HONORING ARNE: Kimball veteran visits war monuments through Honor Flight program

The Honor Flight Network is a program that sends World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War veterans to Washington, D.C., in order to see the memorial for the war in which they fought. One of Kimball's own, Arne Christensen, recently returned from his honor flight.

The Korean War, often known as the Forgotten War, was fought from June 1950 to July 1953. The Korean War began when communist North Korea invaded South Korea. America went to the aid of South Korea. Though there were American soldiers already stationed in South Korea, a draft still called for more. It was a draft that called Christensen to the Army in 1951.

Christensen was a supply sergeant in the Army.

"We were in charge of getting supplies from the Navy and dropping them off on the beaches," Christensen said.

Korea experiences weather very similar to that of the Denver. Even though the country is a peninsula, it has mountainous regions which have very bitter, cold winters. These wet and cold conditions are what these Korean War veterans had to deal with. While North Korea had originally pushed the South Korean armies and American soldiers down, they managed to turn the tables and push North Korea up into China. Christensen had already left Korea by the time the peace talks started.

"I was drafted in '51 and I came home in March of 1953. Shortly thereafter they entered into peace talks and the War ended in July," Christensen said.

Once Christensen returned to Kimball, he started helping his father with the local bakery. In 1956, Christensen married his wife, Wanda. Christensen and his wife had two children, a boy and a girl. Their daughter currently lives in California and their son lives in Sidney.

Christensen went on to own and operate the bakery until he was in his 60s. Following that, Christensen worked at the bakery off and on for several years, until he finally retired.

On Sept. 14-15, Christensen travelled to Denver where he and a plane full of both veterans and caregivers, as well as four doctors, were flown to Baltimore. Once in Baltimore, it took four busses to transport the veterans to their hotel.

"We got in the busses and on the way to the hotel we saw people gathered on the overpass welcoming us. We went to the hotel and they had a banquet for us and a speaker. After that we all went to sleep. We were pretty tired," Christensen said.

The next day the veterans traveled to Washington, D.C., to see the memorials.

"We went around and saw the Washington Monument and Lincoln one as well. After we drove around to the different monuments, then we went to the memorials. We saw the World War II, Vietnam and Korean War memorials. I sort of went around on my own and had some people take pictures for me," Christensen said.

Once they finished visiting the memorials, it was time to head back to the airport. Once they landed in Denver they were greeted by several people. The local elementary schools had written letters to the veterans that thanked them for fighting for America and the freedom it sees. The veterans were also presented with handmade quilts by a local Denver Women's Auxiliary. The quilt had a poem on the inside corner thanking the veterans for their service.

"It was just amazing to see how many people cared we were there and wanted to say thank you. You know, in the Korean War we lost some 40,000 Americans from '50 to '53, and we were so caught up in World War II, that people didn't think the Korean War was as big of a deal," Christensen said.

The Honor Flights are arranged as a thank you to those who have served. They show appreciation and thanks to those who put their lives on the line for freedom.

"This was definitely one of my most memorable experiences, one of the highlights of my life," Christensen said.