Remembering our nation’s veterans isn’t something that just happens on
Veteran’s Day for Scott Nelson. It is something the farmer/rancher from
Solen does continually through his paintings and depictions of WWII.
For Nelson the inspiration came from a desire to paint a North Dakota
flyer and a realization about North Dakota’s aging veteran population.
“I was always kind of interested in WWII aircraft,” Nelson said. “About 5
years ago I realized that these veterans were getting older and the
stories were going to be gone.” Continue reading
Author Archives: scott
Bismarck Tribune March 7,2002 by Virginia Grantier
A Mandan man, in his early 20s,woke up one long-ago spring day, and got
into his airplane, like always, and accepted, like always, that he would
probably die that day. Continue reading
Bismarck Tribune, October 12, 2003 By Tony Spilde
The young American pilot, a farm boy from North Dakota, stared into the big black hole at the end of the German soldier’s rifle and lost himself in it.
“For you,” the guard said in his native language, pointing his weapon between George Ott’s eyes,”the war is over.” Continue reading
Crash Landing in France
Navy War Diary – Aleutian Front
My uncle George Sinclair (married to my mom’s sister Ella) served in the Navy during WW II as a Sound Man (Sonar) on the USS Casco III (AVP-12) – Sea Plane tender. He was on this ship when it was torpedoed on 30 August 1942 with the result of 5 men killed and 20 wounded. Quick action brought flooding to a halt. Casco was beached and later salvaged. Casco was floated on 12 September, and after emergency repairs at Dutch Harbor and Kodiak, she received a thorough overhaul at Puget Sound Navy Yard and returned to fog-bound Aleutian duty in March 1943. Continue reading
305th BG, Schweinfurt – New for Veterans day
Arthur Linrud was born on a farm north of Velva, North Dakota on November 23, 1920. He graduated from high school in 1939. Art was drafted in the army and reported for basic training on October 8th 1942. Art ended up in the Army Air Corp and after training and passing many physicals he ended as a heavy bomber flight engineer, top turret gunner. In the summer of 1943 Art was shipped to England as a replacement. Art ended up on a B-17(S/N 42-3436, WF R) with the Dennis McDarby crew, 305th Bomb Group, 364th Squadron. Continue reading
Combat Engineer Medic – New for Veterans Day
M C
While doing the story about Ernie Sands (Drama Over Cologne) and him being shot down over Germany, I was able to contact MC Miller and get his side of the story.
MC Miller (Milard C Miller) was picked to be Pilotage Navigator with the Klusmeyer crew on Oct 14, 1944. Target was the marshalling yards at Cologne. MC was the second navigator because the Klusmeyer plane was flying deputy lead and needed another navigator. As it turned out the lead plane had to turn back due to mechanical difficulty so the Klusmeyer plane had to take the lead and Ernie Sands reluctantly became lead bombardier. Continue reading
