Rutland residents Bill Anderson and Pam Gulleson were among the thousands who attended the Inauguration ceremonies in Washington, D.C., in January. Accompanying them were Lowell Wyum of Forman and Lance Gulleson of Lisbon. They have provided several photos from the inauguration events and photos taken at the Vietnam War Memorial Wall in which Bill Anderson is pointing at some names. Bill sends along this information: “Larry Dyer and Larry Greene served with me in the US Marine infantry platoon I commanded in Vietnam, and were killed in action on February 4, 1970, brother Paul’s 21st birthday and a day I will never forget. They were both only 19 years old. Cleo Levang was from Forman and graduated from Sargent Central High School in 1964. He was in the Marines, too, and was killed in action on January 5, 1967. He was only 20 years old. I thought that our national leaders had learned the lessons of Vietnam, but Iraq showed us that you are not likely to learn the lessons if you never showed up for the class. Anyway, we had a great time in Washington. It was a trip of a lifetime and I am really glad that I went. There were millions of happy, hopeful, positive and optimistic Americans there on Inauguration Day, very pleased that a dark chapter in American history was coming to a close and that a new day was dawning for the American people, and the people of the world. Well, that’s enough preaching.”
Tag: Obama
Rutland Delegates at State Convention
Appearances from Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were the highlight of the Democratic State Convention held in Grand Forks April 4-6. Steve and Sheila Wyum of Rutland were delegates to the convention and had seats in the second row directly in front of the candidates for their speeches. Steve was fortunate to get to shake hands with both of them as they were working the crowd after their speeches. Obama’s opening line was “Uffda, what a crowd.” (Maybe he’s Norwegian?) As they waited for Hillary to arrive, supporters in the arena started doing the wave which kept up for 15 minutes. An awed and excited little boy, standing by Steve as they were waiting for Hillary to get to them in the line, asked the secret service man if he got to ride in the plane with Senator Clinton and if the plane was nice. Surprisingly, he kindly answered yes to both questions. All in all it was an historic and exciting time for our state. And it is an event that Steve and Sheila will never forget.