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From the Brainerd VFW in 2016. Here is a look at the "good old days."
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From the 2015 history file of the Brainerd VFW.
Brainerd VFW In 2014:
Brainerd VFW in 2010:
In about 2010, Brainerd VFW member Dave Meyer successfully consolidated the Honor Guards from the VFW, Legion and DAV. They have operated as one at funerals and parades ever since. Dave Meyer is still the unit coordinator.
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March 21, 2006: The remains of Leo Mustonen, the WWII airman who left Brainerd at 22 more than 60 years ago, were brought home for burial today by a military escort. His body, with parachute intact, was found encased in ice in a glacier by hikers in Kings Canyon National Park. The 1938 Brainerd grad will be buried Friday.
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August 16, 2004: Brainerd was in its fourth state final appearance in the VFW State Tournament when it ran into Ryan Childs. The Centennial High School freshman struck out seven, walked one and gave up only five hits to Brainerd as Centennial won 6-1 at Alexandria. Brainerd, finishing second, had a season record of 37-14.
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February 17, 1996: Like the bullet that found its way to him so long ago, part of Robert Guidi’s past has caught up to him. The Brainerd man was finally decorated with the Purple Heart, 44 years after he was wounded in the Korean War. Guidi went straight to Korea after leaving Marine boot camp.
December 9, 1995: The Brainerd American Legion and VFW Color Guards marched down Laurel Street past the Elks Building yesterday on their way to the All-Veterans Memorial to mark the 54th anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day. The men march every year, even though the streets are empty.
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September 6, 1994: Construction crews remove the surface of the northbound lane of S. 6th Street in front of the VFW Club between Laurel and Maple Streets in Brainerd. During the resurfacing project, to be completed by Oct. 1, the road will be reduced from four lanes to two.
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November 11, 1993: Veteran Norman Nelson, of Brainerd's VFW Post 1647, sheds a tear as he salutes during the playing of “Taps” at the Veteran's Day Ceremony at the All-Veterans Memorial. The observance was at the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month to mark the signing of the WWI Armistice in 1918.
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The Brainerd VFW in 1992: A flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol was raised at the VFW in Brainerd. It was a gift from then Congressman James Oberstar.
Brainerd VFW in 1991:
Brainerd VFW in 1990:
Brainerd VFW in 1989. There was a ground breaking ceremony for the All Veterans Memorial in Brainerd.
Brainerd VFW in 1987. Brainerd Mayor Billie Michaelis signed a Loyalty Day proclamation. Brainerd's own Shotgun Red was the entertainment at the celebration.
1982. Brainerd VFW Post 1647 put on Loyalty Days, May 1st and 2nd. Former Minnesota Governor C. Elmer Anderson (1951-1955) was Mayor of Brainerd when he issued a Loyalty Day proclamation on May 1, 1982. That was in honor of the Department of Minnesota Sixth District Convention in Brainerd. The Brainerd VFW Commander was Loren McLaughlin. Motel room rates were from $22 to $43. A parade had entries from Wadena, Benson, Randall, Monticello, Princeton, Montrose, St. Cloud, Maple Lake, Little Falls and Sauk Rapids. Department of Minnesota was represented. There was a fly-over of two military jets from the 148th Tactical Group in Duluth.
Brainerd VFW Auxiliary member Helen Doucette said that it was in 1973 when the post had its first baseball team for 14 and 15 year old kids. There was no money so parents took turns carpooling the players around. District competition was in Long Prairie that year. They borrowed tents from Camp Ripley and camped out for two nights. Some parents brought campers and trailers. Brainerd didn't win, but it was a fun VFW family activity.
Brainerd VFW 1968-1970. This was during the Vietnam War. The Brainerd VFW was doing its best to publicize good things in the community.
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May 28, 2006: Long-time area educator Bob Hurst sat outside his Gull Lake home recently. He served in the Korean War and for 54 years he locked those memories away from family and friends. Now he shares his story with high school students so the sacrifices he saw in the cold and snow of Korea are not forgotten.
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March 9, 2006: Families from Brainerd will be driving and flying to Mississippi to see loved ones from the Headquarters Co., 1st Battalion, 194th Armor before their 12-month deployment to Iraq begins. About 26 Brainerd soldiers who have trained for six months at Camp Shelby will get four-day passes to be with family.
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December 6, 2005: All they wanted was to get off the bus and reunite with their loved ones, but hundreds of people waving flags lined the route to Brainerd High School as Co. A, 1st Battalion, 194th Armor came home. Among the 152 soldiers was Sgt. Eric Bock, being hugged by son Bryce 2-1/2, as mom, Cassy, looks on. Eric was wounded by gunfire in Iraq.
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August 23, 2005: When Staff Sgt. Mike Sams called his wife in Staples to say that one of his men, Sgt. Eric Bock, had been wounded by gunfire in Iraq, he neglected just one tiny detail. Sams had suffered facial lacerations from shrapnel in the same incident. Wife Cheryl only found out when the commanding officer sent an email to family members.
August 22, 2005: A Brainerd soldier was shot and wounded in the right arm while on patrol in Iraq, his family said yesterday. Sgt. Eric Bock, 25, a 1998 Brainerd High School grad, was serving as gunner on a Humvee but will return to duty when the wound heals. He’s the first member of Brainerd’s 194th Armor to be wounded.
January 11, 2005:The 152 National Guard soldiers of Brainerd's Co. A, 1st Battalion, 194th Armor flew from Kuwait to Iraq and then to their base camp near Baghdad that will be their home for the next year. Capt. Mike Pazdernik, company CO, says the first chore is to make a transition with the Pennsylvania unit they are replacing.
December 23, 2004: As the soldiers of Brainerd's Co. A, 1st Battalion, 194th Armor packed up to leave Ft. Dix for Iraq, they were simply overwhelmed by care packages. Capt. Mike Pazdernik said there were 1,000 minutes of phone cards for every soldier, “and we have more goodies than we can eat – but that won't keep us from trying.”
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October 17, 2004: Sgt. Mike Stasko, HHC, 1st Battalion, 194th Armor, kissed his 8-day-old daughter goodbye after the unit's deployment ceremony yesterday. About 1,000 turned out to send off the 35 members of the Brainerd National Guard unit as they head for a year's deployment in Iraq. |
September 2, 2004: Sgt. Sean Deist's family wanted to remind the 1999 Brainerd High School grad he is remembered on his 23rd birthday, being celebrated in Iraq where he is deployed. So, 14 children at his aunt Mary's daycare center made red, white and blue handprints on a giant card they are sending to him in Iraq.
August 22, 2004: Five months after their return from Iraq, members of the Minn. National Guard's Co. C, 142nd Engineer Battalion were honored for their service yesterday. The soldiers and hundreds of family members gathered at the Camp Ripley rec center to hear words of thanks from Guard officers and state officials.
July 25, 1996: The Brainerd VFW baseball team won the Subdistrict 6 North Half championship with a 6-1 victory over Menahga. Blake Platisha had two hits in the championship game and Matt Parker was the winning pitcher. Earlier, Brainerd had defeated C-I and Wadena.
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July 29, 1995: For Brainerd VFW pitcher Walt Woolsey, his bid for a no-hitter came down to inches in Brainerd’s 7-0 tournament win over Wadena. Designated hitter Eric Blum hit a chopper to the left side in the seventh. Woolsey fielded it but Blum beat the throw to first by a step.
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April 11, 1995: Bataan Death March survivors Russ Swearingen (left) and Walt Straka, with the help of members of the 194th Tank Regiment, push the memorial M3A1 Stuart Tank back a few inches into position. They were helping prepare for the 53rd Bataan Memorial Ceremony.
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February 26, 1995: Robert Brekken, Sr., 78, the former owner of Brekken's Men's Store at 6th and Laurel Streets, died Feb. 22 in Wabasha. He was a veteran of WWII and the Korean War and was awarded the Purple Heart. Brekken was very active in downtown business and Chamber of Commerce activities.
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February 10, 1995: When Russ Swearingen of Crosby last saw a Stuart Light Tank there was fire shooting out of the hatches. He was with the 194th Tank Battalion on Bataan, maintaining such tanks when Bataan fell to the Japanese. Today, he climbed on a Stuart tank as it was delivered to the Brainerd armory for its Bataan Memorial.
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December 9, 1994: Members of the combined American Legion Post 255 and VFW Post 1647 color guards, including Sye Majerus and Buzz Bereuter (front row), hold their rifles as “Taps” plays at a Pearl Harbor remembrance ceremony at the All-Veterans Memorial on Dec. 7th. |
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April 29, 1986: His credentials aren’t those of a music critic, but Gen. John Vessey, Jr., (left) retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, attended the concert of the U.S. Army Field Band at the Brainerd High School gym with wife Avis. Over 2,300 fans attended the concert sponsored by the Brainerd Dispatch.
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August 29, 1985: Like army buddies everywhere, they traded war stories and laughed over receding hairlines. The men of Co. F, 156th Infantry gathered at a reunion at Cragun’s Resort to remember when they served as guards for Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, earning them a unique front-row seat for history.
August 1, 1985: The Brainerd VFW baseball team rallied from a three-run deficit to defeat Wadena 8-4 and win the North District 6 title. Brainerd, with a 20-6 record, advances to the title game Sunday at Memorial Park. Coach Lowell Scearcy said, “We were able to come back against a very good pitcher.”
January 1, 1985: David O'Hara, 22, an Army Spec. 4 from Brainerd, works on a Huey helicopter. He is helping maintain peace in the Sinai desert of Egypt. The 1981 Brainerd grad is one of 1,000 Americans who are part of the international force monitoring the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt.
Brainerd VFW in the 1970s
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May 21, 1966: A Brainerd Marine, Corp. Dick Ungerecht, 22, was killed in action yesterday in Viet Nam. He is survived by his grandparents, mother, brother and sister. He was hit by hostile fire while on patrol with I Co., 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines in Quang Tin Province. He graduated from Washington High School in 1961.
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April 24, 1966: The Brainerd Kiwanis Club led a welcome back ceremony for Lt. Col. Robert Norman, former Brainerd resident who just completed a year’s duty in Viet Nam. Norman said it was a very special day for him, as the National Guard color guard turned out and Mayor Clyde Gorham gave him a key to the city.
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November 29, 1965: In a letter to his parents, SP4 Howard Aspholm, Jr., sent thanks to them and the Brainerd community for supporting local soldiers in Viet Nam. Howard is living in a tent in a rock quarry and running a front-end loader in 100-degree heat. He said he hasn’t been in a town in over two months.
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November 18, 1965: Marine PFC Robert Kunkel, 23, died yesterday at Great Lakes Naval Hospital from complications of wounds received in Vietnam, the first from this area to die. He is the son of county commissioner and Mrs. Ross Kunkel of Fort Ripley. Kunkel was struck by a mortar blast.
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October 28, 1965: Army Spec. 4 Kenneth Greenwalt, a rural Brainerd youth serving in Viet Nam, has strong words for demonstrators protesting the war. In a letter to his parents, he expresses his anger with college students who don’t realize that we can’t pull out, or we can say goodbye to Southeast Asia.
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July 28, 1965: During ceremonies at Fort Eustis, Virginia, Maj. Gen. William Redling congratulates S.Sgt. David Ebinger on the award of his Army Commendation Medal for meritorious service during a year’s service in Vietnam. His parents are Mr. and Mrs. William Ebinger, Route 5, Brainerd.
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May 12, 1965: Eugene Jordan of Brainerd is serving aboard the tank landing ship USS Wood County, engaged in joint operations in the Dominican Republic. After a breakdown of law-and-order there, U.S. forces were ordered in to assist when Dominican authorities could no longer guarantee the safe evacuation of American citizens.
May 2, 1965: The ground shook as the heavy 90-mm guns on the tanks of the 1st Battalion, 194th Armor National Guard unit were fired at Camp Ripley during weekend maneuvers. This marked the first time the heavy guns were fired other than during the two-week annual training period.
February 13, 1965: Pastor and Mrs. Maynard Woudsma, Brainerd, have received a phone call from their son, John, injured in a communist attack in Viet Nam. He is now hospitalized in San Francisco with shrapnel wounds to his legs and arms after the bombing at Camp Hollaway. He will be home on leave after he recovers.
January 11, 1965: Lt. Commander Howard Thorsen, a graduate of Washington High School in Brainerd, was presented with the Air Medal for a rescue he and his Coast Guard helicopter crew made a year ago. He picked two men off a rock on the California coast at night, with huge waves sweeping over the rocks.
November 20, 1964: Word has been received that Lt. Col. J.S. (Scotty) Muir died on Nov. 19 at Laguna Beach, Calif. Then Lt. Muir was with the 34th Tank Co. here and later the 194th Tank Battalion which served in the Philippines in WWII. He participated in the Bataan Death March and was in a Japanese prison camp for several years.
October 7, 1964: Frank Kulla is a robust looking man of 40 who carries a twinkle in his eye and courage in his spirit. He was a farmer when WWII broke out, and two bullets from a sniper on Okinawa, plus a later stroke, have seriously handicapped him. But the DNR hired him as a creel census taker, a job he can do without walking.
Brainerd VFW in the 1950s
July 24, 2026: Dug from the front-line foxholes where soldiers from Brainerd made their heroic stand on Bataan in 1942, a parcel of soil is being shipped from the Philippines for use in a Brainerd war memorial. Tech Sgt. Lloyd Melby, of Brainerd, stationed near Manila, is sending the soil plus photos of the area.
July 13, 1946: Tech Sgt. Boyce Hyatt, a survivor of the Bataan Death March, has enlisted for service with the regular Army. A member of famed 194th Tank Battalion, he was captured on Bataan and survived the march plus imprisonment at several Japanese prison camps. He has been in military hospitals for nine months.
June 29, 1946: After 23 attempts to get into the Army starting the day after Pearl Harbor, John “Pete” Humphrey of Brainerd is now Private Humphrey. Pete had polio as a child and recruiters said he couldn’t “take” army life. But he was a Golden Gloves boxing champ and also played football. “I guess they got tired of seeing my face in the induction line,” he said.
May 28, 1946: A Brainerd soldier, Staff Sgt. Lloyd Melby, still in military service in the Philippines, will send some earth from Bataan to be used in the new Brainerd War Memorial. There are plans to raise $300,000 for a structure in memory of county war dead, including those of the 194th Tank Battalion who didn’t return.
April 22, 1946: Franklin Madison, 18, brother of Ray Madison, Brainerd, and a former carrier boy for the Dispatch, was announced killed in action near Okinawa, Japan, April 12, 1945. He was a seaman aboard the USS Lindsey when it was attacked by Jap suicide planes. He was stationed in the forward section which was blown away by bombs.
April 21, 1946: A new unit of the now famous 194th Tank Battalion is to be established in Brainerd when the new Minn. National Guard is organized, said Ellard Walsh, Adjutant General of Minnesota. Other units of the 194th will be in Crosby, Princeton, Long Prairie, Aitkin and Milaca.
April 16, 1946: Gov. Richard Ebert has been reinstated as Municipal Court judge following his military leave of absence. He had been judge for five years prior to entering the Navy and serving in the Pacific.
April 10, 1946: Plans were announced today to start flying courses for returned veterans under the G.I. Bill of Rights. Instructors will be Albert Anderson, former naval pilot, and Jack Prouty, air corps veteran. They have leased the Brainerd Airport from Bert Garrett beginning May 1.
April 3, 1946: The execution by Army firing squad of Lt. Gen. Masaharu Homma, the Japanese officer in charge of the Bataan Death, was of particular note in Brainerd. Members of our 194th Tank Battalion were in the march and a number died. Homma had a black hood over his head and was calm and silent to the end.
March 10, 1946: Richard Ebert, recently released from service in the Pacific by the Navy, will resume his post as Municipal Court judge on March 11. He will re-open his law practice as soon as he can find office space. Acting judge W.H. Gemmel filled in for Ebert while he was on active service.
March 4, 1946: In a phone call from Bournemouth, England, Elizabeth Collette told her husband, Larry, of Brainerd, that she would be sailing soon for America. When he was returned to the States with his unit she remained behind. She will be part of a shipload of British war brides sailing to join their husbands.
February 21, 1946: They Came Home to Buy Their Fords! Col. E.B. Miller, who led the 194th Tank Battalion on Bataan, just received delivery of the first “post war Ford” sold in Brainerd. Three other Bataan Vet officers got their Fords, too, all from Mills Motor, Inc.
February 11, 1946: 2nd Lt. Albert Nordstrom, who served with the U.S. Army in the Philippines at the fall of Corregidor, was presumed killed in action the War Dept. informed his father in Brainerd. He had originally been reported missing. Another son, PFC Roy Nordstrom, a member of the 194th Tank Battalion, died on Bataan.
February 9, 1946: Three Japanese officers who are charged with beating 21 American prisoners of war are on trial today in Yokohama, Japan. Among those beaten were Americans captured after the fall of Bataan, including Pvt. Henry Turner, Brainerd, and Sgt. Ralph Hollingsworth, Merrifield, members of the 194th Tank Battalion.
January 3, 1946: Japanese Lt. Gen. Homma must have known of the terrible conditions on the Bataan Death March as his headquarters were just 500 yards away and he traveled the route during the march, said a witness at Homma’s war crimes trial in Manila. There was lack of food and medicine, and not much water. Over 300 Americans died daily.
December 30, 1945: Mr. And Mrs. Louis Knudsen of Brainerd have received notice from the War Dept. that their son, Julius, died in the Philippines on June 30, 1942. He was born in Brainerd. He went to work in California in 1938, later entering the draft and was assigned to Brainerd’s Co. A, 194th Tank Battalion, going with them to Manila in 1941.
December 10, 1945: Luverne Clark, U.S. Naval Reserve, reported missing in action on Nov. 7, 1944, has been declared killed in action. Clark was married in Brainerd in August 1942 and enlisted on October 21. He was serving on the USS Growler which failed to return from an October 1944 patrol in the South China Sea.
December 5, 1945: Lt. (jg) Dick Ebert, U.S. Navy, has arrived in San Francisco and was being sent to a naval hospital at Great Lakes, IL. Mr. Ebert, who has been serving in the Pacific, is under medical care for jungle rot, contracted on Pacific islands. In civilian life Ebert is Brainerd’s municipal court judge.
November 13, 1945: Capt. Perry J. Hickerson of Brainerd, a B-29 commander with 10 missions against the Japanese homeland, has returned to Mather Field, Calif. after flying for five months out of Guam. Winner of the Air Medal and with 200 combat flying hours, Hickerson is married to the former Faye Stanich of Ironton.
November 11, 1945: Sgt. Ralph Hollingsworth, of Merrifield, a member of the 194th Tank Battalion, arrived home yesterday from Schick General Hospital in Iowa. After his release from a prison camp in Japan, he was sent to Manila and then to Seattle. He has a 10-day furlough, after which he returns to Iowa for more treatment.
November 8, 1945: A canteen filled with sugar and another with water saved the life of a former Brainerd soldier during the infamous Death March after the fall of Bataan. S/Sgt. Raymond Fox of the 194th Tank Battalion cited the help of the Filipino people in helping many of his comrades survive the march.
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October 28, 1945: (Photo) Shown left to right in this exclusive Dispatch photo are: Col. and Mrs. E.B. Miller, S/Sgt. MacDonald, Mrs. Burke and Major Ed Burke, and Mrs. Swearingen and Lt. Russ Swearingen. Col. Miller will today be the first recipient of the Medal of Valor, Minnesota’s highest military award.
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October 27, 1945: Col. Ernest Miller, commander of the 194th Tank Battalion, is home! After a stop in St. Paul to meet Governor Edward Thye, he and Mrs. Miller came to Brainerd, and he saw his children for the first time in four years. This morning, he had his favorite breakfast of orange juice, toast and peanut butter – a far cry from the snakes, cats and rats as prison food.
October 4, 1945: A brother and sister from Jenkins met in Manila, the first time they’d seen each other since 1941 at Ft. Lewis, Wash. PFC James Bogart, 194th Tank Battalion, had been a Jap prisoner in Manchuria. His sister, Corp. Berniece Bogart was with the WACs in New Guinea. Neither knew the other was in Manila.
October 3, 1945: Twenty-five Brainerd organizations met last night at the American Legion Hall to arrange a homecoming celebration for Ernest B. Miller – newly promoted to Colonel – and members of the 194th Tank Battalion.
September 27, 1945: A homecoming reception for Lt. Col. Ernest Miller, commander of the 194th Tank Battalion, and those who served on Bataan, is being planned by the Brainerd American Legion post. The date of Miller’s arrival in Brainerd is not certain, but he should be in San Francisco about Oct. 14th.
September 19, 1945: Lt. Col. Ernest B. Miller, commander of the 194th Tank Battalion on Bataan, has been released from the Japanese prison camp at Hiroshima. The message said he was “in fair condition.” When word of his release reached his wife here today, she said she was “so happy that I can hardly talk.”
September 17, 1945: Capt. Edward Burke of Co. A, 194th Tank Battalion, has been released from a Japanese prison camp at Hiroshima. Burke is the first officer from the 194th to be released. His wife, Pernina, got the message from the war department today that he would be home as soon as possible.
September 15, 1945: Pvt. Sidney (Sid) Saign, 194th Tank Battalion, brother of Earl Saign of the state highway patrol in Brainerd, has been liberated from a Japanese prison camp at Osaka, Japan. He had been a prisoner since the fall of Bataan. He will be permitted to communicate with his family soon.
September 11, 2045: Sgt. Kenneth Porwall, who has been a prisoner of the Japs since the fall of Bataan, is in the hands of American forces and returning home. Pvt. Melvin Ahlgrim, 194th Tank Battalion, whose family lives in west Brainerd, has been a prisoner in Japan since the fall of Bataan, is headed home and says he “is well and happy.”
September 9, 1945: When the boys are all home and months of service added up, Dorothy Collette who runs the rest home on N. 8th Street will take a back seat to none. Her three boys in the Army and one in the Marines have a total 142 months in service, have been in many combat roles, and two have been awarded Silver Stars for heroism.
September 6, 1945: M/Sgt. Charles (Chub) Crosby, whose father and uncle founded the village of Crosby in 1910, was close friends with Stanley Lennox, who worked for the Bechtol Co. in the Philippines. Lennox and his wife were taken prisoner when the Japs took Manila. Crosby was able to walk into the prison recently and tell the Lennoxes they were free.
September 2, 1945: Sgt. Claude Holden and his brother, 1st Sgt. Clarence, are spending a 30-day furlough at the home of their father, Iver. Claude served with the 5th Army in Africa and Italy. He plans to return to his job with Mills Motor, which has his job waiting for him. The brothers entered service together, trained together and saw combat together.
August 29, 1945: The Silver Star, third highest U.S. award for gallantry, has been awarded to Corp. Delhardt Thiele of Brainerd and Lt. James Brummer of Staples, formerly of Brainerd. Thiele’s action was with the 5th Army in Italy. Brummer’s was with the 239th Infantry serving in Austria.
August 26, 1945: Apprehension over the fate of American soldiers being held in a Jap prison camp at Hiroshima were alleviated by word that the camp is located 50 miles away from where the first atom bomb detonated. Word was received by Mrs. Edward Burke whose husband from the 194th Tank Battalion is being held there.
August 22, 1945: A high requiem mass will be held Thursday at St. Francis Catholic Church for the late Capt. Clinton Quinlen of the 194th Tank Battalion. He died when a Japanese transport ship was torpedoed. Members of the State Guard, Minn. Highway Patrol, VFW and American Legion will gather at the armory and march to the church.
August 20, 1945: The reconversion to peacetime following the end of the war came home to Brainerd today as 90 workers at the Imgrund Co. plant were laid off at 9 a.m. The plant employed as many as 140 workers, making parts for gun mounts and parts for the motors in P-51 Mustang fighter planes.
August 19, 1945: With victory over Japan the rationing of gasoline is over, and gas stations can destroy their records, said Washington, DC. The federal government also pushed for rescinding the 35-mph speed limit, something states can do on their own. Meat rationing is expected to be lifted soon.
August 18, 1945: Miss Vickie-Jean O’Day, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin O’Day of 14th Avenue, will go through life as Brainerd’s “Victory daughter.” She was born on August 14, the date of Japan’s surrender, and in honor of “V-J Day” was named Vickie-Jean. Mother and daughter are doing great at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
August 16, 1945: Brainerd went all-out in its celebration of the victory over Japan when thousands of residents swarmed through the streets, parading in autos and tooting car horns after the NP Railroad Shops whistle blew at 6 p.m. The Brainerd Ladies’ Drum and Bugle Corps hastily assembled and marched through the streets much of the night.
August 1, 1945: 1st Sgt. Robert Turcotte, son of Art Turcotte, Brainerd, was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service in combat in Italy. He was cited for his outstanding operation of an artillery battery on the Fifth Army front in the 347th Field Artillery Battalion of the famed 91st “Powder River” Division.
July 8, 1945: From Brainerd, 96 boys took up arms and left for war with our National Guard unit on Feb. 10, 1941. To date, only three have returned: Sgt. Jim McComas, Kenneth Gordon of Merrifield and Sgt. Joseph Lamkin. Lamkin tells of the terrible strain of being forbidden to tell families about their loved ones while the war continued.
June 20, 1945: Pvt. Maxwell Dobson, son of Mrs. Florence Dobson, and a member of the famed 194th Tank Battalion, died aboard a Japanese transport ship Oct. 24, 1944, while enroute from Manila to a Japanese port. He had been a prisoner since the fall of Bataan. The Japanese government advised the Red Cross of those lost on the transport.
June 6, 1945: A Pequot Lakes man, PFC Walter Zupon, has been awarded the Bronze Star for heroic action in Italy. When his squad leader was wounded, he crawled forward under intense machine gun fire to rescue him. After putting him in a secure position, Zupon rejoined the fight, helping repel several heavy enemy counterattacks.
May 27, 1945: Lt. Dwight Curo, Brainerd, was interviewed by a Minneapolis newspaper writer as Curo left a German prison camp after being held 22 months. He said, “Turn on the sun, get the hazards off the golf course, and start the fish biting at Nisswa and Jenkins. I’m coming home.”
May 24, 1945: CPL William Mattson and John Falconer, both Brainerd soldiers of the 194th Tank Battalion, are prisoners of war in Japan. They were prisoners in the Philippines since the fall of Bataan and were then moved to Japan. A card from Mattson to his mother was dated last Oct. 11 and received here today.
May 20, 1945: PFC Eugene Hill, 25, walked into his parents’ home this morning in a bit of a surprise. He’d been in a German prison camp the last 10 months, docked in New York four days ago and came straight home. Hill has been in the army three years and was earlier awarded the Silver Star for rescuing wounded soldiers in Italy.
May 17, 1945: Capt. Richard Broach, a West Point grad who is the son of Col. Henry and Lou Mills, Brainerd, sent word that he is now in London and hopes to be in Minnesota by June. Broach, a fighter pilot, has been in a German prison camp for a year since he was shot down over enemy lines in Europe.
May 16, 1945: Anglers from across Minnesota were out on Brainerd lakes again today after yesterday’s fishing opener proved very poor. Warmer weather forecast today may help. Perhaps most disappointed was an ex-army Air Force captain who’d waited two years overseas for the chance to fish again.
May 8, 1945: The bloodiest war in European history will end at 5:01 p.m. CWT (Central War Time) today marking an end to five years of conflict. Fighting has already stopped, except for small pockets of fanatical Nazi resistance. Gov. Edward Thye has declared a day of prayer in Minnesota.
Aoril 30, 1945: 1st Lt. Jerry Murphy, former Brainerd resident, is serving with an Eighth Air Force squadron that set two records in a year of combat over the Western Front. His group destroyed over 500 German planes, with Murphy officially credited for personally downing four planes in the air and destroying four more on the ground.
April 29, 1945: When Pvt. James Johnson, 21, returned from the Army he can relate an experience few G.I.s can equal. He recently visited Sidi-Bel-Abbas, home of the French Foreign Legion in Algeria, and spoke to the commandant’s daughter. The visit was documented in an article by the late Ernie Pyle, war correspondent.
April 25, 1945: Brainerd’s last Civil War veteran, Elias Fenstermacher, turned 95 today. He was born in Pennsylvania and went into service on August 10, 1864, at the age of 14. He served with the 2nd Minnesota Light Artillery, continuing until the war ended on August 16, 1865.
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April 21, 1945: Virgil Anderson, son of Mr. And Mrs. J.O. Anderson has been killed in action while serving with the Navy in the South Pacific. He enlisted in June 1942 and was serving on a troop transport when killed. Previously he had served in five major naval battles in the European area.
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April 19, 1945: PFC Carl Rifenrath, of 923 Grove Street, Brainerd, has been liberated from a German prison camp by rapidly advancing American troops in Germany. He had not been heard from since he was reported missing on Dec. 21, 1944. He had been a prisoner in Germany for four months.
April 18, 1945: The soldier who participated in putting the first American troops on Okinawa was reported to have been Corp. Lloyd “Hap” Frederick, of Brainerd. Frederick, the driver of an amphibious tractor, was also among the first to land on Luzon, Philippines, where his tractor was hit by machine gun fire but he was not injured.
April 15, 1945: James Dechaine, 34 an honorably discharged soldier, is the first returning serviceman in the county to be granted a farm loan under the G.I. Bill of Rights. Deschaine, who served two years in the army, was given approval this week and received his $1,000 loan from Citizens State Bank.
April 11, 1945: The largest single contingent of draftees from the county ever to take pre-induction physicals on the same day will report to Ft. Snelling and other locations. The group, which includes 158 men, are all from the newly draft eligible 30 to 33-year-old age group as manpower needs expand.
April 5, 1945: The War Dept. has notified Mr. and Mrs. Erick Nelson of Daggett Brook of the death of their son, Leonard, 19, killed in action in Germany. He had been in the service just eight months and overseas for just three weeks. He is survived by his parents, four sisters and five brothers – two of them in the armed forces.
March 29, 1945: Mrs. William Katus, Northeast Brainerd, has received word that her nephew, Corp. Charles Schindler, has been wounded in action on Iwo Jima. He was hit by shrapnel from a mortar round. Schindler has previously been awarded the Silver Star, and served in battles at Saipan, Tinian and Peleliu.
March 22, 1945: A battlefield promotion to the rank of 1st Lieutenant was given to James Quinlan, 29, of Brainerd, serving with the 112th Infantry deep in Germany. He has seen almost continual action since emerging from Normandy and pursuing the Germans. He was awarded the Purple Heart in ferocious fighting in the battle of Hurtgen Forest.
March 20, 1945: Sgt. Robert Turcotte, son of Mr. and Mrs. Art Turcotte, Brainerd, is a member of the 347th Field Artillery Battalion, part of the famed 91st “Powder River” Division. Turcotte's battalion fired more than 132,000 rounds since last July 4, more than any other unit, and was instrumental in taking several towns in Italy.
March 14, 1945: It isn't often that a corporal finishes guard duty, walks out of a tent and is confronted by three officers waiting to give him a ride to Paris. But that was T/5 Robert Campbell, and one of the officers was his brother, 1st Lt. Parker Campbell. They hadn't seen each other for a long time. The two are sons of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Campbell, Brainerd.
March 13, 1945: Lt. Gene Bierhaus, serving with the 5th Marine Division on Iwo Jima, has been wounded in action according to his wife, the former Jeanne Broach, who lives in Brainerd. Bierhaus was a former football and basketball star at Washington High School here, and played football at the Univ. of Minnesota.
March 12, 1945: Howard Wygle, his wife and two children were liberated from the Santo Tomas internment camp in the Philippines. They had been prisoners since Bataan fell in 1942. Howard was superintendent of a chromium mine there. His brother, Fred, is employed at the Pillager Dam. Howard said his family was on a starvation diet the last six months.
March 7, 1945: It was bittersweet to be back at his home near Pillager for Pvt. John Wesley Carlson, who spent two years in German prison camps in Italy and Germany. The ambulance driver was exchanged with several hundred other American prisoners. Carlson rushed home to attend the funeral of his father, buried yesterday.
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March 6, 1945: PFC Ralph Raines, Brainerd, who was killed in action last week in France, was reported to have been awarded the Combat Infantryman's Badge prior to his death. The award was for exemplary conduct in action against the enemy. His widow, Irene, and four children reside in Brainerd.
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March 5, 1945: Ensign Bob Maghan, son of Mr. and Mrs. Amos Maghan, Brainerd, was personally awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by Admiral William “Bull” Halsey onboard a carrier in the South Pacific. Maghan was on patrol in a violent action when he shot down a Japanese plane trying to escape.
March 4, 1945: The Bronze Star has been awarded posthumously to PFC Leo Lund, Brainerd, for heroic action on Saipan in the South Pacific. Though badly wounded, he advanced to kill a sniper with his knife, then spotted another in a trench and killed him, too. After this gallantry, he was evacuated to the rear where he died of his wounds.
February 27, 1945: Sgt. Donald Hyatt, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Hyatt, Brainerd, was wounded in action on Luzon in the Philippines according to a letter to family from the Adjutant General's office. His brother, Boyce Hyatt, who served with the 194th Tank Battalion on Bataan, is currently in a prison camp in Japan.
February 25, 1945: American paratroopers and filipino guerrillas rescued 2,146 civilians from Los Banos internment camp 25 miles behind enemy lines in a daring air, sea and land raid that eliminated all Japanese guards. Among those liberated is Stanley Lennox of Crosby. He is a brother of Miss Dorothy Lennox, also of Crosby.
February 22, 1945: Pvt. Clifford Rardin, son of Mrs. Martin Rardin, Brainerd, is believed to be the fourth member of the 194th Tank Battalion to have escaped the Japanese since the fall of Bataan almost three years ago. She received a letter scrawled on tablet paper through Army channels. It read: “Dearest Mom and all: I am free and hope to see you soon.”
February 17, 1945: 2nd Lt. Clarence Dutkowski, Brainerd, is one of five Minnesota officers and men who will be returned to the U.S. on the Exchange Ship Gripsholm. He was captured in Italy and has been in a German prison camp. All the men are either sick or wounded and were exchanged for German prisoners in Switzerland.
February 14, 1945: Fifty-three county selective service registrants will leave today for Ft. Snelling to take pre-induction physical exams. The majority of the men are age 26-30 and have been re-classified for induction. They include some who were classified 4-F and were changing civilian jobs.
February 8, 1945: 1st Lt. Elmer Liden, son of Mrs. Agnes Persson, Route 3, has been killed in action on Luzon Island in the Philippines. Details of his death were not available according to the War Dept. Liden graduated from Washington High School and was employed here before entering the service four years ago.
February 7, 2045: Having seen considerable action himself, Pvt. Lloyd Handeland, Brainerd, now fighting in Germany, has great respect for the Co. B, 23rd Infantry mascot. “Battlefield,” the little wire-haired terrier, has received the Purple heart for wounds received, and has a little sweater complete with sergeant's stripes. She has been with the unit since D-Day.
February 4, 1945: Master Sgt. Roy Wilson, Brainerd, who is with the U.S. Army Air Force in England, was recently married to Joyce Bristow of Exeter, England. Miss Bristow was with the British Women's Auxiliary Air Force. The bride's brother, a lance-brigadier with a British anti-tank unit, could not attend as he is serving in Burma.
February 3, 1945: Bleak months of worry for loved ones in Jap prison camps ended today for four Minnesota families. Mary Gordon of Merrifield heard her son Kenneth was liberated by U.S. Raiders in the Philippines, bringing both joy and sorrow. One year ago, her other son, Ernest, died of beriberi in a prison camp in the Philippines. Merrifield, pop. 100, lost Wallace Goodrich, dead in a prison camp, and has Ralph Hollingsworth, still a prisoner.
February 1, 1945: In five of the war's most exciting minutes, 510 allied prisoners, many from Bataan and Corregidor, were rescued from a Jap prison camp in the Philippines after 32 months captivity. The 6th American Ranger commandos and filipino guerillas stormed the camp. There were a number of Minnesota men rescued, including Kenneth Gordon, Merrifield.
January 31, 1945: A requiem high mass was celebrated today at St. Francis Catholic Church here for Sgt. James Miller, son of Lt. Col and Mrs. E.B. Miller, who was killed in action in Italy on January 31, 1944. Originally a tank soldier like his father, he had switched to infantry. His father is in a Japanese prison camp.
January 30, 1945: Capt. Hortense McKay, like Gen. Douglas MacArthur, “has returned” to the Philippines, said her parents here in Brainerd. McKay, among the last nurses evacuated from Corregidor before the Philippines fell, has since served in Australia and New Guinea, and had a 30-day leave in Brainerd.
January 20, 1945: After not hearing from their son for more than 2-1/2 years, the parents of Lee “Scotty” MacDonald got a letter yesterday. Scotty was a member of the famed 194th Tank Battalion, and is now in a prison in Japan. He said he was fine and really appreciated the box they sent. He asked for concentrated food, a sweater and socks.
January 18, 1945: A twisting road through the jungle of remote Angaur, Palau Island, has been named “Robert Lipsett Drive.” Lipsett, from Brainerd, a hard-fighting sergeant of the famed 81st “Wildcat Division,” was on patrol when one of his men was hit. He crawled through enemy fire to give vital first aid and was hit himself as he rescued the man. The buddy survived, but Lipsett died.
January 17, 1945: Brainerd's Civil Air Patrol officers are preparing to instruct classes of over 100 members – both cadets and senior members – following the first meeting of the newly organized squadron. There are already 85 cadets – boys and girls under 18. Lt. Kenneth Lunceford is squadron commander.
January 15, 1945: Lt. Martha Nikkari, an army nurse from Pine River writes that Christmas in the Philippine battle zone has been difficult. No mail, a few scares and she knows now what a fox hole is like. The nurses improvised a Christmas tree from palm fronds, made some ornaments and cut-out a star from a metal juice can.
January 10, 1945: Eleanor Nolan, former acting municipal judge of Brainerd, and one of the first Brainerd women to enlist in the Women's Army Corps, has been promoted to the rank of captain, according to word from her parents. She has been overseas several months, now serving in New Guinea.
January 6, 1945: Murphy, a Preston Airedale, is home from the Army. Brainerd's only “Dog of War” enlisted in the K-9 Corps on Dec. 2, 1943. He arrived home early this morning from Camp Robinson, Nebr., and his owner, Frank Russell met his train here where Murphy was overjoyed to be home. Where he went during his year of service is a military secret.
December 25, 1944: The county's war bond sales for the Sixth War Loan Bond Drive now stand at $948,872 against a quota of $798,000, according to bond sales chairman Roy Winkler. He asks all unpaid pledges to be brought in before the drive closes on Dec. 30.
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December 24, 2944: Home in Brainerd on 30-days leave visiting his parents is WT3/c James Buley of the Navy. He was one of the 355 survivors of the sinking of the St. Lo near Leyte in the Philippines. While not allowed to give details of the sinking, he did say he was in four battles – at Saipan, Tinian, Morotal and Leyte.
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December 21, 1944: A special ceremony tonight at Franklin Junior High School will present awards to four area soldiers, two of them posthumously. Pvt. Arthur Erkkila (deceased) will receive the Silver Star, PFC Ervin Johnson (deceased) the Bronze Star, PFC Eugene Hill (a POW) the Silver Star, and Sgt. Jim McComas the Purple Heart.
December 17, 1944: Wives of Lt. Col. Ernie Miller and Capt. Ed Burke, prisoners of war being held in the Zentsuji prison camp in Japan, have received letters from their husbands asking for packages of instant coffee, tobacco, beef broth cubes and heavy socks and sweaters. Burke said he'd received letters and a package his wife mailed in September 1943.
December 18, 1944: Gen. Dwight Eisenhower's driver, Corp. Pearl Hargrave of Pillager, was married today to Eisenhower's orderly, Master Sgt. Michael McKeoch, in the royal chapel of the French palace in Paris. Eisenhower and other officers attended the wedding, and he hosted a reception afterward.
December 13, 1944: Escaping injury in 51 bombing missions over France and Germany, Staff Sgt. Vernon Sorsveen returned home and was injured. The holder of the DFC and Air Medal was driving on Oak Street when he bounced off a parked car and hit a light pole, injuring his head. He was fined $10 for careless driving but the judge suspended the fine.
December 12, 1944: Just a year ago today, Marine Corporal Leslie Marcellus sailed for Pearl Harbor with the promise he'd call his wife, Helen, in exactly one year, if possible. Yesterday she got her call and they talked for seven minutes. Those seven minutes cost $25, and the reservation for the call had to be made two weeks in advance.
December 10, 1944: Pvt. Howard Malloy, age 31, of Northeast Brainerd, was killed in action on the western front in France on Nov. 22 according to a War Dept. telegram to his widow, Dorothy. He had only been overseas three weeks when he was killed. In civilian life he worked at the Northwest Paper Mill here.
December 9, 1944: Lt. (j.g.) Bill Van Essen has been awarded the Bronze Star for outstanding action against the enemy while aboard the aircraft carrier Block Island. He was in a fighter group that sunk six Nazi subs and captured 55 prisoners. The Block Island was sunk on her next cruise, and Van Essen is now on the USS Tripoli.
December 7, 1944: Ten residents of Brainerd have donated blood to the American Red Cross blood bank five times or more, supporting our men and women in uniform. Another seven donors have given three or more times. They are among 97 donors in the month of November, the highest total in recent months.
December 2, 1944: Tech-Sgt. Kirk Wels, Brainerd, a radio operator on a Flying Fortress bomber, was part of the 3,000 plane raid on Germany, from which 40 bombers and 13 fighters didn't return. Wels, who earlier received the Distinguished Flying Cross, said “the flak bursts were so thick that we got only occasional glimpses of the planes around us.”
November 28, 1944: Lt. Reino Toumi, who was reported slightly wounded in Germany on Nov. 2, has been reported wounded again on Nov. 6, this time more seriously. His wife, Ethel, said the notice from the War Dept. didn't give the nature of his wounds. Toumi has been overseas since July, 1944.
November 26, 1944: 1st Lt. Dennis Thompson, Brainerd, became the third member of his family to be awarded the Purple Heart. A report from the War Department said he was wounded on a mission over Germany on Nov. 5 and is in serious condition. His two brothers, Vern and LeRoy, have also been wounded.
November 23, 1944: Sgt. Jim McComas, making his first public appearance, told a large gathering at Franklin Junior High School last night that there were no longer any American prisoners from Bataan still held in the Philippines. He and his comrades were told they were the last being transferred to Japan just before their transport was sunk by a U.S. sub.
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November 22, 1944: PFC Eugene Hill, son of Mrs. Anna Hill, Brainerd, has been awarded the Silver Star. The citation said: “For gallantry in action on May 14, 1944. Hill displayed courage under heavy enemy artillery and mortar fire.” The award was sent to his mother as Hill was captured in Italy on June 4 and is in a German prison camp. |
November 18, 1944: 1st Lt. Roger Trueblood, Brainerd, has been awarded the Air Medal with eight Oak Leaf Clusters. He serves with the Ninth Air Force in Belgium. He flies a P-38 fighter named “Lady Mary Margaret II” after his twin sisters. His first P-38, named “Lady Mary Margaret I,” was destroyed by enemy fire.
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November 16, 1944: After 2-1/2 years as a prisoner of the Japs in the Philippines, Sgt. James McComas, Brainerd, describes his return as “a dream far beyond my fondest imagination.” McComas, the first soldier to return of the 80 Brainerd men in the 194th Tank Battalion, told of the atrocities committed by the Japs against prisoners. |
November 14, 1944: A Brainerd sailor feels lucky to be alive after serving on one of four ships that survived the battle for invasion of the Philippines, in which six ships were lost. Maurice Cain has served for 2-1/2 years and been in the Azores, North Africa, New Guinea, South America, Saipan and Guadalcanal.
November 12, 1044: Residents of Crow Wing, Cass, Aitkin and Morrison counties will be asked to purchase war bonds in the amount of $2,042,000 in the Sixth War Loan campaign which opens nationwide on Monday, Nov. 20. The total quota for Crow Wing County is set at $798,000.
November 11, 1944: Lt. Wayne McCoy, a Crosby resident, was reported missing in action in Italy on Oct. 12. McCoy is a pilot with the 15th Air Force. Pvt. Richard Sailor, son of Mrs. Lena Morgan, Cass Lake, is one of 1,875 soldiers reported missing or killed in action in the European area.
November 9, 1944: Sgt. Jim McComas, the first Brainerd man to escape the Japs in the Philippines, has arrived in California from an Australian hospital, and is expected to be in Brainerd next week, according to a telegram to his mother. PFC Joe Lamkin is still in hospital in Australia and has not contacted his mother here yet.
November 8, 1944: Six Brainerd young men – ages 17, 18, and 19 – were sworn in to the U.S. Merchant Marine yesterday at the regional recruiting office in Minneapolis. The six will be transferred in the near future to Sheepshead Bay, NY, for preliminary training.
November 6, 1944: Election Ballots from 560 county servicemen have been received by the county auditor. More ballots are expected as applications for 855 ballots were made by families of servicemen. Military ballots will be tabulated Wednesday afternoon when the ballots will be delivered to the various county precincts.
November 4, 1944: Brainerd's two military service organizations will open their respective new club rooms tomorrow, the VFW at 9 a.m. and the American Legion at 3 p.m. The VFW club is next to the Whitney Funeral Chapel on Front Street, the Legion is a few doors away at the site of the old Palace Theatre. Neither club is totally completed yet.
November 1, 1944: The two young German war prisoners, Walter Mai and Heinz Schymalla, who escaped from the POW camp in Bena, were believed to have been in Brainerd yesterday. The two Nazis inquired about work at a local cafe but escaped on a large truck headed out of Brainerd on Hwy 210.
October 30, 1944: Sheriff Roy Wickland has launched a search for two German POWs who have escaped from the prison camp at Bena. Both are wearing prison uniforms and speak only German. One man is 5-8, and weighs 155. The other is 5-7 and weighs 138. They took army blankets when they escaped.
October 28, 1944: PFC Joe Lamkin, Brainerd, is the second prisoner of the Japs to have escaped. He was a member of the 194th Tank Battalion, and is believed to have been rescued when a U.S. sub sank a Jap transport. Like Sgt. Jim McComas, he was among the 83 survivors and is now recuperating in a South Pacific hospital.
October 25, 1944: Corporal Lloyd Sabart, who was wounded on New Guinea, has sent his Purple Heart medal to his parents in Brainerd. Corporal William Foster, Brainerd, has received the Purple Heart for wounds received in the invasion of Saipan. He has been in the Marines two years and previously had been in the invasion of Tarawa.
October 24, 1944: S/Sgt. Newell Russell, Brainerd, recently had a narrow escape from death. On one of 1,100 bombers returning from a mission over Germany, his plane was hit by heavy flack and crash landed on a former Nazi airbase and they hid until Allied troops rescued them. A truck took them to a nearby town and then to Paris.
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October 23, 1944: Word was received that Sgt. Jim McComas, a member of the 194th Tank Battalion believed captured when Bataan fell in April 1942, has escaped the Japanese and is in a hospital in Australia. He was among 83 men rescued by a U.S. sub after it sank a Jap transport near the Philippines. |
October 22, 1944: The biggest American invasion army of the Pacific war stormed ashore in the Leyte Gulf area of the Philippines. The rallying cry was “Remember Bataan.” Landing of Gen. MacArthur and his men raised hopes for the men of Brainerd's 194th Tank Battalion, some of whom are in Jap prison camps in the Philippines.
October 19, 1944: Word has been received by Eva Kjonaas, Brainerd, that her husband, Pvt. E. Kjonaas was seriously wounded in the fight against the Japs on Palau. The former Margaret Nolan, Brainerd, received word that her husband, Lt. (J.G.) M.B. McGrann was wounded in the South Pacific. He fought in Saipan, Guam and Tinian.
October 18, 1944: Residents of the Brainerd area made sure that G.I. Joe and G.I. Jane won't be disappointed at Christmas. Postmaster Joe Dunn says that 7,126 packages were mailed overseas, of which 1,432 of them were mailed on the last available day, which was October 15.
October 14, 1944: The Marine Corps reports from Peleliu that Sgt. Dino Koulas of Deerwood hopped into an amphibious truck on invasion day and drove through artillery and mortar fire to his platoon's position inland. Thirty of fifty such trucks had already been hit by fire. The truck contained flame thrower fuel, dynamite and ammunition.
October 11, 1944: Marine Sgt. John Mast, overseas in the South Pacific for 33 months, didn't get quite the welcome he expected when he arrived home. He was going to surprise his parents, but when he got to Baxter he found they'd moved, and he didn't know where. He stayed the night with a neighbor and found his folks in Brainerd the next day.
October 7, 1944: Four members of the Bataan Relief Organization have been chosen to meet with four from the “War Dads” and four from the “Navy Mothers” to discussing a fitting memorial honoring Co. A, 194th Tank Battalion and other community service men and women.
October 5, 1944: Capt. Edward Burke, an officer with the 194th Tank Battalion now a prisoner of the Japanese, revealed in a letter received by his wife that he had been wounded five times. He said none of the wounds “would bother me,” but didn't say how he was wounded. He reported getting six letters for which he had been waiting “two long years.”
October 3, 1944: Major Robert Crust, son of Mr. and Mrs. R.W. Crust, Brainerd, has received the Silver Star for gallantry when, in a battle for a road, his battalion knocked out several German tanks in fierce combat. He was also awarded the Purple Heart. He has been overseas for 22 months fighting in Africa, Sicily, France and Holland.
October 1, 1944: Brainerd and Pine Center joined hands last night to pay tribute to Staff Sgt. Roy Schellin at a banquet at the Ransford Hotel. Major General E.A. Walsh, Minnesota's commanding general, read from the many citations Schellin received. Wounded 20 times, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, Air Medal and Presidential Citation.
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September 30, 1944: 1st Lt. Warren “Red” Babcock, daring P-38 fighter pilot who had completed well over 20 missions in the South Pacific, was killed in action on Sept. 9 in the New Hebrides. Awarded the Air Medal, Babcock is survived by his parents of Brainerd, his wife Eileen and his infant son Gary. |
September 28, 1944: Maj. Mike Dobervich, Ironton, a former Jap prisoner in the Philippines who went through the Bataan Death March and later escaped to Australia, recently landed with the Marines at Peleliu “to settle a score.” He wants to be with American forces when they liberate the Philippines and throw the Japs out.
September 21, 1944: T/Sgt. Dallas Miller has passed through an air command station in England enroute to Brainerd after 35 missions as an engineer/top turret gunner on a Flying Fortress. Miller has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters.
September 20, 1944: Fighting the Japs is no new experience for John Kalenski, a county resident near Deerwood. Now, at age 66, he's fighting as a worker in a U.S. Naval Ordinance plant in Nebraska. But nearly 50 years ago Kalenski fought the Japanese in Manchuria as a member of the Russian Army.
September 13, 1944: Brainerd's VFW Mahlum-Hanson Post 1647, and its auxiliary, are building a new club room at 718 Front Street, a space formerly occupied by a tavern and a shoe shop. Mrs. Lee Whirley of the auxiliary said volunteers from the 150 veterans and 103 auxiliary are being sought to work on completing the club rooms and bar by early October.
September 9, 1944: Today marks the third anniversary of the sailing of the 194th Tank Battalion for the Philippines under the command of Lt. Col. Ernest Miller. In February 1936, the 34th Tank Co. was formed with then Capt. Miller in command. The photo shows the current officers, all now in a prison camp in Japan.
September 7, 1944: Three long blasts of the Northern Pacific shops whistle will announce the end of the war in Europe, it was announced today by the Brainerd Civic Assn. John Vanni, shop superintendent, said the whistle will blow at any hour of the day or night when the news service wires announce V-Day.
August 31, 1944: Leaving today for a Nebraska air base after a furlough here is Staff Sgt. Wayne Skillestad, who has been in the Army Air Corps since June 1940 and has spent 30 months in New Guinea as a mechanic. His brother Roger has been overseas two years, currently in Italy, and bother Sheldon is in the Admiralty Islands.
August 29, 1944: The Navy and Marine Corps Medal has been awarded to Lt. Leslie Swanson of Brainerd for his role in saving the life of Lt. John Rooney. Rooney crashed during a training flight in Miami, Florida, and his plane caught fire. Swanson, driving nearby, rushed to the plane and got the pilot out of his shoulder straps and lifted him from the burning plane.
August 24, 1944: Renowned war correspondent Ernie Pyle has written that a Brainerd soldier, Sgt. Milton Van Sickel, was one of two men with an armored division in France who inspected the wreckage of a British plane, only to find the pilot was alive, having been in the wreckage eight days. They hailed a doctor and the flyer will recover.
August 27, 1944: Corporal Raymond Smith said he couldn't get bottled ink where he is stationed in New Guinea in the South Pacific. So his mother bought five bottles of ink and took them to the Brainerd Canning Center. They poured the ink into a No. 2 can, sealed it, and it's now on its way to Raymond.
August 13, 1944: Lt. Russell Swearingen, of the 194th Tank Battalion, is a prisoner in the Zentsuji War Prison Camp in Japan. In a letter to his wife dated Dec. 17, 1943, he said he had received a letter and Red Cross package she sent in September. He said his health was excellent and that he weighed 145 pounds.
August 7, 1944: After 14 months as commander of a P.T. Boat in the South Pacific, Lt. (j.g.) Harvey Shew returned to Brainerd on a 28-day leave. Lt. Shew has received the “presidential citation” and has been recommended for the Silver Star. His wife Audrey met him in San Francisco, and they reached Brainerd yesterday.
August 6, 1944: Pvt. James Clevenger, son of Elmer Clevenger, Brainerd, who was previously reported missing since the fall of Bataan, has now been declared dead by the War Dept. Pvt. Clevenger, a member of the original 194th Tank Battalion, left Brainerd in February 1941, under command of Lt. Col. E.B. Miller.
August 3, 1944: Staff Sgt. Ray Lound, son of Mr. and Mrs. E.P. Lound, Brainerd, has been killed in action somewhere in Italy, according to a telegram received by his parents from the War Dept. Lound, who had served in the Army for two years, has been overseas the past three months.
July 31, 1944: Maj. Robert Crust, Jr., of Brainerd, led a column of gasoline tanker trucks through the flaming city of Canisy in Normandy, France. Crust spaced the trucks 300 yards apart and sent them through at 50 mph. Every truck made it, but several drivers found their hair was singed when they finally stopped.
July 30, 1944: The Brainerd Dispatch is bringing the news of Brainerd to the county boys who are battling in France against the Germans. Sulo Alanen, Brainerd soldier, said in a letter: “I was glad to see the first copy arrive, but I sure miss my walleye and northern pike fishing. Can you send Gull Lake over here?”
July 25, 1944: Wally Marchel, son of Mr. and Mrs. Kaspar Marchel, Brainerd, has been wounded in action somewhere in the South Pacific, where he has served the past eight months. He remains in an overseas hospital. His brothers, Joe and Leo, are both pilots in the U.S. war effort.
July 24, 1944: Tech/Sgt. Albert Fuhre, son of Nels Fuhre, Route 6, Brainerd, has served in the South Pacific for nine months and logged 303 combat flying hours. In that time he has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and two oak leaf clusters to it. He was also awarded the Air Medal.
July 23, 1944: PFC Douglas Anderson, Brainerd, is serving with the fifth Army in Italy in a quartermaster bakery company. They were recently hit with an attack by the German Luftwaffe and the bakers lost three men dead and 11 received the Purple Heart for being wounded. Anderson said they were running again in 24 hours.
July 17, 1944: Pvt. John Corey, of Jenkins, is known in Brainerd primarily for his prowess as a light-heavyweight boxer. He enlisted in the army two years ago, went through basic training, was promoted to corporal, then discharged when they found he was just 16. Corey, now 18, has enlisted again and is back with his former infantry unit.
July 13, 1944: An Army Air Force lieutenant, a bombardier who has served on 25 combat missions and has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, arrived here today to assist in recruiting 17 and 18-year-old men for the Army Air Corps Enlisted Reserve. He will be here through tomorrow at the VFW Hall in the Iron Exchange Building.
July 12, 1944: Friendship is a wonderful thing, and even better when boyhood friends stuck together in army life. Such is the case for Pvt. Leonall Andersen and Pvt. Paul Cibuzar, of Brainerd. They entered service together at Ft. Snelling, went to basic in Alabama, then more training in Los Angeles and Camp Roberts. To top it, they are home on leave at the same time.
July 5, 1944: Captain Richard Broach, son of Col. and Mrs. Henry Mills, of Brainerd, is a prisoner of war in Germany, according to word received here from the War Department. Broach, flying a Mustang fighter plane, was reported missing over Holland a month ago. The captain is a graduate of West Point.
July 3, 2024: Word has been received that a son, Terence, was born June 30 in Leicester, England to Capt. William J. McCollough and his wife Cecil. His parents are Mr. and Mrs. H.F. McCollough of Brainerd. Capt. McCollough is with the 8th U.S. Army Air Force, and his wife was a Section Officer in photo interpretation in the British WAAF.
June 25, 1944: A decoration received from a Lt. General rarely happens to most soldiers, but to Staff Sgt. Roy Schilb of Gull Lake View, it's the same old story. The War Dept. announced that Schilb was awarded his seventh Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of an additional Air Medal. He is with the 13th Army Air Force.
June 19, 1944: Pvt. Theodore Halstead, of Northeast Brainerd, who left here with the first group of draftees over three years ago, was back home for the first time in 20 months. He had been serving with armored forces and was wounded in North Africa and Sicily and was awarded the Purple Heart.
June 18, 1944: Lt. Hortense McKay, Army Nurse Corps, and one of the last army nurses to be evacuated from Corregidor in the Philippines in April 1942, has been promoted to the rank of captain. She had recently been in Brainerd on leave with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. George McKay, and is now stationed in Australia.
June 15, 1944: A heavyweight “pocket cruiser” type destroyer, named for the late Capt. Wallace L. Lind, a native of Brainerd, was launched yesterday from the U.S. Steel shipyard in Kearney, New Jersey. Lind, a WWI veteran, died in 1940. He was awarded the Navy Cross for trying to save the USS Pres. Lincoln after it was torpedoed by the Germans.
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June 14, 1944: Capt. Richard Broach, flying a Mustang fighter, has been missing in action over Holland Since May 30, according to word received by his parents, Col. and Mrs. Henry Mills. Capt. Broach has participated in over 250 hours of combat flying over enemy territory. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
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June 7, 1944: Allied invasion forces blasted 10 miles into France on D-Day. The U.S., British and Canadian forces fought through heavy German resistance, but the beachhead is secured. Gen Eisenhower had told the troops: “You are about embark on the great crusade. We will accept nothing less than full victory.”
June 6, 1944: D-Day Extra! INVASION! Warships and Air Forces Back Landings in Normandy! American, British and Canadian forces storm the French coast – a mighty fleet backs the invaders. In the dim light of dawn, assault forces from the British coast launched the greatest invasion of all time.
From the Brainerd Dispatch December 25, 1943: Staff Sgt. Kirk O. Wels, a former employee of the Dispatch, placed this ad in the paper: “From somewhere in England, to all my friends: I can't send individual Christmas greetings, so I'm sending mine this way in the paper. Hope those who care will see this.”
January 29, 1943: Brainerd Dispatch Newspaper
Yes, those were the god old days, but the future is ahead of us to forge for ourselves. Veterans helping veterans and the community.
