By Rick Gail

Lowry American Legion Adjutant

Lowry American Legion Gust F. Holden Post #253 will honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice in defending our great country on Memorial Day, May 29, in the Lowry Community Center.

Guest speaker for this year’s program will be Brigadier General Greg A. Haase (retired), of Apple Valley.

Lowry American Legion Honor Guard will meet at the legion and proceed to the Lowry Community Center at 10:15 a.m. The program will begin at 10:30 a.m. 

Following the ceremony in the community center, the Memorial Day program will conclude near the “Little French Cemetery” outside of the center with the firing of arms by the Lowry Honor Guard and playing of Taps by DeWayne Wold. The public is  then invited to a free-will offering meal at the Lowry American Legion served by the Lowry American Legion Auxiliary.

Brigadier General Greg A. Haase will present this year’s Memorial Day address.

Hasse, along with his wife Bridget, grew up in Lidgerwood, N.D., a small farming community 10 miles from South Dakota and 20 miles from Minnesota. The couple graduated from Lidgerwood High School in 1978. Greg attended NDSU in Fargo to pursue a degree in Civil Engineering, while Bridget attended UND in Grand Forks seeking a degree in Social Work. She went on to graduate from the University of Minnesota Law School. 

Greg completed undergraduate pilot training in the Air Force and began his  35-year military career. He retired in 2018.

The couple have two sons, both now orthopedic surgeons, and are proud grandparents of a baby girl. Greg and Bridget have a home in Apple Valley and spend time at a secondary home on Lake Andrew near Alexandria.

Following enlistment in the North Dakota Air National Guard and attending Avionics Aerospace training at Lowry Air Force Base in 1984, he trained as a guardsman on the F-4 Phantom. He was selected for undergraduate pilot training with the 133rd Airlift Wing. In 1998, he was selected as the 109th Airlift Squadron commander, his first of three command assignments to include the Maintenance Groups and Airlift Wing. He then became the director of Joint Interagency Counter Trafficking Center for European Command. Service areas included St Paul, Afghanistan, Germany, Arlington (Va) and Washington, D.C., a career totaling 5300 flight hours on T-37, T-38 and C-130 aircraft.

Haase’s military promotions spanned from achieving second lieutenant in 1986, to attaining Brigadier General in 2013.

The public is urged to attend this year’s program on a very special day to honor those who served our nation.