From My Farmhouse Kitchen: Museum visits reminded us of veterans’ sacrifices – thelandonline.com

It was a sunny day in August. The type of day when all of life is bright and carefree when we took this morning trip. Even our hearts were echoing the songs the birds were singing in praise to glorify their Creator.

We drove past fields of corn and soybeans growing as they ought at that time. Thankfully enough rain had come for the crops to look healthy. We even saw a few horses and cows soaking up the warm sunshine in green pastures.

Since we were in the tri-state region of Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota, there had to be a tractor or two in the fields to bring out that farmer in us. All seemed right and normal.

Our destination was the Herreid Military Museum in Luverne, Minn. I had been there before; but this time I was taking a friend, a WWII military veteran himself. He had served as a medic in various hospitals stateside.

While I had a general idea of where the museum was, I was thankful for the strategically placed signs to guide me directly to our destination. It is located in a building which once served as the county jail and sheriffs residence. In 2006 they moved out.

The museum itself is fairly young. Its birth can be traced directly to The War documentary Ken Burns produced. In his seven-part series, Burns focused on individual citizens in four American towns during World War II: Waterbury, Conn.; Sacramento, Calif.; Mobile, Ala.; and Luverne, Minn.

According to the Ken Burns website, 21 young men graduated from the Luverne high school in 1939. All but one served in this second world war. It would have been 100 percent participation, but the young man had a heart defect which kept him from entering World War II.

During the war years, Rock Countys population was 10,683. From that number, 1,065 served in the military. Thirty-two young men gave the ultimate sacrifice.

As you can see, Mr. Burns had good reasons for choosing Luverne to represent mid-America. The people of Luverne responded by continuing the work begun by his documentary. It is evident in this museum.

With many thanks to generous benefactors, Warren Herreid and Jeannine Rivet, the building was renovated to house the Brandenburg Gallery and the Herreid Military Museum. They felt it important to preserve the stories of Rock Countys brave men and women who had served. The movie had served as a springboard for their desire.

We began our tour with a general observance of the displays. It didnt take long for us to realize this was not your general war historical museum. Instead, it took on a more personal note. The displays featured real people from Rock County. They had actual names with parents, brothers and sisters. Some were married with children. They might even have been an outstanding sports athlete or a star farmer.

They were young men when they said their goodbyes with tears in the eyes to the people most precious to them. Mere lads, they were, with hopes and dreams of living a peaceful, productive life.

Instead, this war business had to be taken of first. There were others who were in dire need of their help, so they left their families and aspirations behind to protect freedom for us and others.

We progressed through the museum slowly because there is so much to see and absorb. Our conversations became less as we were beginning to more fully comprehend again and again what we were seeing.

It wasnt just visual. There were also oral and video histories which had been made by the Rock County Historical Society of the people who had served in the military.

We watched the documentary, The Fighter Pilots Story, that Quentin Aanenson put together with his son-in-law in the early 1990s. Mr. Aanenson produced and distributed this 90-minute documentary which includes real archive footage of the war. Aanenson talked candidly of the emotional and physical toll the war effort required from its soldiers. It is the documentary Ken Burns saw when he was doing his research on WWII.

The museum doesnt just focus on WWII. No, it begins with the Civil War because 70 percent of Rock Countys first settlers were Civil War veterans. It showcases all the wars continuing through present day freedom fighters. It appears that freedom requires constant vigilance.

The museum is all about heroes local heroes who gave of themselves so that we could enjoy pleasant days. We left the museum in a somber frame of mind with tears in our eyes. It is rather humbling to realize how much our freedom costs.

A few weeks later with the meaningful museum visit still uppermost in my mind, I was enjoying a draft horse show. There a man was wearing a t-shirt with these words: Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you: Jesus Christ and the American soldier. One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

In view of this truth, how then ought we to live our lives?

The Herreid Military Museum is located at 213 E. Luverne St. in Luverne, Minn. It is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The museum is closed on Sunday.

On a side note, on Oct. 22 we visited the Hospers Historical Museum in Hospers, Iowa for the first time. It was another pleasant day. We enjoyed dinner at the Boxcar Caf.

The museum is located in the basement of the Hospers Public Library. Everyone was very helpful and friendly.

The first thing we saw when we came down the elevator was their military display. Uniforms from the different military branches and wars were on mannequins. Many with names, photos and a short history of the men who wore them in service.

The display on LeRoy Poppema really caught my attention. In 1967, this Hospers native enlisted in the Viet Nam war. He was trained to be a hospital corpsman and was assigned to the Marines Corps unit. He was only 22 years old when he was killed by a mortar explosion while rendering aid to a wounded Marine.

At an early age, he valued freedom not just for himself, but for others. He expressed his views in this essay while an eighth-grade student at the Hospers Christian School:

What Freedom Means to My Parents and Me

Kings have come and kings have gone, but the desire for freedom lingers on in the hearts of every one of our countrymen. The man of this bewildered world has always treasured freedom, but has often let freedom slip from his possession.

Freedom must be broad and deep, but it cannot be absolute and unlimited. It is also limited by the rights of the community and the general public. Liberty is not a license: We do not have the right to us use our freedom irresponsibly and unfairly, to injure other individuals to destroy their freedom and rights, or to endanger the welfare of a community as a whole. An important test of this maturity and responsibility is whether the individual citizen recognizes the moral and legal responsibility which goes along with exercise of his personal rights. We are obligated to exercise every right in such a way as not to interfere with another persons exercising of the same rights.

If the bulk of Americans do not understand or abide by this essential obligation, this Golden Rule which accompanies the exercise of freedoms, the eventual penalty, could be the loss of all freedoms to all of us. Freedom means enjoyment, privileges which were hard fought for by our forefathers. With our freedom we are being able to worship God according to the dictates of our conscience. Thanks be yet to God that I have the right to worship God in the church of my liking.

I am still a respectable citizen of the state and I can be individualistic and I can still express, and I can write of my own accord that is without using slang.

In the name of decency I can use my freedom of fair trial. I am not told what to do by the government. I can choose my own course. In short, we have a responsibility to use our freedom, to form associations in such a way that this right will aid the cause of protecting and broadening all human freedom.

LeRoy Warren Poppema

Renae B. Vander Schaaf is an independent writer, author and speaker. Contact her at (605) 530-0017 or agripen@live.com.

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From My Farmhouse Kitchen: Museum visits reminded us of veterans' sacrifices - thelandonline.com