Honoring My War Heroes

Growing up, Memorial Day meant two things: The first grilled hamburgers of the summer, and the Indianapolis 500. It also meant that on television would be coverage of the president placing a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery in Virginia, and his speech, but that was just background; something the adults watched.

As an adult, though, I have come to understand and honor the service and sacrifice of men and women in the military. Although on Memorial Day flowers are laid on the graves of all loved ones who have died, it is really to honor the people in the service who served and died.

And so I want to honor the people in my family who served in the Armed Forces. How fortunate for us that none of them died in battle.

1. Sigvald Lillehaugen, my grandfather

Growing up we heard stories about my grandfather's time in the Navy during WWI. From him I learned the words to "Pack Up Your Troubles," "It's a Long Way to Tipperary," "Over There," and snippets of other WWI songs. A first-generation Norwegian-American who grew up on a North Dakota farm, he was a student at Concordia Lutheran College, Moorhead, Minn., when he and a buddy hopped a train to Minneapolis and enlisted at Fort Snelling. After basic training he was made a communications officer, or "radio man," as he called himself. I still have a photo I found of him standing on board ship, radio in hand. He served only a year before he was discharged on hardship when his father died and he had to go home and take care of his mother. Although he never quite said it, I could tell he was disappointed that he never got to serve in combat. He was proud to be a Navy man, and always had a bet on the Army-Navy football game played for years on Thanksgiving Day. He died just short of his 92nd birthday.

At the reviewal the evening before his funeral, two members of the American Legion arrived to present a flag. They laid it across the casket, then quietly saluted him. It was a glorious moment that filled me with pride.

2. Floyd Nordland, my dad

Dad was 16 when he graduated from high school, and WWII had just ended. Smart and ambitious, he wanted to go to college, so he enlisted in the Army. He served his two years in the Phillipines, where, he used to tell us, he spent his time playing basketball and baseball when he wasn't on duty as a file clerk. When he returned home, he went to college, where he lettered in baseball, and became a coach and Biology teacher. By the time he retired, he was a college professor. He doesn't talk about his two years in the service much, because he served between wars. However, he stands as proudly as anyone when the Army's song is played in concert, and he always cares about the outcome of the Army-Navy game.

3. Fred Thomson Sr., my uncle

Uncle Fred served as a Marine in Korea, something he never seemed to talk about -- certainly I didn't know that about him until I was an adult. However, he had the dignity and strength of character that distinguishes men who served as Marines. He was a funeral director, first joining his father and uncle in the family business, then later on taking over. He conducted business with compassion and caring and a quiet faith that permeated everything he did. When he died from cancer, he was honored as a Marine and a hero. He was one of those men, though, who if he had never put on a military uniform, would still have been a hero.

4. Manvel Lillehaugen, a cousin

Manvel was a dreamer and a writer, a history professor who was respected and loved by his students at Minot State. My grandfather was his "Uncle Sig." Drafted in WWII, he served in Europe, including as part of the forces who freed France. A man who at first seemed the last person who would "make it" in the Army, he served with distinction, and went on to write memoirs that included stories of his time in the service and the war. When he died suddenly, his unpublished memoirs were found among his things, and his brothers and sisters posthumously published them along with other short works.

5. John Nordland, my uncle

Uncle John was one of my dad's brothers. He served in WWII in the Rangers, and was one of those guys who scaled the cliffs on D-Day. He rarely talked about his time in the Rangers, but he had his medals displayed in his modest home. He met his wife, Claire, a Cicilian-American, in New York while he was stationed there, married her, and brought her back to Minnesota. He worked as a carpenter, eventually disabled from war wounds, and spent many years in and out of VA hospitals. My dad would quietly tell us, "Your uncle was a real hero."

6. William Wallace, my father-in-law

I never met my father-in-law; like my mother, he died shortly before my husband and I met. In fact, losing a parent so recently was one of the commonalities we found. Bill served in the New Zealand Army during WWII. We have his medals, and in Australia my husband used to pull them out and wear them on Anzac Day. Although he would like to honor his father in the same way here, it is "against the rules" for anyone other than the decorated U.S. soldier to wear medals awarded in service. Bill went on to marry and move to Australia, where he worked as a master carpenter, beloved and respected by everyone who knew him. In the dangerous war in the Pacific, when Australia was in real danger from the Japanese, he helped keep Australia free.

7. James Moore, husband of my daughter's 1st grade teacher
James is a young Marine who recently married my daughter's 1st grade teacher. When my daughter was in 1st grade, however, they were still newly dating. He served (last I heard) 3 tours in Iraq, one of which was while my daughter was in 1st grade. He and his buddies not only were pen pals with her class, but with another 1st grade class in the elementary school as well. In fact, he said that if his platoon buddies wouldn't write, he would write to all the kids himself. (Fortunately he had help.) To those children, and the children in Mrs. Moore's other classes who wrote to him, James is a hero. He is now stationed in Virginia where they are starting their married life.

So this year, as I watch the president lay the wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, I will be honoring these men, as well as the men and women who are serving both at home and abroad.