Back on May 18, I reported that I was going to do a story about a WWII Jeep that had recently been donated to VFW Post 4393. Craig Redalen at Northfield’s VFW Post 4393 had given me the opportunity to take photos of it but I didn’t have time to do the whole story. I contacted Corey Butler at Northfield Patch to see if he was interested and he was. A few days later, Patch published Rob Hardy’s story with my photos: WWII Jeep Finds New Home at Northfield VFW:
In 1946, Howard Hong left Northfield for war-ravaged Europe. The young St. Olaf philosophy professor, who would later become internationally known as a scholar and translator of the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard, had spent the war working at prisoner of war camps in Missouri and Iowa. When the war ended, he was called to service as senior field officer for the Refugee Division of the World Council of Churches. Between 1946 and 1948, he helped to resettle more than 250,000 war refugees.
During that time, Hong also became the owner of an iconic 1942 Willys Army Jeep, a veteran of the Normandy invasion, which he purchased at a U.S. Army auction in Paris. Back home in Minnesota… (continued)
Craig Redalen drove the Jeep to and from today’s Memorial Day ceremony at the Northfield Area Veterans Memorial. I’ll have more photos when I publish my album of the event but here’s a 30-second video clip of Craig’s departure.
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