“In honor of our veterans”

For the month of January, Arlen Pals is being honored for his service to our country.
Arlen Pals served from 1957-1959. He served those years during peacetime. Some may not realize, even though there was no active war going on at that time, these men still trained like all the rest; to be ready, if called. He did his basic training at Fort Carson, Colo.
Back then, Arlen had been married and told it would probably be a long time before they would hear anything about leaving, but after being married in June that year, by August he was gone, as he had his draft notice.
Arlen went to Fort Knox, which is located in Kentucky. He was waiting for the birth of his first son, before going on to Munich, Germany.
He started out as a specialist going into the service, but once there, was in preventive maintenance, then went on to working in the post office.
After an honorable discharge and arriving back home, Arlen worked for Wayne Feed Co., Belmond, and eight years at the Belmond Grocery Store.
Later, Arlen’s aunt bought Rex’s Super Value in Lake Mills, so he relocated to this area to run the store. He ended up owning the store himself for 13 years, before retiring.
Arlen and his wife, Shirley, have three children: Ryan, Randy and Roxanne, along with grandchildren that they enjoy.
The Top of Iowa Quilt Club sews patriotic quilts to donate to local veterans. This has been done in past years, but the club made the decision to submit an article to the Lake Mills Graphic, about one veteran who receives a quilt each month. If you know any senior veterans that have not yet received a quilt, please contact Bill Clark or Robin Grunhovd.