Pinning Ceremony Honors Local Veteran and His Family for Their Sacrifice
Pinning Ceremony Honors Local Veteran and His Family for Their Sacrifice
by Kenyon Kemnitz
Pictured in the back are Rainbow veteran volunteers Brian Benisch and Tim Mclean. In front are Rainbow social worker Nicole Sommerfeldt, Jim Erickson, and nurse manager Alicia Thiede.
Jim Erickson never thought he deserved to be honored for his time in the military. Since he was never involved in combat, he didn’t think his time in the service was that big of a deal. Jim initially turned down going on the Honor Flight because he thought there were more deserving veterans out there and didn’t want to take up a spot from them.
His family finally convinced Jim to go on the trip eight years ago, and that turned out to be one of the most exciting moments of his life. It was an opportunity to revisit the past and see what he and other soldiers sacrificed for their country. Family members even printed out some custom “big head cutouts” of Jim as a soldier and held them up when he returned home.
“Jim had been approached before to go on the Honor Flight, and he said, ‘I don’t feel I should because there are a lot more worthy people,’ said Jim’s wife, Judy. “But then he found somebody who never left the United States, and that person said what a wonderful trip it was.”
“When Dad came off the flight, he said it was the highlight of his life, and I said, ‘Dad you had six kids,’ and he goes, ‘It was a second highlight, marrying your mother was number one,’” said Jim’s daughter, Jill Christian.
Born and raised in the small village of Clyman, Jim was drafted into the United States Army in March 1953, just before the Korean War ended. He did his initial training at Fort Riley, Kansas, and was transported overseas by the USS Patton ship. He was one of the lucky few who didn’t get sick on the trip. Thankfully, Jim wasn’t sent to the battlefield or experienced any armed conflict. He soon found himself stationed in Germany. After World War II American troops occupied West Germany into the mid-1950s with military missions focused on spreading democracy and containing Communism. He worked as a lineman in the Army, installing, maintaining, and restoring electrical distribution systems, including utility poles and power lines. Fortunately, Jim isn’t afraid of heights.
“I was 250 feet up in the air in Germany,” said Jim. “You tie a rope to one end and go up above and have to go down slowly.”
“Dad used to tell us a story that as linesmen they would be up on top of the poles, and they would play catch with a football,” Jill said. “But if you dropped the pigskin, you had to climb down to get it and then come back up. He said one of the guys went down a little too fast and ended up with a butt full of slivers.”
“A belly full,” Jim chuckled.
Jim stayed in Germany from August 1953 until he was called home to the States in June 1954.
“My brother was dying, and they brought me home and told me I wouldn’t be going back,” Jim said.
Jim made it home just in time to see his brother, Larry, one last time before he passed away at age 21 from nephritis.
“He got home on a Monday, and we went down to see Larry that night and he sat up and was joking around with Jim,” Judy said. We were going to go down on Tuesday and got a call that he had passed.”
“He stayed alive for me to get home,” Jim said.
Jim spent the rest of his time in the Army at a Nike base on the shores of Lake Michigan, first stationed at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, in the Chicago-Gary defense area. Nike bases started popping up all around the country between 1953 and 1962. 265 Nike bases were developed in all as part of the U.S. air defense system to protect against a potential Soviet nuclear attack. After a new base was built at Skokie, Illinois, Jim was part of the group transferred there, and that’s where he stayed for the remainder of his service.
After being discharged from the Army, Jim married Judy on May 21, 1955, and the couple moved to Clyman, where they started a family. Jim also started working as a petroleum delivery driver for the Clyman Oil Company. Jim was also heavily involved in his community. He became Clyman Village president and treasurer, and even served as a county deputy and fire chief. He started the Lions Club in Clyman and was an original member of the first Dodgeland School Board. Jim was always on the move, whether it was enjoying time as a trapshooter, driving a school bus, or working as an EMT/ambulance driver. He was also a faithful member of his church, filling the role of a trustee for the United Methodist Church in Lowell, Watertown, and Minocqua.
Despite his busy schedule, Jim found the time to play matchmaker for one of his daughters.
“He set up the first date with my husband,” said Jim’s daughter, JoAnn Olson. “I came home from another date to see a note on the table that said, ‘Joanie, you have a date tomorrow night with Eddie Olson. He’s a nice kid.’”
Now JoAnn and Eddie have been married for 47 years.
“It’s good that we listened to him,” JoAnn said.
Rainbow social worker Nicole Sommerfeldt first met Jim in May when she did his hospice admission and was in awe of all his military pictures and large head printouts. She asked if he would be interested in a veteran pinning, and Jim didn’t hesitate to say yes.
Nicole has participated in several veteran pinnings for hospice patients during her five and a half years at Rainbow, but the one she planned for Jim at the end of September was the largest ceremony she has witnessed, with so many family members present. Jim’s nurse case manager, Alicia Thiede, also made sure she didn’t miss the event.
“It was wonderful to see all those people there supporting Jim. He wasn’t involved in any battles, but he had to be away from his family and made a sacrifice in service of his country,” said Sommerfeldt.
Jim is still proudly displaying the Army-themed fleece blanket that was hand-tied by Rainbow Community Care volunteers and given to him during his pinning ceremony. He puts it to great use by keeping himself warm, especially at night, and it serves as a tribute and reminder of his time in the military.
“He sleeps in a hospital bed right beside me, and we’ve probably only got about ten inches between us, and that blanket is on him every night,” Judy said.
You can tell by the way Jim and Judy look at each other that they are still very much in love. It was March 2, 1952, when they were set up on a blind date.
“I had no idea who this Erickson guy was, and he had no idea who that Elske girl was, and here we are now,” Judy said.
They went to the classic movie theater in Watertown but don’t remember the movie they saw that night. But Jim recalls how their first date ended.
“Do you remember the surprise I gave you?” Jim asked his wife.
“What surprise?” Judy and the family said, eagerly wanting to hear the answer.
“I kissed her,” Jim smiled.
The secret left his wife blushing and thinking back. That kiss set the stage for over 69 years of marriage, six children (Joel died in a car accident 19 years ago), Joyce, Julie, JoAnn, Jill, and Jim), ten grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, and a lifetime of happiness together.
Some of the family is scattered across the United States, but Julie resides in Watertown, Joyce lives in Delafield, and Jill and her husband, Tim, live next door to her parents in Lake Mills. JoAnn and Eddie have been visiting the family from Florida for the last two months, and Jim and his wife Ann try to visit on weekends when they can from Indiana.
When Jim first left for the service, he was over 4,000 miles away, but that didn’t stop him from staying connected with the love of his life.
“I wrote two letters a week, and I didn’t like to write,” Jim said.
Judy saved all of Jim’s letters, but after all these years, most have gone missing, except one that Judy still has, dated March 16, 1954.
When Jim was away, Judy joined a bowling team in Reeseville with her girlfriend, and others on the team asked if she had a boyfriend.
“I said, ‘Oh, yes, but you probably wouldn’t know him,” Judy said. “They kept after me, so finally I said, ‘It’s James Erickson from Clyman.’ And they said, ‘Oh no, not Jim, it must be his brother, Larry, and I said ‘No, over my dead body,” Judy joked. “Larry was kind of a ladies’ man and loved to drink, but Jim was a very quiet and reserved young man. By that time, we knew we were going to be married.”
Even the joy of going on the Honor Flight can’t compare with Jim having his loved ones by his side for his pinning ceremony. Memories of that day will be something the family will treasure forever. All the Erickson daughters were in attendance, along with Jim’s younger brother Phil and his wife Donna, and Jim’s sons-in-law, Tim, and Eddie.
“I think this afternoon with the family all here was probably closer to his heart and definitely mine too, because it was so very personal,” Judy said. Nicole did a wonderful job, and so many people were able to come. Before Jim went into the service, he wanted us to get married, but I wasn’t quite ready. It was a long time for him to be gone from home, so I’m glad I kept the promise to marry him. It’s been a wonderful marriage. He’s been a fabulous husband and father and now a grandfather and great-grandfather.”
Jim’s younger brother, Philip, and Jim’s son-in-law, Eddie, were also honored for their time in the service in a photo opportunity that day. Philip is a Vietnam combat veteran, and Eddie did a four-year stint in the United States Navy, spending about three to four months at a time submerged beneath the depths of the ocean in submarines.
Eddie Olson, Jim's son-in-law, is pictured in the back center between Rainbow veteran volunteers Brian and Tim. In front on the left is Jim's younger brother, Philip, next to Jim.
“They were extremely interested in some of the experiences that I had and wanting to learn more about it, even though they were Army guys,” said Jim’s son-in-law, Eddie Olson. “They were also extremely gracious to Phillip for being a combat veteran. We’re truly grateful to them and Rainbow.”
“I don’t know what sounds more terrifying, being stuck underwater or in the air on a pole,” Sommerfeldt said.
The choice was an easy one for Jim though.
“I’d rather be up 250 feet on a light pole,” Jim said.
Two of Rainbow’s veteran volunteers, Brian Benisch and Tim Mclean were also in attendance and did the honors of pinning Jim. They also presented their fellow veteran with a certificate of appreciation for his time in the service. Now that honor hangs on the wall of the condominium he shares with Judy in Lake Mills. Nicole also surprised Judy by pinning her with an angel pin, a patriotic-themed pin given to those who are special to a veteran patient being honored.
“Brian and Tim were very respectful, and it was a very touching and emotional type of presentation,” Jill said. “They did a phenomenal job and really appreciated what came before them. That made the family feel proud to have Dad recognized for everything he did for the country. It wasn’t something we talked about a lot growing up, so it’s nice to see the recognition.”
