Heitkamp Honors Fallen Servicemembers at Memorial Day Ceremonies in Bismarck and Mandan

Press Release

U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today honored the service and sacrifices of our nation's fallen servicemembers at Memorial Day ceremonies in Bismarck and Mandan.

Heitkamp offered remarks first at a Memorial Day ceremony hosted at the Heritage Center in Bismarck, and then at a ceremony at the Veterans Cemetery in Mandan.

"Growing up, Memorial Day meant my dad would put on his World War II uniform to teach my siblings and me about what service and sacrifice mean. Like folks across North Dakota, he understood the importance of honoring those who didn't make it home," said Heitkamp. "Today is a day to pause and think about the sacrifices made by servicemembers who gave so much to keep us safe. It's a day to honor their families, and to honor their memories by fulfilling our obligations to veterans and the men and women in uniform today."

Maj. Gen. Alan Dohrmann, the N.D. National Guard Adjutant General, delivered the keynote address at the annual event in Mandan. In his keynote, Dohrmann spoke about one of the fallen Vietnam servicemembers Heitkamp honored with a U.S. Senate floor speech last year, Myron "Chief's High" Johnson, an enrolled member of the MHA Nation from Mandaree. Johnson's nephew, Nathan Good Iron, served in the N.D. National Guard with the 1st Battalion Air Defense Artillery and was killed in Afghanistan in 2006.

Heitkamp has made it a priority to honor North Dakota veterans, wounded warriors, and brave servicemembers killed or missing in action.

In December, Heitkamp presented a posthumous Purple Heart medal to the family of Leonard Larson, a North Dakota servicemember who was killed in action during World War II. Larson's sister, Mabel Hysjulien, received the Purple Heart on behalf of the family in Bismarck. Heitkamp worked with Burleigh County Veterans Service Officer Chris Berglund to secure the medal.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, Heitkamp began a series of speeches on the U.S. Senate floor in March 2015 honoring servicemembers from North Dakota who lost their lives in Vietnam. Heitkamp collaborated on the project with more than 150 eleventh-graders from Bismarck High School (BHS), who researched the lives of those servicemembers. In March 2015, Heitkamp met with the students in Bismarck and discussed the importance of their joint effort to honor the sacrifice and service of the North Dakotans lost in the war. Heitkamp joined a group of those BHS students in November 2015 at the national Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. to pay tribute to North Dakota servicemembers.

In August 2015, Heitkamp concluded her series of 15 speeches. Over the course of six months, Heitkamp shared the stories of more than 160 North Dakotans who did not return home from Vietnam.

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