- Name: Joseph Douglas Berglund
- Location of Birth: Oteneagen Township, Itasca County, Minnesota
- Date of Birth: August 30, 1919
- Date of Death: May 20, 2004 (84 years old)
- Parents: Joseph Berglund and Abbie (Swanson) Berglund
- High School and Class: Deer River High School, Deer River, Minnesota
- College:
- Highest Rank: TEC 4 (Technical 4) - Army Signal Corp
- Branch: Army
- Other Branch:
- Date Sworn In: March 28, 1941
- Place Sworn In: Fort Snelling, Minnesota
- Date of Discharge: August 12, 1945
- Place of Discharge: Fort Snelling, Minnesota
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Units and Locations:
Start Date End Date Unit(s) and Location(s) Served June, 1941 Desert training in Mojave Desert and then sent to Alaska August, 1941 Fort Greely, Kodiak Island, Alaska July, 1943 Attu Island, Alaska after Japanese took Attu and Kiska October, 1944 Europe August 12, 1945 Honorable Discharge - Military Awards:
- Military Highlights:
Joe was a Telephone and Telegraph Lineman. He installed communications to support General George Patton's 3rd Army Headquarters.
In Europe he was in three battles--Ardennes Battle of the Bulge, South Germany and Central Germany.
On April 11, 1945, the American 3rd Army liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, Germany--a camp that will be judged second only to Auschwitz in the horrors it imposed on it's prisoners. Joe arrived a few days later to install telephone line. He did not talk about this very much. - Wars Involved:
World War II
Serving in the Asiatic-Pacific and European-African-Middle Eastern theaters. - MIA / POW:
- Civilian Life:
Joe was born on August 30, 1919. His father died 7 months earlier from the "Spanish Flu".
Joe's first experience with military life was when he worked at Cut Foot Sioux CCC Camp #707 when he was 18 years old.
Joe and Bertha Makela were married on December 15, 1945.
He was a maintenance mechanic for the Hanna Mining Company. Joe was a member of the Calumet Community Presbyterian Church in Calumet, Minnesota and had served as a deacon. He had been a member of the North Grange Hall, was a 4-H leader for many years, was well known for making fishing nets, loved to fish, was a bee keeper and enjoyed telling stories.
He was survived by his wife, Bertha, two sons, Douglas (Cathy Calloway) Berglund and David Berglund, five grandchildren, two great grandchildren, and a sister, Gladys Daley
Joe died in Grand Rapids on May 20, 2004, having lived his entire life in Itasca County--except for the 4+ years of military service during World War II.
Buried in Lakeview Cemetery at Coleraine, Minnesota. (Block 138) - Tribal Affiliation(s):