Tribune Record Gleaner, Loyal, Clark Co. WI

May 31, 2006, Front Page     

Transcribed by Dolores Mohr Kenyon

Olson’s friend appreciates freedom

National Guard Sgt. Robert Randall speaks at

Monday’s Memorial Day service in Loyal

LOYAL - Sgt. Robert Randall said even his coffee tastes better since he returned home from his 1-year tour in Iraq.  His freedom tastes better, too.

Randall, a sergeant in the Wisconsin Army National Guard and a friend of Todd Olson, the Loyal Guardsman killed in Iraq in December 2004, spoke at Monday morning’s Memorial Day service at the Loyal Cemetery.  While he came home to appreciate what he has in America, Olson and more than 2,400 others have lost their lives in Iraq and are proof of the high cost of freedom.

Randall is an 18-year guardsman and knew Olson from their time together in Camp Shelby, where they trained for their Iraq mission.  Randall is a dairy farmer from Soldiers Grove who said he has been asked often since his return about how life was in Iraq and how it feels to be home.

"It’s hot and it’s stinky and it’s unfriendly," Randall said of Iraq.  Yet he also said he does not think the soldiers now there have it worse than did those who fought on the bloody battlefields of the two World Wars or in Vietnam or Korea.

"Ours was an awful situation, but theirs had to be 10 times worse," Randall said.

With his war zone experience behind him, Randall said "everything is better" since his return.  He more thoroughly appreciates everyday life in the United States, and even that cup of morning coffee.

Memorial Day has more meaning for him now, Randall said.  For many Americans, he said, it is just the start of the summer season.  For those in his dairy farming profession, Memorial Day is a date to check on crop planting progress.

"I have been guilty and saw Memorial Day in all those lights," he said.

Now, he said, he realizes its importance in remembering fallen veterans.

"I remember especially my friend Todd and my friend Charles Kaufman (of Fairchild) whose lives were cut short," he said.  "Memorial Day for me is still somewhat the same, but has intensified my gratefulness for being an American."

In losing two friends in Iraq, Randall said he has learned firsthand just how much freedom costs.  He urged those assembled in Loyal on Monday to appreciate their freedom.

"Enjoy it to the fullest for the price paid for it is enormous," he said.

Also speaking Monday was Olson’s son, Trevor.  And in a long-held Loyal tradition, outgoing senior class president Ashley Loos handed over care of the GAR flag to incoming class president Matt Ystad.

Monday’s service was dedicated to Daryl Rowley, the long-time Loyal American Legion Post member who passed away on May 22, and to Shirley Olson, Todd’s mother.

Loyal American Legion Post member Vincent "Pete" Lindner carries the memorial wreath to the veterans monument in the Loyal Cemetery during Monday morning’s Memorial Day Services.