[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 194 (Thursday, November 4, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7785-S7786]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          REMEMBERING LYNN AAS

 Mr. CRAMER. Mr. President, on October 28, North Dakota lost 
one of our heroes. Lynn Aas of Minot, age 100, was to many of us the 
face of the very best of the Greatest Generation. This child of the 
Great Depression was raised on a farm near Benedict, ND, and was among 
the 60,000 North Dakotans who served in the U.S. Armed Forces during 
World War II.
  He enlisted in the U.S. Army in August 1942, after completing his 
first year of college. He became part of the 193rd Glider Infantry 
Regiment of the 17th Airborne Division and, after extensive training, 
was shipped to Liverpool, England, 2 years later.
  Lynn's first combat experience was the Battle of the Bulge, one of 
the costliest battles in American history with more than 80,000 U.S. 
casualties, including 19,000 American soldiers killed. His division and 
unit were flown to France and transported by trucks to Bastogne on 
December 24, 1944. His platoon entered combat on January 7, fighting in 
deep snow, frigid cold, and heavy fog. Beginning with 55 troopers, Lynn 
was one of only five survivors to leave the front lines 3 weeks later. 
The end of January brought his first 2 nights of sleep under a roof in 
5 weeks. In February, his platoon fought along the Seigfried Line on 
Nazi Germany's border.
  Later in March 1945, he participated in Operation Varsity, the last 
large-scale Allied airborne operation of the war. There he was towed in 
a glider and landed behind enemy lines near Wesel, Germany. Lynn's 
combat career ended on March 25 when he was wounded in his left arm by 
shrapnel. Following extensive recuperation back in America, Lynn 
remained in the Army another 5 months before being honorably discharged 
on November 1, 1945.
  For his valor and commendable 18 months of service during World War 
II, he was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star medals, in addition 
to the Glider Badge, Combat Infantryman's Badge, Good Conduct Medal, 
American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal 
with one Bronze Arrowhead and three Bronze Campaign Stars, and the 
World War II Victory Medal.
  After his discharge, Lynn earned business and law degrees from the 
University of North Dakota, and moved to Minot in 1960, where he and 
his wife Beverly raised four sons. He managed a medical clinic until 
retirement, served in the North Dakota Legislature for 8 years and was 
a delegate to the State's 1972 Constitutional Convention. Until his 
final days, Lynn remained active in the Minot community.
  He shared his World War II story throughout his life, giving a voice 
to all veterans whose lives were forever impacted because of their 
selfless service. Lynn attended reunions of the 17th Airborne Division, 
and in 1999, he visited Europe with other 17th Airborne Division 
veterans, visiting the locations where they had fought more than

[[Page S7786]]

a half century earlier. In 2015, he visited Belgium again to 
commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. As one of 
the official representatives from the United States to this observance, 
Lynn was greeted by many grateful Belgians who had not forgotten what 
American soldiers did to liberate them from Hitler's tyranny.
  In 2017, the French Government awarded Lynn its highest honor, the 
Knight of the Legion of Honor medal, an award created by Napoleon in 
1802. The letter from the French Government notifying Lynn of this 
award carried these poignant words, ``73 years ago you gave your youth 
to France and the French People. Many of your fellow soldiers did not 
return, but they remain in our hearts . . . You saved us. We will never 
forget. For us, the French people, you are a hero. Gratitude and 
remembrance are forever in our souls.''
  As he is buried today, we remember the remarkable life of Lynn Aas. 
He is one of those personalities who, even at the age of 100, you think 
is never going to die. Yet he has earned this opportunity to rest, and 
I join all North Dakotans in sending our sincere condolences and 
prayers to his family. I am grateful that I could count Lynn Aas as a 
friend and one of my mentors in public service and public life. He will 
be greatly missed. God bless his memory.

                          ____________________