On Saturday, the Rock County Historical Society hosted a program of reenactments of the lives of several people buried in Rock County. One was that of a priest, Father Francis Sampson, buried in Luverne’s Catholic Cemetery. He was known as the Paratrooper Padre, and served as a chaplain with the 101st Screaming Eagles in WWII. He parachuted into Normandy on D-day and was the guy who alerted the top brass that a young soldier had lost several brothers in other engagements and since he was the last of the brothers he should be sent home to their mother. Hence Saving Private Ryan, the movie.

Another compelling story was that of a young woman, Captain Lenore Hansen, from Hills (about 15 miles from Luverne and buried in the Hills Cemetery) who was one of the first women allowed to enlist into the Marines in 1945. She worked with the Navaho Code Talkers. She was noted for her really good memory, and memorized over 200 Navaho words, and was involved in creating English words for which there were no counterparts in Navaho. Thus, the Navaho words for Iron and fish were combined to represent “submarine”. She never told her family what she had done in the war. She became a special education teacher in Rochester, MN. She is said to have not told her family about what she did in the war since it was considered classified information.

I think it would be really fun to be a reenactor in these scenarios. It is really wonderful to know about the people who lived and are buried in this country. I look forward to see who they find for next year’s Tales From The Grave. Although he is buried in Pipestone County, it would be fun to see a reenactor present my great grandfather who was a grenadier in the Prussian army and who fled Germany in 1914 after being found out by the authorities to be smuggling butter on the Hamburg wharves with his dray company.

Know any women veterans? Who of your ancestors would you like to present or see presented in a historical reenactment?