In honor of our veterans
Our Veteran for May was Grace (Martin) Branstad (pictured left). Grace enlisted in the Army as a Nurse Cadet in 1944, she went to Chicago and took her nurse’s training there. She spent three years in Chicago and was discharged in 1947. She never had to leave Chicago to go anywhere else, as by that time the war had ended.
In 1947, Grace married and lived in Washington, D.C., later moving to Fargo, N.D., and eventually to Thompson, where she has resided for many years now.
Grace continued her career in the nursing field and raised five children. She stated she really enjoyed her service career and nursing over the years.
Our June Veteran is Sidney Kvale. Sidney served in 1954 and 1955. He did his basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. From there, he was sent overseas to Fuerth, Germany. Sidney was an infantry lineman in the service.
While in Germany, he came down with rheumatic fever and was hospitalized for two and a half months in the German hospital, then brought back to the States and hospitalized another two and a half months. He received his honorable discharge also.
After getting out of the hospital, Sidney took up farming and then married his sweetheart, Vivian, in August of 1955. They had three daughters: Joan Christian, Kiester, Minn.; Kris Gudmonson and Sue Mannes, both of Lake Mills.
The Top of Iowa Quilt Club meets monthly and they make quilts for local veterans and also medical benefits. Local veterans, Bill Clark and David Anderson, help with giving out the quilts. If you know of a senior veteran that has not received a quilt yet, please let either Bill, David, or Robin Grunhovd (592-4876) know.
