For Those That Never Came Home

They were short but not sweet. They were not loud or flashy. And, due to the state of the world, they were not even crowded. Rather, they were quiet and solemn; humble yet proud; filled with the dignity and respect befitting the men and women the veterans of Valley County were duty bound to honor this past Monday-the ones that never came home.

After laying flags on the gravesites of veterans that have passed on May 22, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3107 and American Legion Post 41 regrouped on May 25 to form an honor guard for a noon ceremony at the Eastside Memorial in the Glasgow cemetery. In the times of COVID-19 it was impossible for the VFW and America Legion to host their traditional Memorial Day program, so, according to Post 3107 Commander Art Widhalm the two Vets groups were still going to honor those veterans buried in Glasgow without the crowd.

They kept it simple and the master of ceremony, Phil Wilson, opened with a prayer, then the color guard presented the National Standard, the state flag and two posts' colors before honoring all deceased veterans with a 21-gun salute. The ceremony concluded with taps played by Leonard Swenson and Max Knodel. In total it was over in under 10 minutes and less than 30 people attended, but that was the plan, according to VFW Commander Art Widhalm.

"We wanted to keep it small to comply with the social distancing," he said. The groups did not promote the event due to restrictions put in place by the Montana Governor as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To further the mission of honoring the fallen for Memorial Day and engaging the public in a separate safe way, American Legion Commander, VFW member and Vietnam Veteran Joe Yeoman held a candlelight vigil service at sunset under the Northeast Montana Veterans Memorial in Fort Peck. At exactly 8:40 p.m., Yeoman began with a prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance and a small introduction before lighting red, white and blue candles to honor prisoners of war, missing-in-action and killed-in-action service members from all of America's wars.

After lighting the three candles, the crowd brought forward candles to light in honor of veterans they knew personally. "To keep the flame going," explained Yeoman.

The American Legion Commander then read aloud each of the names from lists of POW, MIA and KIA military service, men and women whose names adorn the walls of the memorial. In total he announced the names of three MIA, 16 POW and 49 KIA service members from wars as diverse as WWI and WWII to Afghanistan and Iraq.

The names of those Killed in Action are:

Allen, Charles D., Army

Allman, Kenneth W, Army

Atkins, Travis W, Army, Medal of Honor Recipient

Baldry, Floyde M, Air Force

Brown, Raymond W, Army

Brown, Robert R, Army

Carignan, Charles F, Army

Crothers, Howard R, Army

Cuniff, Jack, Army

Dignan, George J, Navy

Fuhrman, James F, Army

Grayson, Reid Jr, Army

Gullickson, Harold M, Army

Harr, Gerry A, Army

Hoard, Dale E, Army

Holleyman, Aaron N, Army

Jimison, Virgil, Army

Juel, Darryl R, Marines

Kaasa, Merle L, Army

Kunutson, Max, Army

Larson, James A, Army

Lawrence, Reginald R, Army

Lee, Edward A, Army

Leibole, John H, Army

Linde, Darren M, Army

Lockman, Marvin S, Army

Martin, Francis B, Army

Micheletto, Carlo A, Marines

Nathe, Michael Leo, Army

Neiss, Terry D, Army

Nyquist, Fritz, Army

Nyquist, Victor, Army

Pankratz, William, Army

Pehlke, Clifford V, Army

Peters, Abraham E, Army

Reich, Leo, Army

Rice, Clair F, Army

Rushton, Don L, Army

Sampson, Sanford O, Marines

Sarver, Milton D, Navy

Schultz, Danny, Marines

Schuster, Francis W, Army

Servais, Adam P, Air Force

Slunaker, Robert W, Air Force

Solberg, Elmo B, Army

Spindler, Frank L, Air Force

Steinmetzer, Walter, Army

Waters, Vernon JH, Marines

Weinmeister, Edward, Army

The List of Missing in Action include:

Brest, Avon L, Army

Haynes, Howard C, Army

Jensen, Wayne F, Air Force

The names of Prisoners of War:

Anderson, Jack M, Army

Bain, James A, Air Force

Berge, Richard A, Army

Bryson, Robert C, Army

Calfee, John R, Navy

Eide, Chester H Jr, Air Force

Ersness, Calmer A Sr, Army

Jensen, Richard S, Army

Linn, Orlie P, Army

Newton, Kenneth M, Army

Novak, Joseph, Army

Pankratz, Walter P, Army

Pankratz, William, Army

Schultz, Harry T, Army

Vaira, Alvin Bud, Air Force

Watterud, Glenn A, Army

(The list of POWs includes names of those repatriated after the conflict ended and some may still be alive today)