Born Jan 31, 1920 and raised on the family farm at Kenyon, MN, my uncle Levi Stanley Finseth graduated from Byron High School in 1938. He then enrolled at St. Olaf college and later enlisted in the Air Force in 1942. As navigator of a bomber crew he flew 35 missions in North Africa, but died with his crew when their plane was brought down by a combination of enemy action and friendly fire over Switzerland on October 1, 1943.
Memorial gifts in his honor were directed to St. Olaf's WCAL, the first listener-supported public radio station. In 1946, when I was born, my parents named me after him.
Standing next to his proud parents, Knute Olaus and Selma, as he goes to St. Olaf College. Knute Olaus' father was one of the Norwegian immigrant farmers who contributed funds to purchase the land in Northfield for the establishment of the college.
A portrait from those college years, which were interrupted by the onset of the war.
Reposted for Memorial Day 2025.
Every time I see a photo of the men who fought in WWII I think of how very young they were. The fate of the world rested on such young shoulders. I guess that's always the way of war.
ReplyDeleteThis was a lovely tribute to your uncle.
And there's an irony which I didn't spell out in the post. My understanding is that his plane was severely damaged by German forces, then turned back toward neutral Switzerland, where it was shot down by the Swiss...
DeleteSwitzerland was the target of a few allied bombing raids during WWII. There have been (unconfirmed) rumors that some of them were targeting industries delivering critical materials for the war effort to the Germans (bombing of Maag, manufacturer of high precision gears)and being a little bid too friendly with Nazi Germany at that time.
DeleteThe official version was that the bombers lost their bearing in bad weather and high winds and so on. I guess that is possible.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliierte_Bombenabw%C3%BCrfe_auf_die_Schweiz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombings_of_Switzerland_in_World_War_II
Interesting. Thank you. I'll try to do some research on this flight.
DeleteThe Greatest Generation.
ReplyDeleteI've heard the phrase (especially from Tom Brokaw), but I don't know that I agree that that generation was any greater than for example the one before it.
DeleteThank you for posting. What a good guy.
ReplyDeleteThe mom from Chicago
If I had to guess, I'd say that 2nd Lt. Finseth was in the 99th Bomb Group. Just based on my own research on my grandfather, a copilot on a B-17 in the 15th AF, 483rd BG(H), 816th Squadron. He didn't arrive in North Africa until late 1943 or so. He had many stories of harrowing missions across the Alps (they ended up in Foggia, Italy, and flew over the Alps, across France, into Germany, and back the same way, mostly to avoid Austria and Switzerland). His group shared planes and an airfield with the 99th BG(H).
ReplyDeleteIt is sobering to think that so very many men were topi young to buy themselves a drink, but were carrying the free world on their shoulders.
As we say in my country, "Lest we forget". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ode_of_Remembrance)
ReplyDeleteWith all due honour and respect, i hope you won't be offended by my saying that this photograph adds further weight to my impression that you seem to be a member of an all together strikingly handsome family!
Stan -
ReplyDeleteIn the Wiki article on bombing of Switzerland during the war, there is this mention:
"On 1 October 1943, bombs were released by the USAAF over Samedan leading to property damage."
Same day. It sounds like that might likely be the raid.
No source given.
That's the most interesting comment I've received so far, SteveGinGTO. Now I need to ponder the possibility that his Fortress was shot down while they were bombing Switzerland, not that they crashed in Switzerland as a result of enemy [German] fire.
DeleteHere's the Wikipedia link:
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland_during_the_world_wars
Heart breaking. Thanks for reminding me to put out my flag. I never like to see it "owned" by the Trump voters of my area.
ReplyDeleteSo easy to think World War II was ancient history. My father's two brothers lost their lives as airmen fighting the Germans. To his dying day my father would have nothing to do with Germans or anything German.
ReplyDeleteSo Knute's father was one of those immigrants coming over to take our jobs but only managed to help start a college. I think that's a pretty common scenario, seems those immigrants got easily sidetracked into doing selfless things for the community.
ReplyDeletexoxoxoBruce
Thanks, Stan. I know Grandma and Grandpa had Stanley's remains in Switzerland disinterred and buried in MN. Wonder if any further information could be gleaned from that Swiss cemetery?
ReplyDeleteI would expect the internet to be a more useful source of information than anything that might be displayed at the cemetery. A lot of memorials and archives have been posted since that era; I just don't have enough time to do the proper research.
DeleteOne can only speculate at what great potential dies on the battlefield. For it is not just a man--civilian or military--who dies, but any potential he might have had. He, his children, or his children's children might have invented something that would have greatly improved the lives of those in the world (think cure to cancer, etc.), or written some novel or musical composition that changed our perceptions for the better. Or, better yet, have simply been a good and decent person that made life a little better for those around him, raising children to also be good and decent people.
ReplyDeleteBut the rich and vested always have to "sell" the war for their own ends. This is one reason that poor boys in the South, who never owned a slaver, nor had much of a chance of having one, were willing to suffer severe hardships, loss, maiming, and death...to serve the interests of those who sold the war to them as protecting their homes and hearth.
Yes, sometimes a people MUST fight, since the alternative is too unbearable. But most of the time, that's not the case.
On this Memorial Day, we often see people post things like "They fought there so we wouldn't have to fight here" or some such. Alas, while they thought it heartfelt and appreciated, it is too often the case (with obvious exceptions like WWII) that many times if we had done nothing more than respond with a few bombs, nothing would have come of the matter.
Very sad to hear about even now. My parents would have both been at St. Olaf when your uncle was there. They may have known each other!
ReplyDelete