – the Marines around you, that you have each other’s back no matter who they are, it changes that perspective. You hear screams. You see blood and guts. You find out, ‘This is what a body bag is for. This is what the corpsman does.’ You see that in action. “In training, there’s no one shooting at you and you’re not worried about stepping on mines or snipers. Then you get into the nitty-gritty of the thing. A normal, sane person that you might think you are, your brain kind of clicks. It’s like a madness. And it’s something that you carry for the rest of your life.” He’s not just talking about himself, he said. “Every veteran that served in combat, it’s something that’s embedded in your mind. Every little thing, every day, even after you’re home and you feel safe and sound, that thought is always there. Survival, basically. It’s not to the extremes when you’re at home as it is when you’re in combat, but it still exists.” Warren ended up spending years in the hospital at Great Lakes Naval Base in Waukegan, Ill., went through multiple surgeries, and continued to run the non-commissioned officer Marine barracks there until he was medically retired in 1978. “The flags going up and down, different ground chores that the Marines did,” he said. “Part of the rehab.”
Staying in touch
Warren was one of the first members of the 1/9 to get involved when the network was founded, helping put
Contributed / John Warren
U.S. Marine veterans Al Reed, Ed Stanley and John Warren gather around one of the two active-duty Marines who escorted the 1st Battalion 9th Marines’ flag to the 1/9 Network’s first reunion in Washington, D.C., sometime around the turn of the century. together a directory of battalion members. Starting with his St. Paul neighborhood’s American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts, he later joined local posts such as the Jenkins VFW, the Star of the North Detachment Marine Corps League and the 1/9 Network. He said these associations can help veterans cope. He hinted that listening to other vets’ stories, and perhaps even donning his dress uniform at their funerals, was a big part of moving forward. Warren spoke warmly of his remaining and departed comrades,
mentioning many of them by name, where they lived, what they did with their lives – including fellow 1/9er Dewane Morgan of Park Rapids. Warren credits a 1/9er named Roger Liggon of New York with starting the process of organizing the 1/9 Network. “One thing led to another, we had a first reunion,” he said. “We had probably 100-some-odd guys show up.” That reunion included a ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., where two activeduty Marines escorted the battalion’s flag from Camp Pendleton, Calif. The network went on to have a
newsletter for a while. “Over the years it’s kind of died out,” said Warren. “We’ve lost so many due to age, as time goes on.” Nevertheless, he says he is still in contact with about half-a-dozen people he served with. “My good thing is the memories of these individuals, the ones that are still around,” said Warren, getting a bit choked up. “They were all my heroes. “You leave no Marine behind, you know? Some people don’t know the meaning of that unless they get in that situation.” Robin Fish can be reached at rfish@ parkrapidsenterprise.com.
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| VETERAN’S DAY SALUTE | B5
Four Fallgren brothers from Laporte serve in WWII By John and Ellie Fallgren Laporte
aboard the “Queen Mary.” Upon arriving in New York, she said, Just before World War II, Anna “There were so many people packed (Helgason) Fallgren and John Fallgren on the deck that, at sunrise, when the Statue of Liberty came into view, lived in Benedict, Minn. They had seven children: four sons there wasn’t a dry eye on board.” and three daughters, who all attended Carl Fallgren school in Benedict. Carl, the second son, joined the U.S. Their sons – Ed, Carl, Harold and Coast Guard one day before WWII Leo – served in WWII, as did Ed’s started. wife, Meroah, and Carl’s wife, Rita. He served as a gunner’s mate and This short story takes place during was stationed in the Aleutian Islands. the years 1941-1945. It tells, very At the end of his service, he was a briefly, where they served, how they 1st class petty officer. served and when they served. His wife, Rita, was a cook instructor in the military service in the eastern Nels “Ed” Fallgren part of the U.S. Ed was the oldest brother. He was drafted into the U.S. Army Air Force Harold Fallgren on May 5, 1941. Harold was born on Dec. 21, 1922, He was sent to Deming, New Mexico the third son of Anna and John. as part of a cadre that set up an air After the war broke out, he had field there. As a line chief, Ed was put aspirations of becoming a pilot. He in charge of the airplane maintenance. enlisted in the Army in 1943, hoping to When the B-29 came out in 1942, he make the Air Corps, but was assigned was sent to Fairmont, Nebraska to be as a mechanic for automotive wheeled crew chief on it. He trained there for vehicles. a while, then was sent to Puerto Rico He was deployed to Guam, serving to get overseas training before being with the 305th Air Engineer Squadron, shipped to Guam. No. 69 Service Group, 314th Bomb In Guam, Ed was part of the Wing, 20th Air Force. 17th Bombardment Squad, No. 16 While in the Army Air Force, he Bombardment Group from the middle achieved the rank of sergeant. of April to the middle of August 1945. Harold earned the Good Conduct The men slept in tents and conducted Medal, American Theatre Service airplane maintenance during the day Medal, Asian-Pacific Theater Service in the open air. Medal and two overseas service bars. The mission of the B-29 planes was to wipe out Japan’s petroleum Leo Fallgren industry by dropping bombs. The youngest son, Leo, was born Ed’s service ended on Nov. 5, 1945, Nov. 13, 1924. He went into the Army as master sergeant. at the age of 17. His wife, Menorah, enlisted in the Flying into the Philippines from Women’s Auxiliary Corps. In 1944 and New Guinea with one of two glider 1945, she was sent to England, where regiments – 11th Airborne Division, she worked in the stock control of 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment – airplane parts. he arrived in Leyte on Nov. 18, 1944. He served with Ground Combat She left England on Nov. 4, 1945
Contributed/John Fallgren
The Fallgren brothers are, from left, Leo, Ed, Carl and Harold. Supporting XXIV Corps until Jan. 1945, moving toward Mindoro Island for the Luzon invasion to liberate Manila. For his first parachute drop, Leo landed onto Tagaytay Ridge on Feb. 3, 1945. On his second drop, on Feb. 25, he and the regiment parachuted into Leyte, capturing enemies and freeing Los Ramos Concentration Camp. During the conflict, the Japanese hiked between two parts of the squadron. Leo, with his squad, hiked for many miles. The Filipinos hid them under leaves in their homes. We don’t know for how long. They wanted to go back into battle, but the village people didn’t let them. They were exhausted, undernourished and sick with malaria. Leo left the Philippines onboard a
medical ship in the province of Luzon. He finished his service as a sergeant. Decorations and citations that he earned were the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Paratrooper Badge, Sharp Shooter Badge, National Defense Service Medal, among others. He married Evelin Beard in 1946. We thank these heroes and many others who made many sacrifices and endured hardships and those who made the ultimate sacrifice to win in the western Pacific in WWII. Let us always remember them. John Fallgren was born and raised in the Benedict area, graduating from Laporte High School in 1967. The oldest son of Leo Fallgren, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy in November 1969. He served aboard the “USS Nautilus 571” in Groton, Conn., for four years as part of the Navy Submarine Force. He’s currently commander for the Laporte Legion Post as well as on the Honor Color Guard.
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Rosemary Mills served as a war zone nurse in Vietnam Lorie Skarpness Park Rapids Enterprise
It’s a long way from the farm where Rosemary (Kruft) Mills grew up outside Dorset to Vietnam. The daughter of Edwin and Colleen Mills, she decided in seventh grade that she was going to be a nurse, and after graduating from high school in Park Rapids in 1967 she worked as a nurse’s aide at St. Joseph’s Hospital, earning 85 cents to $1 an hour. She used her earnings to pay for tuition for nursing training in Minneapolis. She decided to enlist in the Army, so they would pay for her final year of classes. In return, she signed up for two years of active duty. After passing her state boards, she went to basic training in Fort Sam in Houston, Texas. Her first assignment was at Fitzsimmons General in Denver, working with lower extremity amputees. “There were 67 beds and no one had any legs,” she said. “By the time I got to Vietnam, I knew a lot about working with amputees.”
War zone nursing
Contributed / Rosemary Mills
In addition to treating soldiers who were injured in the war, the 24th Evac Unit performed surgeries for Vietnamese civilians. The baby Mills is holding was in for eye surgery. The men in the picture were a nurse’s aid and an LPN.
As first lieutenant, Mills served for 10 months in the 24th Evac Hospital Complex, located in the middle of a big compound that covered about a square mile, near the small village of Long Bin in Vietnam. “From a farm girl in northern Minnesota to being an army nurse in Vietnam, that was a stretch,” she said. Flying from California to Vietnam was a memorable experience. “We were packed into the plane like sardines,” she said. “It was an 18-hour flight and there wasn’t even enough room for the stewardesses to bring a tray down the aisle unless they walked sideways.”
Her first view of Vietnam was from the aircraft. “We were coming in the middle of the night and all we could see on the ground were these big explosions and I wondered what I had gotten myself into,” she said. “Later, I found out they were exploding the munitions dump of explosives they had captured from the enemy.” The evac unit was about 20 miles south of Saigon. “I was really surprised that I enjoyed war-zone nursing so much,” she said. “In a U.S, hospital, if you need to do wound dressing, it all comes in a kit. There, we had to put together our own kit. It tested what you were made out of because you had to be innovative to do a good job.” The hospital units were quonset huts made of galvanized metal. The compound was shaped like a big horseshoe, with a wooden sidewalk with a roof all around it, to protect patients from rain when they were transported in wheelchairs or beds. “There were a lot of orthopedic surgeries, so it really was a busy ward,” she said. “We worked 12-hour shifts, six days a week. I had a nurse’s aid, an LPN, and a Vietnamese person who was there to translate. That was to cover 54 patients. We usually got the patients after surgery. Some could go back to active duty within 30 days. If they had an amputation or severe injuries, they stayed with us long enough to get stabilized and then were flown to a big military hospital in Japan for treatment before going to the US for rehab and care.” In addition to helping wounded soldiers, when bed space was available they also treated civilians. When they had leave to go off base, women were always accompanied by
MILLS: Page B7
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park rapids enterprise | Saturday, November 11, 2023
| VETERAN’S DAY SALUTE | B7
turn the complex over to the South Vietnamese.
From Page B6
men for safety reasons. There was also a soldier with a rifle stationed at the main entrance to the nurse’s quarters 24 hours a day. Communication with family and friends was mostly by mail. Letters from Minnesota took about a week to reach Vietnam. “Twice I was able to talk to my family by short-wave radio,” she said. “You had to go through six or eight ham radio operators to get through to Minnesota. We had about 10 minutes to talk. You would say your sentence and then say ‘over’ and then it would be relayed by the ham radio operators. Then about 30 or 40 seconds later a response would come back.” The unit was located in a farming area without fighting nearby. She said soldiers from the Royal Army of Korea were highly regarded, scouting for enemy soldiers alongside the U.S. “One Korean soldier who was injured I had taken care of for a long time,” she said. “His wife came. He had told her I had taken good care of him and she brought me a length of beautiful cotton cloth as a thank you gift. It was burgundy red with a blue and yellow pattern and I used it as a table cover and still have it packed away somewhere.” When Mills left, the war was nearing an end and they were preparing to
Coming home
When she came home in 1972, Mills said she was welcomed warmly. “I really felt blessed that I came back to Park Rapids because I never heard anything negative about the war,” she said. “I had people tell me they were glad I was home and thank me for my service. Not like a lot of the soldiers who had terrible things said to them when they came back. My husband said, when he first came back to the U.S., he went to his parents’ home in St. Louis and went to church with them with his uniform on. The pastor’s whole sermon was about how it was a bad thing for the United States to be involved in the war.” She met her husband, Brian, while working in Denver. “He lived in the same officer’s quarters,” she said. “When I was discharged from the army, I came back here for a few months. We got married in August and moved to the Cities, where I worked in the VA hospital orthopedic surgical ward and Brian went to school in surveying. When we moved back here, he was the Hubbard County Surveyor for many years.” Mills worked for St.Joseph’s Hospital Contributed / Rosemary Mills as a field supervisor for the home care The nurse’s quarters at the Evac Hospital in Long Binh, Vietnam were protected
from enemy mortars by barrels filled with sand and rows of sandbags. The beds in the hospital were also protected by the barrels.
MILLS: Page B10
“I really felt blessed that I came back to Park Rapids because I never heard anything negative about the war. Not like a lot of the soldiers who had terrible things said to them when they came back.”
John G. Glatzmaier Navy
John Glatzmaier Air Force Sergeant
John Firehammer Navy P.C.T. 1st Class Served 4 years
John G. Brauch Navy LTJG
Joe Markell USCG E-6
Jim Lange Marine Corps Corporal
Chad Bittmann U.S. Army E-7 Sergeant 1st Class Served 15 years Afghanistan & Iraq
Carl R. Lymburner Air Force A1C Served 4 years Korean War
Candice R. Hammond Army National Guard Sergeant
Cal Astrum U.S. Navy WWII
Bud Gates (AKA: Santa Claus) Marine Corps Corporal
Bryan M. Hensel Air National Guard Tech Sergeant
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B8 | VETERAN’S DAY SALUTE | Saturday, November 11, 2023 | park rapids enterprise
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DAV helps Living at Home serve vets and their families By Robin Fish Park Rapids Enterprise
Continuing a tradition established in 2017, the Park Rapids Chapter of Disabled American Veterans donated $5,000 this year to Living at Home of the Park Rapids Area (LAH). The DAV’s annual donation is earmarked for LAH’s services to veterans and their families. According to executive director Connie Carmichael, LAH had 69 active volunteers during the past year, assisting 307 seniors, including 73 veterans or their spouses. In all, LAH volunteers donated 2,507 hours this past year to serve senior veterans and their families in the community. Of those hours, 722 were specifically for respite care, Carmichael said, “which I think is really significant.” Those volunteers also drove 20,051 miles in service to the area’s veterans – a figure that represents more than transporting veterans to medical appointments, according to Carmichael. “Most of the time, for medical appointments, veterans are taking the DAV van,” she said. “But sometimes that just doesn’t work.” For example, the DAV van can only transport the veteran themselves, “but we service the whole family, meaning the spouse as well,” she said. Carmichael said LAH’s other services to senior vets this past year included homemaking help, non-medical transportation including shopping and errands, light handyman work, technology assistance, caregiver support and friendly visiting. “The respite was the biggest one,” she said. In general, she said, LAH volunteers are the only people some seniors see. “It’s incredibly important,” she said,
Richard W. Weech U.S. Marine Corp 1st Lieutenant
Contributed / Connie Carmichael
Rich Batcho, commander of Disabled American Veterans Park Rapids Chapter 38, and Greg Remus, adjutant, present a $5,000 donation on July 3 to Connie Carmichael, executive director of Living at Home of the Park Rapids Area. “not only for the service we provide, but the socialization that goes along with it.” Carmichael said a key focus of LAH during the past several years has been “not just providing a service, but
Richard Kok Air Force Airman 1st Class
Richard W. (Dick) Max U.S. Marine Corps Sergeant
building the relationship with all of our clients, including veterans.” She said LAH has a cost-share program with its clients for respite care, homemaking and transportation. “The beauty of our partnership with
Richard Peterson Army SFC E-7 Served 20 years Korean War
WITH RESPECT, HONOR & GRATITUDE!
Robin Fish can be reached at rfish@ parkrapidsenterprise.com.
Rex Lindblom Army E-5 - SP2
Raymond G. Bortz U.S. Army 3rd Armored Division Corporal Served 2
We Honor All Veterans!
Thank You Veterans!
Eddie was assigned to Company M of the original 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment, “10th Mountain Division”, he earned the rank of 1st Sergeant (senior enlisted) due to his rugged upbringing and highly developed hunting skills. Taking charge of over 150 men, he was the youngest first sergeant in the entire division.
the DAV is that those funds offset the cost share for veterans,” she said. “So, they’re getting these services at no charge to them.”
• Area’s Premier Meat Department • Take & Bake Pizza • Mack’s Small Town Smoke House • Abbey’s Bakery Line of Smoked Brats, Summer • ATM Sausage, Ham & Snack Sticks
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park rapids enterprise | Saturday, November 11, 2023
| VETERAN’S DAY SALUTE | B9
Joseph Brumbaugh Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class E4
Jonathan Fondow Army - MSG Served 21 years Iraq, Afghanistan
Jonathan M. Hensel Air Force Major
Jon Thomsen Marine Corps Sergeant
Jon M. Esler U.S. Navy E-4 Served 8 years
John Vocelka Navy E-5
Theodore O. Hensel Army Specialist 4
Theodore Johnson Army sergeant 1st Class
Terry Morris U.S. Air Force Sgt E-3
Sylvester Jacob Eischens Air Force Tech Sergeant, Staff Sergeant 1953-1957
Suzette A. Parkos Air Force
Steven Hoeke U.S. Marine Served 5 years, Afghanistan
Annalea Grundyson U.S. Army SPC
Andy Roberts U.S. Navy BT3 Biler Tender 3rd Class
Raymond J. Novak U.S. Army 2nd Lieutenant Served 10 years WWII
Raymond G. Dockter U.S. Army National Guard E-3
Raymond J. Wolf Army P.F.C.
Philip Busch U.S. Army SP-4
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B10 | VETERAN’S DAY SALUTE | Saturday, November 11, 2023 | park rapids enterprise
MILLS From Page B7
division and with Hospice. “When they stopped doing home care I retired,” she said. “Then I worked as a nurse for the Hubbard County Jail for three years. I retired
from that job in 2017. My last year there I was elected the Minnesota State Correctional Nurse of the Year. A wonderful way to exit a career.” She isn’t completely done with the health care field though. “I’ve been a parish nurse with the Frontline Church that meets in the
community center in Hubbard for about 10 years,” she said. “It’s a nondenominational, Pentecostal church. I went to a two-week training in Moorhead to become a parish nurse. You use your nursing skills to teach people how to take care of themselves and prevent problems. I also make a
parkrapidsenterprise.com
lot of teaching sheets about natural treatments and how to build up your immune system. The church has lots of young families with babies, so I’ve had to do a lot of research so I can provide the information they need.” Lorie Skarpness can be reached at lskarpness@ parkrapidsenterprise.com
Keith Lee Kraft USMC-Army MAJ
Kayla Simon U.S. Army E-4 CPL
Kasey Krautkremer U.S. Air Force E-4 Served 6 years GWOT
Justin A. White Air Force E-6
Joshua Rolando USAF SMSGT
Josh Mock U.S. Army SSGT E-6
Sherry Parkos Air Force
Shelly Gates-Shermer Army Spec-4
Ryan Vredenburg U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer
Russell H. Rasmussen Army Corporal
Roy A. Breitweser Army Corporal
Ronald I. Petrie Army Sgt. 1st Class
Paul Bridwell Engineers 1st Lt
Rodney Bliss U.S. Army Master Sergeant Served 25 years
Robin (Bob) Rossi Army Sergeant Served 2 years Vietnam War
Robin (Dillon) Brown Army MSG
Robert L. Schroeder Navy HM3 Army Cpt
Robert Soukup Army Private First Class
Patrick Sullivan U.S. Coast Guard Machinery Tech 2nd Class (MK2)
Orville Vredenburg U.S. Army Corporal
Nikolaus Raymond Walter Treziok U.S. Navy E-8
Nick Litzau U.S. Marine Corps MSGT (retired)
Nicholas Grundyson U.S. Army SGT
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parkrapidsenterprise.com park rapids enterprise | Saturday, November 11, 2023
| VETERAN’S DAY SALUTE | B11
MORGAN
deck in the evenings to watch a movie with off-duty Navy personnel. From Page B3 “Unbeknown to us, the Navy base had a Fourth of July fireworks display,” he remained standing through the he said. “Well, all of the Marines that firefight, listening to what he thought were up there – and over 100 Marines were the voices of his squad mates up there watching the movie – as soon praying the 23rd Psalm. as the fireworks started exploding, it When he asked them about it later, didn’t make any difference whether they denied saying anything. they were in a wheelchair, on crutches “I feel that when I was shot, there or whatever; every Marine up there was divine intervention that kept me was lying flat on the deck. alive,” Morgan concluded. “It was instant. They heard an When Irish came to his aid, Morgan’s explosion; they were lying down. I response was, “Don’t touch me.” Irish remember looking around – because told him later that during the firefight, I was lying down, too. All the sailors Morgan looked like he was being held were looking at us and going, ‘Wow, up by hot lead. what’s wrong with the jarheads?’ For “The doctors, they still couldn’t us Marines, that was just a normal fathom at the time, somebody having a response.” near-death, out-of-body experience,” The trade-off was that Navy officers said Morgan. “That wasn’t in the on the ship didn’t have much to hold medical journals, you know?” over the Marines’ heads. When a group He said he’s kept quiet about it since of Marines got called on the carpet for then, but now, “I figure, I’m 77 years raising hell in town, Morgan said, old and I’m alive to tell about it.” somebody told the ship’s commanding officer, “What are you going to do? PTSD, but no survivor’s guilt Send us back to Vietnam?” Morgan said he didn’t realize it From April and May 1966 onward, at the time, but he had severe post- Morgan said, Alpha Company and the traumatic stress disorder. wider 1/9 saw increasingly intense He saw it going around on the decks combat and took more and more of the hospital ship at Yokosuka, casualties. For the rest of the war, the where many wounded Marines were crescendo of combat never ceased. treated. “There were so many people that Those who were able, used to go on got killed,” said Morgan. “I know a
Contributed / Dewane Morgan
Morgan, at right, helps a U.S. Navy corpsman on his ward on board the hospital ship “USS Repose” sometime after he was wounded in action in May 1966. lot of Marines and people that were in the Army that survived the war, that were in action, have survivors’ guilt. I really feel sorry for them. But you know, my attitude is that, when it’s
your time to die, you die; and if not, divine intervention keeps you alive here on earth.” Robin Fish can be reached at rfish@ parkrapidsenterprise.com.
Robert Johnson Marines
Robert Hoeke U.S. Navy Served 4 years
Robert R. Natzel Navy PR3
Robert Linder U.S. Army Cpl
Rick L. Pinnick Air Force
Richard Moen Army SP3(T) Served 2 years Korean War
Mike Swanson Army E-5 Staff Sgt Served 4 years
Mike Smith Army SSG Served 6 years Iraqi Freedom
Michael Moyer U.S. Army National Guard E-3
Michael Henry Hafner Sr U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class
Nathan Alto U.S. Navy Seabees B4 1 Served 22 yearsDesert Storm
Mitchell Hellkamp U.S. Army CSM of 34th ECAB 1987 to present
With Respect, Honor, and Gratitude
THANK YOU VETERANS
North Star Nursing honors our Hometown Heroes! Thank you for your service! We are partnered with the VA Community Care Network for Home Care, Respite, PCA & Private Duty Nursing.
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Home Impro Heidi Clements & Helen Drewes (218) 573-2238 • 1-800-535-5895
Real Estate Mortgage
Thank You For Your Service! We offer painting, collision repair, headlight restoration, glass replacement, and much more. 649 Western Ave Park Rapids, MN 56470
Jamie Kruchowski Auto Collision Repair Shop
218-732-1245
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PO Box 311 | Sebeka, MN 56477
PO Box 250 | 218-837-5171 Menahga, MN 56464 2202 Park Ave S (Hwy 71 S), Park Rapids (218) 732-3512
Skelgas of Park Rapids is becoming Kotaco Fuel & Propane
PO Box 250 | Menahga, MN 56464 218-564-4171 218-564-4171
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B12 | VETERAN’S DAY SALUTE | Saturday, November 11, 2023 | park rapids enterprise
Charles M. Hensel Army Tech. Sgt. 5
Charles A. Rich Army Spec. 5
Chad Sackett Minnesota Army National Guard Colonel
We Salute our Veterans
Charles Blair Signal Corp U.S. Army Spec 4 Served 1964-1966, Vietnam
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Charles “Chuck” Blair U.S. Army Signal Corp Served 2 years Vietnam
Charles Andress U.S. Air Force Private 1st Class
Thank you for your service!
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Bob Miller 218-252-6552 Lic#BC771656
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