A soldier rests

[West-Front]

A soldier rests

 

By Chuck Haga, Herald Staff Writer Published Friday, February 22, 2008

 

Every morning of his adult life, even as he entered his 90s, Floyd Hesse stood at attention and faced the U.S. flag flying in his front yard in Plummer, Minn. Outdoors if the weather was decent, from a window if it wasn't, he snapped off a crisp salute. Saturday, the flag will be at half-staff and the salutes at Oak Grove Cemetery outside Red Lake Falls, Minn., will be for Hesse, 91, a farmer who left the fields a lifetime ago to fight the Japanese in New Guinea and the Philippines. He died of cancer Feb. 1 in Fargo.

 

The salutes tomorrow will come from Hesse's brothers, Ivan, 76, and Melvin, 78, and other members of the Plummer American Legion rifle squad that Floyd led for 54 years. His friends from the Thief River Falls VFW and 40 et 8 will be there, too.

 

Floyd Hesse, 90, Plummer, MN, attends the Minnesota World War Veterans Memorial Dedication at the State Capitol Mall in St. Paul. Minnesota World War Veterans Memorial Dedication at the State Capitol Mall in St. Paul. The memorial honors the 320,000 Minnesotans who served in the military during WWII and the more than 6,000 who died. Photo by JIM GEHRZ, Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Toward the end of the cemetery honors, two World War II-era P-51 Mustangs will fly by, one piloted by a man who met Hesse last June at the dedication of Minnesota's World War II memorial on the grounds of the state Capitol in St. Paul.

 

Jerry Kyser, Roseville, Minn., flew a vintage aircraft as part of a "missing man" formation that day.

 

Later, walking the flag-dappled grounds, Kyser came upon Hesse, looking sharp in his uniform, his chest draped with medals: a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star and the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation's second-highest decoration for bravery in combat.

 

"My dad wanted to get every second out of that experience," daughter Nancy Mattison said. "When the program was over, he sat on the lawn and told stories to young kids who came up to ask about his medals."

 

Kyser introduced himself, "and they were instant lifelong friends," Mattison said. "When we told Jerry that Daddy had died, he said, 'We have to do something.' "

 

The vintage Mustangs will fly out of the Fargo Air Museum. An organization of Minnesota Vietnam veterans is covering the cost.

 

Hesse had drawn crowds of admirers before, when he wore his uniform to the 2004 dediction of the national World War II Memorial in Washington.

 

"It was probably one of the most moving experiences of his life," Mattison said. "He was like a celebrity people surrounded him and wanted to take pictures of him, everybody from little kids to widows who said, 'Oh, if only this could have happened two months ago, or two years ago, and my husband could have been here.'

 

"Daddy said he felt so incredibly blessed to be the one to go to that dedication and represent those who couldn't be there." 'Were you scared?' One of the people who talked with Hesse at the 2004 dedication was a young man about to be sent to Iraq.

 

"He asked, 'Mr. Hesse, were you scared when you were about to ship out in World War II?' And Daddy said, 'You'd better be scared, young man, so you can be alert and take care of yourself.' " Hesse received his DSC and a battlefield commission as an officer for single-handedly stopping a Japanese assault on American lines in the recapture of the Philippines in 1945. "My dad told his men, 'Stay down or you're dead,' " Mattison said, then he took off alone with a machine gun and a bundle of grenades. At one point, he had to return for more grenades.

 

The Purple Heart was for shrapnel in his neck, an eye and an ear, which left Hesse hard of hearing the rest of his life. When his commanding officer told him that he would be an officer, Hesse grew flustered. "But Colonel, I only have an eighth-grade education," he said, as his daughter relates the story she heard many times. "I never finished high school."

 

"Neither did Stonewall Jackson," the colonel replied.

 

"He came home from war and became a humble farmer again," Mattison said. "He was an incredibly hard worker. He did have a few regrets in later years. 'Why did we push ourselves so hard?' he would ask."

 

He always was willing to talk about the war, to explain what he had done and what each of the medals on his uniform represented. "Kids from high school would interview Daddy for reports," Mattison said. "He was very proud to speak of it."

He was proudest when talking with his grandchildren, she said, and that is why they have important roles to play Saturday. Grandson Taylor Mattison, 14, will play taps at the cemetery. And after the rifle salutes, after the flyover and other tributes, Hesse's 8-year-old granddaughter, Cierra Olson, will honor one of Hesse's last requests.

 

"He wanted her to give him his final salute," Mattison said.

 

There will be a visitation from 5 to 8 p.m. tonight, with a prayer service at 7 p.m., at Johnson's Funeral Home in Thief River Falls. The funeral will be at St. John's Lutheran Church in Red Lake Falls at 2 p.m. Saturday, with burial at Oak Grove Cemetery. An honor squad composed largely of Vietnam veterans will provide sentry duty throughout the services.

 

In addition to Mattison and the two brothers, Hesse is survived by daughters Diane Grinde, Elk River, Minn., and Bonnie Wichterman, Baldwin, N.D.; sisters Helen Simpson, Plummer, Eva Lauritz, Seattle, Marian Pearson, Richland, Wash., and Harriet Norman and Doris Malwitz, both of Plummer. He was preceded in death by a son, Scott Hesse, a daughter, Vickie Olson, and four siblings.

 

 

Reach Haga at 780-1102, (800) 477-6572, ext. 102, or chaga@gfherald.com">chaga@gfherald.com