A soldier statue at the Northfield Area Veterans Memorial at Riverside Lions Park in Northfield.
WAR. It is easy to distance ourselves, to forget. Out of sight, out of mind.
But when war becomes personal—when a close loved one is serving his/her country, then the perspective changes. War weaves into lives with threads of fear and uncertainty, with distraction and unease, with life lived always on the cusp of “when the soldier returns home.”
I’ve never lived that life in the present. But I have experienced it in the past, in the afterward of war. My father fought on the front line during the Korean War. Battle forever changed him. How could it not? If you killed someone close enough to see the whites of their eyes, how would you feel? Even if you understood the choice, kill or be killed?
My father, Elvern Kletscher, left, with two of his soldier buddies in Korea.
My dad lived with the demons of war—the nightmares, the flashbacks of buddies blown apart on the battlefield, the memories of hunger and cold and the digging into foxholes and a sniper picking off members of his platoon and mortar rounds winging toward him.
There is no glory in war or in violent death on the battlefield.
My dad carried home a July 31, 1953, memorial service bulletin from Sucham-dong, Korea. In the right column is listed the name of his fallen buddy, Raymond W. Scheibe.
Sonny Nealon, Ray’s best friend in high school, sent me this photo he took of his friend Ray’s gravestone. Ray was killed by a mortar round on June 2, 1953, the day before he was to leave Korea and return home to his wife and six-week-old daughter in Wollbach, Nebraska. My dad witnessed his buddy’s death.
On this Memorial Day weekend, let us remember, not war, but the men and women who served their country. Remember them as individuals—as sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, aunts and uncles…
Honor them. Respect them. Thank them for giving of themselves to preserve and protect our freedom.
Long-time Cannon City resident Bob respectfully removes his cowboy hat during the playing of taps at the 2011 Memorial Day service at the Cannon City Cemetery. If you want to experience a simple and moving program in a rural cemetery, attend this one at 2 p.m. Monday at Cannon City (near Faribault).
An in-ground marker honors my father, Elvern Kletscher, a Korean War veteran and recipient of the Purple Heart, for wounds he suffered at Heartbreak Ridge in Korea.
And if they are no longer living, like my dad, honor them by visiting their grave sites or a veterans’ memorial or by attending a Memorial Day service or parade. That is the very least we can do to express our gratitude.
An eagle at the new Veterans Memorial Park in Morristown. The memorial will be dedicated at 3 p.m. Saturday.
TO READ A STORY I wrote about my Dad’s service in Korea, click here. The story was published by Harvest House Publishers in 2005 in the book, God Answers Prayers: Military Edition, edited by Allison Bottke.
HOW WILL YOU HONOR veterans this Memorial Day?
© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
Wow…this one got me, especially when you reminded us to remember those who served as individuals what a great reminder. I Do plan on visiting our veterans memorial today here in Rochester. I may have a post to share as well, No one in my family has ever fought in a war, I see it was very real and close to you. Thank you for your beautiful tribute to those who have, and still are serving our country.
You are welcome, Jackie. I did not mention this in today’s post, but two years after my dad’s death I tracked down the daughter of Ray Scheibe, my dad’s Army buddy who was killed the day before he was to leave Korea. You can only imagine that emotional phone call to his daughter, Teri. To read that story, follow this link: https://mnprairieroots.wordpress.com/2010/06/02/remembering-cpl-ray-w-scheibe-my-dads-army-buddy-killed-in-korea-on-june-2-1953/
I have never met Teri, who lives in southwestern Iowa. Someday.
Yes, please show us photos of the veterans memorial in Rochester.
What a great story, amazing how you pored your heart into finding this daughter and how she could finally know who her dad was through tidbits from his army buddies. What a blessing you have been for Teri, I hope the two of you are able to meet some day, I bet you will!
Thank you. Yes, I hope to meet Teri someday. She lives near the hometown of one of my brothers-in-law. My sister and her husband have been to that Iowa town, but have not met Teri. They do not have the same interest in meeting Teri as I do.
I love this kind of post which touch people and stop them to think our life on our world.
My late father was war veteran (WW2) as my late father-in-law. In Finland we have war memorials on every grave yard. Our war memorials are not presenting heroes, but the suffering of the human heart. Aftermath of the war, in our country there were the orphaned children, widowed mothers, invalids and a shortage of everything. We were the only country that paid war indemnities!
Audrey, if You do not mind, I give here link to my posts presenting our war memorials which I have photographed until now.
Memorials
My father never wanted to talk about war, but my father-in-law told every time when we visited to his home the horrors of war. He repeated them and never could forget what he experienced.
Thank You for this touching post.
Thank you for sharing the Finish aspect of honoring veterans.
My father did not talk much about his time in Korea either. But the few stories he shared left a lasting impression upon me.
Moving post, Audrey. You do our flesh and spirit veterans proud. Loved loved that photo of Bob. Happy Memorial Weekend to you and yours!
Thank you, Emily. The “Bob” photo is a fav of mine, too. It was such a heartfelt moment to capture.
Gratitude ~ What a deeply touching and Truth-filled post. The photo from Korea, how amazing to have that as remembrance …
I have a shoebox of photos and other items from my dad’s time in the military, including additional images from Korea. He had taken other photos in Korea, but that film was confiscated and he was never allowed to bring it back to the U.S.
Wow, confiscated ~~ But so grateful for what they could bring back…for us, years to come to reflect on their experience.
Amen! Lovely post.
Thank you.