obituaries

From the lips of 14-year-old bugle boy Dan Sjodin, members of Company B awoke to reveille at Camp Ripley in 1933.

By the time World War II came and went, Sjodin commanded a bomber squadron whose members wore uniforms adorned with custom patches made by a Disney artist, swapped military assignments with Jimmy Stewart and flew 50 missions over Europe.

Sjodin, who harnessed his childhood passion for flying while growing up in Aitkin, Minn., into a military career that saw him have the Distinguished Flying Cross pinned on his chest, died Feb. 1 of complications from diabetes at Glenwood Village Care Center in Glenwood, Minn.

"I was a bugler in the Boy Scouts," Sjodin said in an interview with David Lesjak, a military historian and biographer from Vancouver, B.C. "The local [National Guard] 34th Division, 135th Infantry, Company 'B,' bugler was transferred. They asked me, 'Danny, would you come and be our bugler?' I said, 'I can't because I'm only 14.' You had to be 18.

"They talked it over and said, 'If you bring your parents' written permission, we will sign you up.' They lied about my age, and I got to be the bugle boy of Company 'B' at the age of 14."

Sjodin's military experience only became more dramatic from there. By 18, he was transferred at his urging to the Army Air Corps and was trained to fly bombers and other aircraft.

Sjodin and Jimmy Stewart were pilot instructors in Idaho, and Sjodin recalled to Lesjak how the movie star loved flying and was itching for action overseas.

"They put my name up on the board to take a squadron," Sjodin said, noting he was just 22 at the time. "They promoted me to the rank of captain, and they designated this squadron to go to England.

"At this time the government was breathing down Jimmy Stewart's neck. They wanted him to go on a bond drive. He'd have to mix with politicians. Jim did not want that. They took my name off the list and put Jim's name there. He took the unit to England that I was supposed to take."

Sjodin then was given the newly formed 831st Bomber Squadron, and tragedy quickly struck, Lesjak said.

"In transit, he lost about 150 ground crew and senior officers who were killed when their transport was sunk by a lone German bomber off the coast of Tunisia," Lesjak said.

Sjodin recalled addressing his fellow fliers at the outset of his most decorated mission, on Memorial Day 1944, with oil refineries near Vienna as their targets.

"We shot down 17 German fighters, and we did not lose one bomber over the target [in the battle]," he said. "The bomb drop was absolutely perfect. ... It just wiped out that oil refinery."

Sjodin stood at attention that July in Venosa, Italy, as his comrades watched him receive the Distinguished Flying Cross.

"That was the best mission I ever flew," Sjodin told Lesjak. "The whole outfit had done such a wonderful job."

Sjodin's 831st was so new when he took command that it had yet to be assigned an official insignia.

"So we got to talking one day" and one of the captains wondered whether Disney would design one, Sjodin said. "By golly, he came up with that Timothy Mouse on the wings of a B-24 tossing a bomb. [We] had 500 of those made up on leather. We passed it on to each of the men and officers, and they sure were happy."

Sjodin ended his military service as a lieutenant colonel in 1962 after 28 years. For the record, he corrected his age with the military, earned a degree in history and political science from the University of Minnesota, raised a family in the Twin Cities and sold insurance.

He was preceded in death by a son, Dennis. He is survived by daughter Diane Rissell of Monticello, Minn., son Raymond Sjodin of California and sister Alice Vivian of Ohio. Memorial services will be held on May 26 at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Aitkin.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482