- [Announcer] On this episode of Postcards.

- A lot of kids who came here earlier, especially, didn't have access to lakes, didn't have a cabin, but they could come with their church.

- We want people to know the richness of the history and not simple stories, but the complexity of the story.

- Most air shows have World War II aircraft but not the volume that we have here and also the fact that it's strictly World War II, but it also allows these World War II veterans to come back and kind of get 'em back in their element.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Postcards is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the Citizens of Minnesota.

Additional support provided by Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen on behalf of Shalom Hill Farms, a retreat and conference center in a prairie setting near Wyndham, Minnesota.

On the web at shalomhillfarm.org.

Alexandria, Minnesota, a year-round destination with hundreds of lakes, trails and attractions for memorable vacations and events.

More information at explorealex.com, the Lake Region Arts Councils Arts Calendar, an arts and cultural heritage funded digital calendar showcasing upcoming art events and opportunities for artists in West Central Minnesota.

On the web at lrac4calendar.org.

Playing today's new music plus your favorite hits, 96.7 KRAM, online at 967kram.com.

(bouncy music) - I think that a lot of people, it's almost just kind of an automatic thing that the camp is there 'cause it's been here for so long.

It's served many generations of people and it's had a big impact on people too.

The history of Green Lake Bible Camp began in the thirties.

There was a movement afoot during that time where churches were discovering that taking kids for a week or so during the summer when they weren't in school and giving them some religious education was beneficial, not only for them spiritually and mentally, but physically.

This property that we are on today was owned by Peter Bonde who was the sheriff of Kandiyohi County at the time.

But he was actually a very religious person and heard about the need for a camp and so he negotiated a deal with the churches in the area, for a grand total, I think, of $12,000.

Of course, the churches didn't have a nickel during the thirties, it was the depression after all.

They went back to their churches and said, oh by the way, we bought a camp, we need to be able to pay for it.

And somehow they were able to raise the money eventually and acquire the property.

That was in 1938, and that was the first year, I understand, that the camp was held on this site.

The one thing that they lacked was a chapel.

The first few years, as I understand, they worshiped in a big circus tent.

Found out pretty quickly that that wasn't very conducive for worship in the summertime with mosquitoes and rain and wind and heat.

So pretty quickly the Board of Directors decided that we needed to build a chapel.

One of them had a contractor in his church who had just recently visited Norway, and he saw all the Stave churches in Norway and fell in love with them.

And so he came out and saw the camp, thought it would be perfect, drew a very rough design on a napkin, and showed it to the Board of Directors, and they said let's do it.

(upbeat music) The chapel is such a landmark, it's become a real focus for people in the area.

Not only is it used by the camp, but it's used by the local congregations in the summer.

Lots of weddings take place there.

In addition to the building itself, Suffolk's got beautiful gardens out in front too, and rocks and pools and and waterfalls and stuff that really add to the charm.

Interestingly, those were all created by the grandson of the fellow who originally built it.

This used to be the original entrance to the chapel before it was remodeled.

And when the church was expanded, we had a fellow who did some Norwegian chip carving to remind us of the camp's heritage and a blacksmith who actually made and hammered out the hinges.

I think it turned out pretty good.

About 30 years ago, the camp grew exponentially because it merged with another camp organization that was nearby.

Green Lake Bible Camp was primarily started by Norwegians.

The other camp, Shores of St. Andrew, was largely started by the Swedes, and suddenly Green Lake Bible camp became Green Lake Lutheran Ministries which incorporated the Green Lake Bible Camp, Shores of St. Andrew Bible Camp, which is in New London, and also a third site called Camp House, which is up by Two Harbors, Minnesota.

And so now there are three camps in the organization.

It has served people throughout southern Minnesota and in northern Minnesota and beyond.

So it's much bigger than it was originally.

And of course now it's open year round, as before, it was strictly a seasonal camp.

Karen Jensen did all of the panels that are in our dining room.

In each one, she captured a different vocation that is represented by the guests who regularly come through these buildings.

This one happens to be justice and law.

That's kind of unusual because rosemaling normally doesn't have characters or objects in it.

It's usually just flowery painting.

(auctioneer rapidly speaking) The quilt auction was started in the early eighties.

Almost every church had a a quilting group who would gather each month and they would work on quilts and then they would donate them to Lutheran World Relief or the homeless in the area or whoever was in need.

And so to tie into that interest and that passion, they thought, well maybe this would be something that we could raise money for at the camp.

I think the first year we made, you know, 15, $16,000 something like that.

And we eventually thought that it would run its course and we'd have to come up with something new but it has never really lost its luster.

And in fact, it's grown in size and in importance.

And now it's up, you know, in the hundreds of thousands of dollars that it raises annually for the camp.

So it's been quite a success story.

One of the things that I remember mostly is how camp helped especially young people with their self-image and with their sense of confidence and willingness to try something new.

Many kids come to camp being kind of afraid and uncertain about if it's okay to try something or to believe something or to do something and we give them permission.

And I've heard from many that that was the first time that I ever climbed a tree or swam in a lake.

You know, stuff that we kind of take for granted but doesn't necessarily always happen for everybody.

A lot of kids who came here earlier, especially, didn't have access to lakes, didn't have a cabin, but they could come with their church.

And a huge part of the experience was always swimming and boating and canoeing and all of that kind of thing.

And that was, I guess, very unique for lots of kids that didn't have that opportunity.

They remembered that very fondly.

(group singing) My dad was the director when I was a little kid so I started coming here when I was two years old.

I got hired here as a maintenance person in seventh grade.

And by the time I got to high school I was one of the counselors on the camp.

I met probably some of the best friends I've ever had here at camp and I'm still in touch with many of them.

I met my wife here, both of our children worked here and it was wonderful to see them kind of stepping into our shoes.

I no longer work here, I'm retired, but I still feel a part of this family and come quite often to have coffee and I volunteer.

I credit Green Lake Bible Camp with some of the most profound experiences that I have had in my life.

The people I met, the things I learned, how I felt, it was powerful.

(melodic music) - I think it's really important for us as Americans to maintain our connection with our immigrant stories you know.

Unless you're an Indigenous person in this country, you came from a different part of the world.

And I think so many times people kind of lose track of that and how it impacts, you know, how our communities are the way they are, how people are the way they are and why the world is how it is today.

So I think the, you know, connection with these kind of stories is so important to help people understand the world around them and that's certainly been impactful for me.

And, you know, I think there is a certain amount of value in that.

(melodic music) The Norway Lake Lutheran Historical Association is here to preserve immigrant stories for their descendants of those Scandinavian immigrants today and we do that through celebrating kind of the church history and history and stories of families from the area, and then we, you know, share those stories with people who have moved to this part of the world more recently.

And I think it's so important to keep that connection for people whose families have been here for several generations to maintain those connections to those immigrant stories to help them kind of see commonalities between people who are coming to this country just now.

(violin music) My family's been involved with this project pretty much since the beginning.

Both my dad and grandfather were involved with the construction of the church replica and they've been attending events here since I was very young.

- This church was built here in 1868 by some Norwegian Lutherans who decided they wanted to have a church.

This is not the original building, this is a replica of the original building.

The replica was built by our organization and we've been holding annual meetings here ever since in August.

And it looks like today may be one of our biggest turnouts ever.

So we are very happy with that.

The play that we're doing today is based on a book that I wrote about my ancestors, the Henjum family.

And I've had very positive reactions from people who have read the book and like it, and it's about this family that settled out here, typical family.

- First, it's gonna cost you at least $200 for the voyage and that just gets you to America.

And then once the ship lands, it's gonna cost you another hundred dollars to get here to Norway Lake.

You're gonna need to have at least three chests, large chests like this one right behind me with your name written on the side and where you're going.

- There's been so many hours of work and research and dedication been put into this project.

It's really cool to just continue to participate in the collection of these stories and the history and the culture.

- Hi, my name is Jeff Johnson.

I'm the Vice President here of the Norway Lake Lutheran Historical Association.

Our organization has been here for a number of years since the late 1990s, there was folks that had a dream of recreating the original log church back on this site.

The church had been gone for low these many years.

It had been used as the floor of a stable and a barn on the Hetlested farm located to the east of here.

And their decisions were made by some of the elders in the community that it was important to have something that the community could revolve around.

And originally, when it was originally built, the logs were from the neighbors.

And when it was recreated, this example of it, it was from the neighbors.

They donated their logs out of their own trees and groves and built it.

(upbeat music) - Oh, it's just a great, wonderful group of people.

You know, the main objective is to share the story of the pioneers who established the church here many generations ago and just to keep it going and to inform people about the importance of recognizing our forefathers.

- The play that will be performed today was written by a fellow named Norm Handy and he's a descendant of the woman that the play is about.

The basis for the play was in a book written by this fellow Marlin Henjum, also a descendant of Kari Eiriksdatter.

We want people to know the richness of the history and not simple stories, but the complexity of the story.

But history is like that.

It's a complicated story and there are still plenty of things for all of us to learn about it.

In this little story, we've tried to feature voices that aren't heard enough, the voices of women.

We thank you for listening.

We hope that these stories inspire you to find the stories in your family.

(upbeat music) - What a wonderful day that was, some 50 years ago.

Mama died a few years later.

She was only 50 years old.

During her 50 years, she gave birth, three children.

She buried her husband.

She said farewell to her family and friends in Norway.

She survived a long ocean voyage.

She established a homestead at Henjum Lake and she earned her American citizenship.

May God bless you, mama.

(clapping) (upbeat music) - When we took the Knutsen cabin down and then when it was put back together again, the logs all fit back where they were before.

And it's just amazing and we're trying to do it with modern hand tools and it's really hard to replicate what Oleg Knutsen and his neighbors did at that time in 1862 which is now what, somewhere near 130 years ago.

And if you ever come here, if you go put your hand on those logs, you can hear those logs speak to you about the history and the things that have gone on in these cabins.

And it's pretty much a nice experience.

(melodic music) (engine revving) - It's a real feel of World War II, as close as you're gonna get, I guess nowadays.

It's one of the only truly only World War II air shows in the world.

My name is Evan Fagen and I'm chief pilot of the museum.

My folks, Ron and Diane, started the museum in 2012.

The main purpose of the museum is to honor the greatest generation, really in the sacrifices and all of the contributions they made during World War II to defeat the Axis forces really, and with the greatest generation, the 18 year olds to lower twenties, really stopped their lives to fight for the country.

And a lot of people came forward and volunteered and went all over the world wherever they could to help.

So this is here to honor them.

So our air shows, we try to make 'em very unique in the fact that it's World War II only.

So we close the airport down to general aviation traffic.

General aviation is current modern aircraft that are built now.

We close the airfield off to those.

So it's only World War II aircraft that we invite.

It's only World War II aircraft that perform.

We don't have any, there's zero updated modern airplanes on the field.

Ray Fagen was my grandpa.

During World War II he served in the Fourth Infantry and the scene behind us shows the Higgins boats landing on Utah Beach.

That's the depiction of what we're trying to represent here.

And my grandpa is on the landing craft here.

He fought in World War II.

He was a really good guy.

He loved aviation and he's one of the veterans who did not really talk about his experiences.

Unfortunately, my grandpa passed away before this was open but he was a big inspiration for my folks to open this to share their stories and to honor the greatest generation.

My grandpa fought from the Normandy invasion through the liberation of Paris, the Battle of the Bulge, and he had a really rough time.

And after the war, to help counter some of the war fatigue and stress, shell shock is what they called it back then, he got his pilot's license at the recommendation of a military doctor, and he got it through the GI Bill in a Stearman, which is a World War II trainer.

And that was my grandpa's way of coping with shell shock for a lot early part of his life and he carried the love of aviation all the way through over 50 years.

And that got my dad started in aviation, got our whole family started in it.

And in fact, the airplane behind us, a P38, my grandpa did tell a story about how a P38, after the D-Day invasion, I don't remember how many days, but they were pinned down and two P38's came out of the clouds and strafed the entire German group that was advancing on him and wiped them all out and he said that's the only reason he survived that was a P38 so he always had a special place in his heart for that airplane.

So aviation's always been a huge love with my Grandpa Ray.

So it was nice to combine his military service with his passion, which was aviation.

Most air shows have World War II aircraft but not the volume that we have here and also the fact that it's strictly World War II, but it also allows these World War II veterans to come back and kind of get 'em back in their element.

We like to give 'em a feel of the 1940s as much as we can.

We have reenacters here.

We have ground vehicles here, driving around operating.

We have camps set up so people can walk around and see how these camps were set up in World War II, the reenacters there, the tents set up, the field kitchens, all of that stuff.

And then of course, the sound of the day is World War II aircraft whether it's radial engines or Merlin engines, you know, they hear the real sound of these aircraft all day long.

And it's not interrupted with any modern technology or jets.

It's unique in the fact that we feel we give the World War II veterans a peek to their past and they can kinda be in their element and show their families what things were like and how things sounded and operated.

It opens up a lot of these World War II veterans that day to tell their story and share with people and be proud of what they did and be able to relate to areas that they helped contribute to.

- The most memorable day would be when they raised the flag on Iwo Jima.

I wasn't, I was a half a mile from Mount Suribachi and I did not actually see them raise the flag, but there was so much gunfire and so much action.

I turned around and I saw the flag up on the Mount Suribachi and there it was, that is the most memorable.

- For the veterans, we hope during the air show, that it brings them joy in seeing that their generation's contributions are still active and alive today and that people haven't forgot about what they've done.

And they can see pieces of equipment from their war days in front of them still active today, still vibrant.

- I think this is fantastic.

I mean, just being able to see these airplanes and the condition that they're in.

I mean, it's like when you get to go see a Model T Ford that was built before I was born and it's drivable, looks brand new, that people can do that sort of thing because not everybody can do this, not any, you know, these are special people that spend all of these hours putting these things back together, it's incredible.

- A lot of this stuff that is here is preserved so nicely and functions so well and accurately really in that they're just proud that people still pay attention to it and remember it.

And a lot of these folks want history to be remembered and they're seeing that acted out during that day at the air show because you know, a lot of the different battles, a lot of of the different facts are brought out that day.

So it's brought up, it's talked about.

It's not hidden, it's not buried, it's right in front of everyone and I think a lot of these veterans like hearing that because they don't want their efforts to be forgotten.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Postcards is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the Citizens of Minnesota.

Additional support provided by Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen on behalf of Shalom Hill Farms, a retreat and conference center in a prairie setting near Wyndham, Minnesota.

On the web at shalomhillfarm.org.

Alexandria, Minnesota, a year-round destination with hundreds of lakes, trails and attractions for memorable vacations and events.

More information at explorealex.com.

The Lake Region Arts Council's Arts Calendar, an arts and cultural heritage funded digital calendar showcasing upcoming art events and opportunities for artists in West Central Minnesota.

On the web at lrac4calendar.org.

Playing today's new music plus your favorite hits, 96.7 KRAM, online at 967kram.com.

(upbeat music)