Memorial Day in Balaton this year included a special touch.
After the traditional ceremony, a large content of people headed out to Lakeside Cemetery on the west edge of town to posthumously honor seven former Balaton residents who served their country — some who fought in two wars — with a cemetery walk put together by Balaton historian Mary Ellen Mattson.
Seven areas in the cemetery were marked with colored flags, each representing a veteran. Stationed at each was a speaker — at all but one, that speaker was a descendant of the fallen. Those highlighted were Vincent D. Olson, Martin E. “Swatty” Sawatzky, John Maurice Lee, Elmer G. Swanson, Erland B. Bengston, Floyd B. Mattson and Willard W. “Bill” Rover.
Anna Benson Glazier spoke on behalf of her family about her great-grandfather, Vincent D. Olson, who was born in Tracy on Aug. 30, 1925. After high school in Balaton, Olson entered the U.S. Army, and after training, fought in World War II and Korea and was wounded during the Battle of the Buldge in Belgium.
Olson was awarded the Purple Heart, a Battle Star and a European Theater Service Ribbon. He returned to Balaton after his discharge 1946, he returned to Balaton to work at the A.L. Miller Elevator Co.
The Korean War put Olson back in service in 1950, and he served the next year at Pearl Harbor, working for the Ship Supply Tech. Division.
After returning to the States and Balaton, he began working for the Lyon County Highway Department until his retirement in 1988.
On Jan. 20, 1952, Olson married Gwen Jean Fuhrmann in Balaton, where they would spend the rest of their 46 years.
Olson died of a heart attack on February 13, 1998, at the age of 72 and is buried at Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Balaton.
Elmer Swanson, also a World War II veteran, was represented by his son, John Swanson. Born in Garvin in 1912, worked farm jobs and for the Civilian Conservation Corps after receiving his education. Swanson’s draft classification was changed during the early stages of the war because of the need for farm labor. Eventually, he was inducted into the Army on Oct. 12, 1944.
In March 1945, Swanson headed to the Pacific Theater and was sent to Company K of the 63rd Infantry Regimen, whose task it was to push the Japanese Army out of their positions in the mountains of northern Luzon. Due to casualties, Swanson became the company’s Browning Automatic Rifleman — a 21-pound machine gun that required three men to carry the extra ammunition.
“In one encounter with the Japanese, on 13 July, 1945, Elmer fired so many rounds that the barrel of the weapon became red-hot and when moving to a better-protected position, he burned his hands badly, which entitled him to be awarded the Purple Heart,” Swanson said.
Swanson said his father, like many veterans, didn’t share many stories of his time in war.
“On the 50th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he said that he believed those bombs saved his life and that of many thousands of other soldiers,” he said.
Swanson returned home in August 1946 and continued to work on farms and learned blacksmithing. He married Phyllis Knott of Clements, and the couple raised their six children in Balaton.
THE GUEST SPEAKER AT BALATON’S MEMORIAL DAY ceremony was the Rev. Dr. Steven J. Voris of First Presbyterian Church in Luverne. He is a former Navy Chaplain having served multiple tours overseas along with serving at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, where he has officiated numerous committal services for Pearl Harbor survivors.
STEVE LIVINGSTON (right) was given a 50-year membership plaque by Lew Roberts of the Balaton American Legion Stone and Groeneweg Post 237 offered the welcome at Monday’s Memorial Day service in Balaton. Julie Roby Danielson said “In Flander’s Field,” and Caroline Dobberstein gave the response, “We Shall keep the Faith.” Musical accompaniment was provided on the piano by Bev Swift, with Vicar Rick Carlson giving the Invocation and Benediction.
