| Presentation of medals to WWII vet a focal point of Veteran's Day event |
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By Joel Stottrup
Inside the case were duplicates of nine medals he had earned while serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, the bulk of his service in Europe. Caley House Director Suzie Spain and Princeton VFW Commander Loren Papesh present the medals to World War II veteran Chester Hoeft. But on Veterans Day this past week he was seated in the cafeteria of the Caley House Assisted Living Apartments in Princeton where he resides. It was a little after 3 p.m. and a Veterans Day program was going on that included presenting him with duplicates of his World War II army medals.
The Mille Lacs County Veterans Service Office in Milaca had ordered the duplicate medals from the government. But Hoeft did not know they had arrived nor that he would be receiving the medals that day. Why not use the presentation of the medals as a symbolic action that could be the focal point of their Veterans Day activity, they asked each other. It also turned out that U.S. Congressman Jim Oberstar was going to be in town and he was invited to give a Veterans Day speech for the event at Caley House. As Hoeft sat waiting for the Veterans Day program to begin in the Caley House dining room, he was seated at a table with three other U.S. military World War II veterans. The men were also residents at the Caley House. They were Gerald Anderson, 83, Dale Haugen, 84, and Art Maderholz, 88. Anderson was a Navy radioman aboard the USS Maui. Haugen had been involved in antiaircraft service in the Army Air Corps 5th Triple A Battalion. Maderholz served in the Navy as a signalman and was part of landing forces on the South Pacific islands of Saipan and Tinian. Shortly before Oberstar arrived Spain and Princeton VFW Commander Loren Papesh walked up to Hoeft with the case holding his medals and they presented him with it. Hoeft, who had a stroke some years earlier, was visibly moved, his eyes welling up as he gazed at the case with the medals and took in what was going on. Actually, Hoeft and the other three military veterans at his table were lauded during the Veterans Day observation. But Hoeft became the main focus in the mentioning of names because of the symbolism of getting the medals. After the presentation of the medals to Hoeft, Congressman Jim Oberstar gave a Veterans Day speech. During it, he also praised the four men for their World War II service. But he singled out Hoeft the most, as Hoeft was the one receiving the medals. The medals were Good Conduct, Meritorious Unit Commendation, American Campaign, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign with Silver Star attachment, World War II Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal with Germany clasp, Honorable Service Lapel Button for WWII, and Marksman badge and rifle bar. State Representative Gail Kulick Jackson and State Senator Lisa Fobbe also attended. Jackson said that without the service of veterans like the four at the Caley House, she would not have the democracy to work in that she has. The case with the medals contained a folded U.S. flag on the top and cloth below upon which the medals were attached. The wood in the case was a rare Hawaiian wood, Spain said, noting that the case was made by someone who wanted to remain anonymous.
The maker of the case had saved the wood for a special use and decided this would be the occasion, she said. She recalled how as she laid out the medals inside the case, she was awed by the case and felt gratitude toward the person who made it. Oberstar, in his speech, called Hoeft’s service an “extraordinary accomplishment.” Oberstar noted that he had just come from Longville, where he attended a public gathering at an elementary school in honor of a soldier who had died in Afghanistan. Oberstar spoke proudly of growing up in Chisholm, on Minnesota’s Iron Range. He noted that the Iron Range supplied 800 million tons of iron ore that was made into steel to make 296,000 aircraft, a half million tanks, 12,000 naval vessels and 15 million rifles. The Iron Range had the highest rate of enlistment, highest rate of persons killed in action and the highest number of Gold Star Mothers during World War II, Oberstar added. American Gold Star Mothers are defined as “natural mothers who are American citizens who have lost a son or daughter through military service to the country.”
Oberstar recalled how as a child delivering the Duluth Tribune newspaper, he would notice a new Gold Star Mother symbol showing up in the window of a home on his route every week or two during World War II. He noted that more than 16 million men and women in U.S. armed forces served in the war. The veteran told about the underwater bombs that were blowing up American vessels during the landing and how some shots fired from the American ships landed by mistake among American troops. The veteran, Oberstar continued, talked about the withering German gunfire that cut down the first two soldiers trying to lead the men off his landing craft. When the veteran who Oberstar interviewed next had his turn to lead the men off the craft, he decided they should do so by going over the sides of the craft and not go out the front. That veteran, who is now 90, recalled how after advancing for a while during the invasion, he returned down to the beach and beheld all the carnage. The veteran choked and cried as he recalled that scene, said Oberstar, noting that it was the first time in 60-plus years that the veteran had told his story of landing at Normandy. Oberstar told of once visiting the invasion site at Normandy, France, and gathering sand and water in a container to bring back to the veteran he had interviewed. Oberstar also recalled the loss of life during one of the war’s famous battles in the Pacific, that of Iwo Jima when American Marines took the island from the Japanese. Oberstar then changed the scene of his speech to U.S. military personnel serving now. Today, many troops who have been in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan have been surviving wounds because of “extraordinary medical advances and first aid that front-line soldiers on the front lines of World War II didn’t have,” Oberstar continued. Oberstar talked about an American serviceman from present day wars who had cranial surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland to treat a major wound. That wounded veteran will need America’s support and care all his life, Oberstar said.
Oberstar stressed the importance of adequate funding for the Veterans Administration budget to help those personnel who are wounded physically or mentally and to help the families caring for them. Hoeft was asked a few questions last Friday evening as he sat quietly after finishing supper at the Caley House. He explained that his job while in the army in Europe during World War II was repairing telephones. The Union-Eagle had interviewed Hoeft more than a decade ago about his World War II experiences. Like then, when he was asked if he was in the Battle of the Bulge, he said he was on the outer part of that battle. The Battle of the Bulge was in a large area, Hoeft said, drawing a kind of circle or oval on a piece of paper. “I was not on the front lines,” he said. But like back when he was originally interviewed, there was no doubt that he was viewing a big battle in the distance. He said he could see the tracers of the antiaircraft guns at night. Dale Haugen, seated next to Hoeft, and who was mentioned earlier as having served in an antiaircraft unit in the Army Air Corps, responded quietly. Experiencing war is “something you never forget,” he said. Comments (1)
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written by Just an anonymous vet please , November 24, 2009 Thank You for covering such an outstanding demostration of graditude, to the oh so often forgotten (thought of as burdens) SONS of all OUR founding FATHERS. So many have NO idea where we as a NATION really stand in the world, and unfortunately may learn the HARD way. There are so many quotes from the founding fathers that we ignore, and WILL pay for. As a veteran myself, all I can say is:" Freedom has a Flavor the Protected will Never know " & " Freedom is Not FREE " Write comment
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The eyes of World War II veteran Chester Hoeft, 88, of Princeton, grew watery on Veterans Day last week as he gazed at the glass-enclosed wooden case that stood two feet away.
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