Speakers hail the sacrifices of military service
By Jason Arndt
Editor
State Sen. Van Wanggaard’s father, a veteran of multiple conflicts, would be 101 years old today.
Wanggaard, whose father, Herluf, died in 1997, reflected on his service as the keynote speaker of Monday’s Veterans Day service hosted by the Veterans of Foreign Wars at Veterans Terrace, Burlington.
“My father served in World War II and married my mother on Dec. 12, 1941, a few days before that, Pearl Harbor was bombed,” Wanggaard said.
Following his marriage, Herluf departed for service, which included a stop in Australia.
After 4-1/2 years in the South Pacific, he returned home and earned degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Marquette University, before becoming a dentist.
“He was then called into the Korean conflict for another five years,” Wanggaard said.
Upon his return, Herluf became the chief of dentistry at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where Wanggaard was born.
Eventually, the Wanggaards returned to Wisconsin, and Herluf enlisted in the National Guard reserves in the 32nd division.
“I had an opportunity as a young man to spend time with my father, attending each and every one of those National Guard meetings and going to all of the summer camps,” he said.
According to Wanggaard, the dialogue with his father was an eye-opening experience.
Before his father died, Wanggaard learned some of his father’s comrades returned home with wounds, both mentally and physically.
“He talked about some of the things that occurred while he was in the jungle in New Guinea,” he said. “It was really, really challenging for these guys coming back, we lost a lot of them.”
The challenges included PTSD, an undiagnosed mental illness at the time, which made honoring veterans more important.
Honoring veterans, Wanggaard said, includes remembering them every day.
“I remember my father every Veterans Day and every day…I think about his service to the country, his love for the country and the fact that we have so many veterans that are returning from conflicts,” he said.
“This is something that we cannot forget, this is something we have to remember, so it doesn’t happen again.”
To read the full story see the Nov. 15 edition of the Burlington Standard Press.
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