Two area veterans honored

There has been a proliferation of Veterans' Memorials in the U. S. This includes those new ones in Clearwater County (Gonvick, Clearbrook, and Bagley). We can add one more important, but little advertised, memorial located on the Minnesota Capitol Mall that featured a groundbreaking ceremony in March 2015. 

First of all, this Minnesota Military Family Tribute has been built with donations from across the state. It is the brainchild of a group of citizens led by President Teri E. Popp. What is unique about this memorial is that it contains "Story Stones". Each county (87 of them) will have a stone and each stone will have excerpts etched into them from correspondence sent between soldiers and family members during the time they served in the military. The purpose of these Story Stones is a "forever” Thank You to each spouse, significant other, child, parent, grandparent, sibling, or a former member of the military.

Many letters sent home from throughout the different wars were submitted, and one letter was chosen for each county. The committee that decided the inscription for the Polk County Stone chose the excerpts from Franklin Buer of Trail, MN. His letter to his parents in 1966 from the jungles of Viet Nam contained these words, "Here's what I want, some good home-baked cookies, that's all I want." The Buer family  kept most of the letters he sent home while in Viet Nam,

Franklin Buer, age 70, is the the eldest son (of four children) born to Olaf and Zona Buer of rural Gonvick. He was a farm kid who attended school and graduated in 1963 from Gonvick High School. After high school, Frank worked for his great uncles Gilbert, Alvin, and Carl  Wenneberg as they taught him how to do mechanical things and to weld. He worked on old tractors, old cars, and steam engines. Now, in his retirement, he still enjoys working on old machinery. He added, "My Uncle Alvin introduced me to Rollag, Mn where they still run old machinery."

 He was drafted into the U.S.Army in September 1965 where he received his basic training at Ft. LeonardWood  and advanced training at Fort Ord, CA. He noted, " I  was inducted into the Army at the same time with Johnny Sundquist of Gonvick and Dennis Nelson of Clearbrook. Both of them were killed in action in Viet Nam. We took the train from Bemidji to Fort Lewis, Washington where we trained for combat duty in the 81 millimeter mortar section. After that we boarded the U.S. John R. Pope ship and went to Viet Nam. During that trip, we spent 17 days in Okinawa, and one day later we were part of the landing crafts on the white sand beaches of Viet Nam"

Next , his unit traveled by truck into Pleiku, Viet Nam and set up a base camp."

.. They had to spend a lot of time in the jungle and did observation on the Ho Chi Min Trail-anything that came down the trail, they were in contact with the Air Force and their B52s.

Frank recalled, "We could not tell a friend from an enemy because they worked in our camp during the day and shot at us during the night. We were located close to the Chupong Mountains. We operated out of the mountains and heavy jungle. During the dry season, the temperatures reached 130-140 degrees in the daytime and the humidity was horrible...no way to stay cool. During the monsoon season, we'd get 250-300 inches of rain. We were wet most of the time. The U. S. helicopters dropped dry clothes to us about every five days. It was nasty."

The stress and elements plus Agent Orange took its toll as Frank had his first grand mal seizure. Those seizures continued until 1975. The military denied that the war conditions had caused them. It was during this time (1966) that he wrote home about not feeling well and wishing for some homemade cookies. for Christmas. Besides his wish for cookies, he wrote, "I'm feeling a little better today. I have a headache, my jaws ache, and I feel weak. The medics don't even know what happened to me." Frank explained, "After I got home and didn't have that stress, my seizures quit and I haven't had one for 40 years." 

Another letter that he sent home from Viet Nam is dated December 13, 1966. " Sgt. Turner, me, and a couple of other guys went out and got Dan (Nolff) during the firefight. He was hit in the arm, leg, and twice in the back. I talked to him in the morning and he knew me. In the afternoon, they took him out by helicopter. He made it as far as the hospital room. Everybody sure misses Dan, especially in the weapons platoon."(He also includes the address of Dan's parents so his own parents could write a sympathy note to them.)

Frank came home on June 14, 1967. He added, "I didn't drive for ten years after getting home from Viet Nam. Dad drove for me until 1975. 

After returning home, he bought the Hollace Gustafson farm located across the road from his parents in rural Gonvick. He worked for Dean and Irvin Godtland at Dean's Service in Gonvick from 1970-1986.

He met his future wife Margie when she worked at the Village Inn for Mamma Gallo in Gonvick. Frankie came into her Inn to eat at noon and they became acquainted. Frank smiled, "We will be celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary this year. They raised two kids-Buddy and Holly- and now have grandkids. Frank and Margie moved to a smaller estate just outside Trail in 2004, and son Buddy took over their farm.

Both he and his wife enjoy quilting.-especially in the winter time. They make one quilt a year. Frank added, "In the wintertime is the only time that my hands are clean-free of grease from working on cars or tractors. We like gardening, pawn shopping, sewing, auction sales and tinkering with machinery."

As to memories of his war experience, he said, "Some of the sights, smells, and sounds still cause me to react after 47 years."

 " My  letters were submitted to Les Goodwin, the Veterans' Service Officer in Polk County and a sentence from one of mine was chosen. That is a real honor to represent Polk County on the Story stones. We have been to see them on the Minnesota Capitol Mall. this past summer."