Memorial service for Arnold Adsem, 84, of Hettinger, ND will be Monday, February 5, 2007 at 10:30 a.m. at the First Congregational Church in Hettinger. Rev. Ilo Madden will officiate and Military Honors will be afforded by the Johnson-Melary American Legion Post #113 of Hettinger. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the church on Monday morning.

ALBERT ARNOLD ADSEM was born on April 20, 1922 in Lemmon, South Dakota. He was one of seven children born to Alfred and Anna (Stevenson) Adsem. His three sisters were Agnes, Norma, and Lorraine, and his three brothers were Larry, Leo, and Duane. The United States had just finished World War I, and the country was in a depression. His father worked in the coal mines and his mother worked on the farm.


Arnold's family later moved to Montana where he spent his first three grades attending school in a town called Musselshell. His father worked at a coal mine there, and the mining company had housing at the mine site for its workers. Arnold walked four miles to school no matter what the weather was like. He spent his childhood days doing what most young boys like to do. He loved to be outdoors exploring the countryside. His favorite hobby was going swimming and fishing in the Musselshell River with his friends. He also had a large German shepherd dog that always followed him when he went hiking in the hills. Typically, getting to school on time and staying out of trouble were his most important tasks. He also had the responsibilities of keeping the coal bucket full, the ash bucket empty, and his nose clean.


Arnold grew up as a teen during the Great Depression. Times were very tough. Men in the families worked for $1 a day. It didn't rain enough to raise the crops. It was an awful time for farmers, as it was for the nation as a whole. His dream was to get away on his own and see the world. He worked a lot as a teen. The summer of his freshman year in high school, he moved back to Lemmon and took a job on a dairy farm. He was paid $8 a month along with his room, board, and laundry. He worked from dawn to dusk. Arnold worked there for one month, received his $8, and rode a freight train to Deer Lodge, Montana to work on a haying crew. He continued working there all for four summers. While in Deer Lodge, he also worked as a ranch hand. His boss paid him the same wages as an adult. The money he made could not be spent as it is today; instead it was used to buy his schoolbooks and clothes. After his senior year, he came home from Montana to learn that his parents had moved to Hettinger, North Dakota. He worked here in the bowling alley for a short amount of time before joining the Navy in January of 1941.


When Arnold was nineteen years old he joined the Navy. He was very patriotic and felt the United States must enter World War II to restore peace and order. When the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, Arnold was on a ship named the USS Barnett, an invasion troop transport ship. A few weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was on his way to the South Pacific to battle the Japanese.


The Secretary of the Navy awarded his unit and the ship that he served on a Commendation Bar for exceptionally meritorious service in the action against enemy aircraft, shore batteries, mines and submarines during the following operations: The Guadalcanal Landings – August 7 to 9, 1942; The Capture and Defense of Guadalcanal – November 4, 1942 and November 26 to 28, 1942; The Invasion of Sicily – July 9 to 15, 1943; The Invasion of Salerno – September 9 to 21, 1943; The Invasion of Normandy – June 5, 1944; The Okinawa Operation – April 1, to 9, 1945.


While on leave in January, 1945, he married Lola Clark in Missoula, Montana. After the war, he was in the South Pacific again before being transferred to Pearl Harbor. His wife, Lola and their son, moved to Pearl Harbor to be with him. They lived in a naval housing project for a few months until he was sent back to the United States to be discharged from the Navy. They had three children: Clark, known as "Butch" who lives in Minnesota, Loralee who lives in Oklahoma, and Sally who lives in California.


Once back in the United States, Arnold and his family moved to Hettinger, North Dakota, where he owned and operated the Texaco service station. He was a member of the volunteer fire department, the American Legion, the Civil Air Patrol and the Masonic Lodge. He was once flying his plane, with a partner near Williston to search for a plane that had crashed. While they were on their way back to Hettinger, the plane was very low on gas, and it was getting dark. The darkness was a hazard because his plane didn't have landing lights. He spotted the town of Scranton and decided to follow the highway back to Hettinger. He told his partner to be ready to hold the high-powered flashlight in case they needed to make an emergency landing on the highway. They ended up making it back to the airport safely.


Arnold Adsem passed away at the Ft. Meade VA Medical Center in Ft. Meade, SD on January 31, 2007.


Those grateful having shared a part in his life are his special companion for 30 years, Virginia Muggerud, of Hettinger and her children, Dave (Jackie) Muggerud, also of Hettinger, Todd (Candace) Muggerud, of Bismarck, ND, Michele (Wally) Beckman, of Mohall, ND and Melissa Muggerud and fiancé, Yancy Kessler, of Mandan, ND; Arnold's son, Clark (Julie) Adsem, of Burnsville, MN; daughters, Loralee Adsem and special friend, Mike Lamb, of Wagoner, OK and Sally (Michael) Lystad, of Ridgecrest, CA; brothers, Duane(Alice) Adsem, of Bozeman, MT and Larry (Marilyn) Adsem, of Grand Forks, ND; sisters, Norma Hedstrom, of Fargo, ND and Agnes (Al) Uhrig, of Lead, SD; fourteen grandchildren and two great grandchildren and many nieces, nephew, friends and neighbors. Preceding Arnold in death were his parents, his wife Lola, sister Lorraine and a brother Leo.