Submitted by Bill Pederson

(Includes excepts from the Starbuck Times and Senior Perspective)

Veterans Day (originally known as Armistice Day) is observed annually on November 11 to honor  military veterans of the United States Armed Forces. Veterans Day is distinct from Memorial Day, a U.S. public holiday in May. Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans, while Memorial Day honors those who had died while in military service. 

On this Veterans Day I would like to honor and remember Irwin C. Knutson, a veteran of World War II. I first met Mr. Knutson when I was about 12 years old…1957. He worked at the bank, and I probably opened a savings account for my paper route. I saw him many times as a teenager…he was always at the bank, helpful, courteous, friendly…. he walked with a limp and the story was that it was from a war injury. I never heard the real story until now, when I met his son Joel by chance on the internet social media. I asked Joel what he knew about his dads WWII experience, and he sent me the article from the Senior Perspective dated April 1995 by Rebecca Webb for Irwin Knutson. He gave this interview on the 50th anniversary of his being wounded and passed away just eight months later, after he had finally gotten it off his mind. It reads as follows: 

Irwin Knutson has many memories with the citizens of Pope County. He remembers the difficult years of the depression, made doubly severe by the drought, and recalls gratefully that he never went hungry on the farm. He remembers being caught in the barn at chore time by the Armistice Day blizzard of Nov. 11th, 1940, and how he used a clothesline to make it back into the house. And he remembers storming a beach in the Philippines on Oct. 1st, 1944, which may be where his memory diverges from those of his neighbors.

The music at that time made a strong impression on Knutson, who enjoys such tunes as “White Cliffs of Dover,” “White Christmas,” and the music of the big bands of Guy Lombardo and Benny Goodman. During his service days he enjoyed a live performance by Lena Horne in Salt Lake City. (Where he was in basic training)

Knutson was born on June 30, 1923, on a farm in rural Starbuck, 3 ½ miles south of town. He graduated with the Starbuck High School class of 1941 and attended Luther College for a year and a half. He tried to enter a program for navy fliers but tested partially color blind. Two months later he was drafted into the army for basic training in Salt Lake City. He was accepted into the Army Specialized Training program for engineering at Wheaton College but after 8 months he was transferred and became Pfc. Knutson of the 382 Regiment of the 96th Division…specifically a Browning automatic rifle infantryman. After training at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, he was shipped on a large troop convoy to the Philippines where he would play a part in the Battle of Leyte, a siege that lasted four months from Oct. 1, 1944, until Jan. 1945. At midnight before the attack, on an unlit deck of the troop ship, a church service was held. Men seemed a bit more spiritual that night before going into battle than they do on a daily basis. At dawn the soldiers climbed into small landing crafts that held about 35 men to make the trip from the ship to the beachhead. It took 12 to 18 hours to secure the beachhead. There was no opportunity to set up camp and rest before proceeding inland. The soldiers simply dug fox holes and climbed into them for the night. No campfires, no warm food, no bedrolls, just sleeping in the dirt after consuming spam right out of the can! The pattern established that first day continued for 2 months; the soldiers would rise from their foxholes in the morning, press on, scramble to a fox hole when pushed back and then press forward again. Only after about 60 days of this was there an opportunity to establish a camp and return to some manner of eating cooked food and sleeping in some manner of a bed. It was difficult mountain and jungle fighting, and the American troops sustained many casualties. (Side note: Orville Jergenson of Starbuck was one of them, killed in action on Leyte, December 13, 1944, as part of the 32nd Division)                                             

An article from the Jan 11th, 1945, edition of the Starbuck Times reads “With the 96th infantry division on Leyte, Philippines, January 4, infiltration is not monopolized by the Japanese and a patrol of 20 Americans, one of whom, Pfc. Irwin C. Knutson, of Starbuck, Minn., fought outstandingly, recently proved it by killing off a superior number of the enemy without losing a man while employing this surprise tactic. Moving into the enemy territory in the early hours of the morning the Yanks advance do stealthily that while the Japs continued digging in for the day, they were able to almost encircle the area before being discovered. Then they opened up. Bewildered and panicky, most of the foe fled down a trail while a few leaped into half-finished foxholes and tried to fight back. Hand grenades and bullets accounted for the entire force of 25, including those along the trail. In checking the dead, it was found that some of the Japs had been armed with US automatic rifles and carbines. Not one of the Yanks was wounded in the attack. The success of the patrol in the foothills of the mountains west of Dagami opened the way for the advance of units of the 96th division whose power contributed to the liberation of this island, the first in the Philippines to be won back from the Japs. (Pfc. Knutson is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Eldor Knutson of Starbuck and was a student at Luther College before joining the army).” 

On Easter Sunday, April 1st, 1945, Private Knutson again hit the beach, this time in a battle on Okinawa, a battle which the World Book Encyclopedia would eventually call “one of bloodiest campaigns of WWII.” While trotting alongside the tanks attacking the jagged high hills that daybreak, (April 19th) Knutson was shot in the chest by a sniper’s bullet which tore through his body, hit his spine and ripped out his lower back. Instantly losing control of his legs, he rolled down a ravine and, after coming to rest, stuffed his wound with sulfa to disinfect it. The medics came for him, and Knutson’s jungle fighting came to an end. He was carried to a field hospital where he remained for only minutes before being taken to a hospital ship for secondary closing of his wound. Eventually he made the trip to Hawaii, then San Francisco and finally to Mayo General Hospital in Galesburg, Illinois, where he remained for a year. It was determined he would never work much or have a family.

An article published in the June 7th, 1945, edition of the Starbuck Times states “Pfc. Irwin Knutson arrived on May 24 at Mayo Hospital, Galesburg, Ill. According to a letter received Monday, June 4 by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Eldor Knutson. The letter was the first one received since he was injured at Okinawa on April 19. Although the transfer on the stretcher aboard an air transport was hard on him, he said he was convalescing as well as could be expected. A telegram was received last week from the war department stating that Irwin had been seriously wounded. On Tuesday his parents left for Galesburg, Ill. to see him.”

Knutson says one of the most significant lessons life has taught him is the importance of religion. Humanity simply is not as capable of handling and solving problems as it thinks and should turn to the creator a little more often for help, he feels. Had he lain in that ravine for a few hours instead of just a few minutes, he surely would have died. But nothing made humanity’s need for occasional divine assistance clearer to him than his war would dashing of his hopes and dreams for a family and a productive life. But in 1948 he married Verna Landmark, and they raised 3 children together, Joey, Laurie and Jeffery

And while the local population may not know of his war exploits, they certainly know of his work at the First National Bank of Starbuck, from which he retired in 1990 as executive vice president and a member of the board of directors. Only providence could have made it all possible, Knutson insists. 

That was over a year ago that Joel sent me these articles. With his permission I was able to get a copy of Knutson’s discharge paper from the local County Veterans Service Officer. On that paper it tells us that he was a member of “L,” Love Company. Since then, I have done major research and found a book written in 2000 about Company “L”…Love company, the very company Knutson was assigned to. It details, almost by the day, the combat Knutson experienced. At the beginning of the Okinawa campaign the size of Company “L,” Love Company was estimated at 193 men. At the end of the battle Love Company had 54 men left. Knutson’s platoon consisted of 42 men. Two days after Knutson was injured his whole platoon was either wounded or killed in action. Total casualties in the battle were 20,000 killed and 75,000 wounded.

We can’t imagine what Knutson and his buddies went through. He must have had horrific memories. No wonder no one remembers Irwin talking about it. They only remember what a great guy he was. From one of his close friends “He was very quiet and a friend to all. I think he had a couple of years of college when he was drafted and that changed his life forever. He was a very efficient and reliable person and was a success in the banking field.”

We remember Irwin and thank him and all the veterans for their service!