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A day to remember
By: Melissa Kaelin
Posted: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 10:45 pm
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A day to remember
By MELISSA KAELIN

mkaelin@owatonna.com



OWATONNA — For many veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces, service to this country was long and enduring, but those who weren’t drafted could enlist for a term as short as 18 months.

That was the path Lorren Church chose. The veteran of the World War II era will be 81 next month, but he began his military service as a boy, with his parents signing off on his enlistment.

“There was a lot of patriotism back then,” said Church. He said like the crowds of young people that grew up during World War II, he was anxious to serve his country.

Church served in an engineer detachment of the U.S. Army, as a soldier of the 9th Corps. He entered the service at the young age of 17, but he said it was a short three months before he was deployed to Japan, and stationed at Camp Fowler.



“I left the states on my 18th birthday,” said Church.

With men alongside him like maintenance workers and plumbers, Church worked on assignments at both the military base and civilian locations. Looking back on his enlistment, his memories were varied. 

Church remembered spending a lot of time on the ocean on the way to Japan, hitting a rolling tsunami and watching most of the men aboard cave to the forces of nature. He also remembered how much he marveled at the simple meals of rice and patties in Japan, and how startled he was to come home to a bowl of rice in his mother’s house on his first day back in the States.

But because Church did not serve in the military until after World War II officially came to a close, he also recalled a firsthand encounter of the news when it broke.

“I was working at the Rock County Star Herald when the armistice was signed,” said Church.

While working a number of odd jobs as a high school student, Church held a short stint with the Rock County Star Herald in Luverne, Minn., in 1945.

Mostly he worked to deliver the newspapers, he said, but occasionally the editors also let him set type. The newspaper was preparing to publish a special edition as soon as news broke of the world war’s official end, and on that night, Church was in the office, helping to record the day in history.

“That was pretty exciting,” said Church. He said everyone in the Luverne office was rushing around, working to publish the news on an off day at what was normally a weekly newspaper.

Church was at the VFW in Owatonna on Tuesday night, as the nation was preparing for the ceremonies that would honor its veterans. He said in serving just after the second world war, he was no hero. But he also said his enlistment left him with a strong notion of what it means to be an American.

“To me, all young people should serve in the military, even if it is just for one year,” said Church.



Melissa Kaelin can be reached at 444-2372.
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Member Opinions:
By: ksanh68 on 11/11/09
It's not just the veterans we honor today.

"Where do we get guys like this the reporter asked? The answer is as simple as it is profound. You give them to us. You parents, you families, you brothers and sisters, grandparents, uncles and aunts, friends, you loan us these wonderful young people. They are the fruit of our country, raised by caring parents or a single parent, nurtured in love, and taught that Americans are supposed to have concern for the rights, freedoms and needs of not only our own citizens, but the citizens of the world ... The credit for their goodness, and their greatness, rests with all of you back home. The mothers, the fathers, husbands, wives, all of the family members, all the friends, the teachers, the preachers, scout leaders, football coaches, volunteer youth workers of all sorts, each person who had a positive impact on the lives of these young people deserves a piece of the credit."

Colonel Ron Smith, USA
From, "The war in Iraq, what the media doesn't tell you,"
The Meridien Star
March 9, 2005

By: atlascollapsed on 11/11/09
Well done K!

By: creegers on 11/12/09
I was raised, Honor, Duty, Country. nice Ksanh

 
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