Northwest Iowa — Congressman Steve King was in northwest Iowa on Friday. Among his stops were two to present two very different types of medals, and a stop at a northwest Iowa hospital.
In Sioux Center, King presented Marion (Bud), Harold, and Clarence Vander Laan — the brothers of deceased WWII Veteran Herman Vander Laan — with the Silver Star that was obtained by King’s office. The ceremony was at the Terrace View Events Center in Sioux Center.
King’s office says deceased WW II Veteran, Herman Theodore Vander Laan was born June 28, 1918 and served in the U.S. Army from April 2, 1942 to December 15, 1945 when he was killed in action.
Before his death, Herman was fortunate to meet with his brother Marion in England. Marion was serving in the Army Air Corps at the time.
Herman received his training at Camp Barkeley, Texas and in the California desert. He went overseas in 1944 and his regiment landed on the Normandy Beach on H-hour and after D-Day he served in combat in Patton’s 3rd Army until his death. His wife Marcia was a WAC Private at the time of his death. Herman was a 1st Lieutenant in the 90th Division. On the day he was killed, he crawled to within 20 feet of an enemy pill box and killed the machine gun crew with carbine fire. He was mortally wounded but afterward, the fortification was captured with a minimum of casualties.
He was awarded the Silver Star and other medals posthumously in 1945 from the 90th Infantry Division and his widow Marcia, kept the Silver Star. There were no children.
Marcia remarried and died in 1986 but the whereabouts of the original Silver Star are unknown.
The other medal presented by King on Friday was a Congressional Award Bronze Medal, to a young man from Rock Rapids.
In earning his Congressional Award Bronze Medal, the Congressman’s office says Luke Schriever pursued his interests in all four program areas of the Congressional Award: Voluntary Public Service, Personal Development, Physical Fitness and Exploration/Expedition.
To meet his Voluntary Public Service goal Schriever volunteered at multiple community organizations. First he gave his time to the Rock Rapids Health Center, where he played games with patients and the elderly. He also assisted with a project to rebuild the Veteran’s Memorial at Riverview Cemetery in Rock Rapids. For his Personal Development Schriever learned how to carve leather and made a checkbook cover. He also learned how to write computer programs with the Java programming language. Schriever’s Physical Fitness goal was to improve his 5K time from 20 minutes, 30 seconds to 19 minutes. He was able to accomplish this goal by running 1-3 miles, multiple times a week and joined the cross country team. For his Expedition, Schriever chose to bike from Rock Rapids to George while carrying everything needed for the trip and camping along the way.
Congressman King also made a stop in Primghar on Friday. Baum Harmon Mercy Hospital in Primghar is building a wound care center that will serve a large portion of Northwest Iowa. Congressman King was there to tour the hospital.
