Remembering those who've passed before them

For 80 years, American Legion and Royal Canadian Legion members have exchanged their nation’s flags on Memorial Day at the International Boundary in Sherwood, N.D. And as a boy decades ago, Legionnaire Allan Magnuson new he would one day be involved in the tradition.

“When I was 12 years old I knew that I was going to be participating because I’d made up my mind I was going to go into the military when I graduated,” said Magnuson, a member of Bothun-Peterson Post 213 in Sherwood. “It was in me already."

Magnuson, who served in the U.S. Army from 1970-1972 and again from 1973-1985, would join his brother Richard – also a Post 213 member – to watch his father Arnold, a World War II Army Air Forces veteran and life member of Post 213, participate in the exchange decades ago.

“We always came and went up to the border,” Allan said. “We never missed it the whole time I was a kid. It was that way from the time I can remember as a kid.”

The tradition of exchanging flags began in 1937 when members of the Legion post in nearby Mohall conducted a Memorial Day ceremony at the New White Theater. A Canadian was at the ceremony, and the following year participants from both sides of the border began the flag exchange.

The tradition is maintained each year by members of Post 213 in Sherwood, although Legionnaires from around the state participate; Alternate National Executive Committeeman and Past Department Commander Don Weible and West Region Vice Commander Glenn Wahus attended this year’s exchange.

Post 213 Adjutant Terry Miller has been involved with the exchange for 45 years. “You grow up with all of these American Legion members,” Miller said. “They went through wars. They came home and they wanted to contribute to their community. After a while, it dawns on you that ‘I need to give something back to my community.’ Because of that, I guess I’ve been really involved in this whole program.

“You’ve got to give something back to your community, and this is our way of doing that.”

Miller said the flag exchange itself “is really a cool ceremony. It makes your heart thumb a little bit more.”

The flag exchange kicks off more than half day of Memorial Day events in Sherwood. The Legionnaires and their Canadian counterparts then head to the former Sherwood School gymnasium for a ceremony that includes the reading of every deceased veteran from Sherwood since the Civil War. This year’s ceremony drew more than 300 local residents.

Following the ceremony, the Legionnaires and Royal Canadian Legion members march six blocks up Main Street for a brief ceremony honoring two firefighters killed during an oil fire in Sherwood in 1991. Groups then load up on buses to head to Sherwood Union Cemetery, where a Legionnaire and Royal Canadian Legion member place wreaths on the cemetery’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Post 213 Commander Dwight Knutson has been involved with the exchange for 40 years and says it’s gone on as long as it has because of the “dedication” from both sides. “It’s to remember and to honor those who’ve served in the past, and not let people forget their sacrifices,” he said. “(And it’s so) the younger generation doesn’t forget what it means to us.”

Paul Aime, a Royal Canadian Legion member from Oxbow, Saskatchewan, has participated in the exchange for more than 20 years. The 79-year-old said the event is important, in part, because of the relationships he’s formed with veterans on the other side of the border.

“You make friends, and you stay friends,” Aime said. “It’s something that we enjoy between our two countries. Some things may change, but we’re still friends.”

Allan said he would love to stay involved for at least another 20 years. “I want to see the 100th (exchange),” he said. “I’m dying to see the 100th.”

And despite participating for decades, Allan said he still gets emotional today during the exchange. “When taps is played I get tears in my eyes,” he said. “I feel my chest beat. I feel very proud. It’s just being a veteran and remembering the veterans who’ve passed before me. I just am very proud to do it.”