Glen Jostad, WWII veteran and raconteur

Glen Jostad had a vivid memory.

Sixty-five years after U.S. forces liberated him from a prisoner of war camp in Germany, Jostad still shared his experiences with veterans and history enthusiasts with exceptional attention to detail.

"[It was] so sincere that you felt it," his friend Don Loeslie recalled.

"He could retain every single sentence of his whole life, it seemed like."

Jostad, of Brownsville, Minn., died quietly Feb. 20 at age 87 of complications from a fall.

Jostad received numerous medals for his service during World War II, and his friends and family regard him as a war hero who never sought the limelight that his experiences deserved.

In February 1944, Jostad's plane was shot down over France. He convinced the last crew member to bail out, saving his life.

The 200-mile march from Nuremburg to Moosburg, Germany, nearly killed him, but he resolved to survive. In April 1945, the American flag was raised over the camp, a profound memory he held onto all his life.

Jostad first recounted his wartime experiences in 1995 at the Brownsville Memorial Day celebration. There he said, "Freedom. I want you to think about it. I want you to love it, embrace it. If necessary, don't be afraid to lay down your life to preserve that freedom for your family and all your fellow Americans. Believe me, it's worth that. Freedom isn't free."

He spoke at other events until October of last year, including an international World War II conference at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans.

Jostad's family described him as a voracious reader since boyhood, when he taught himself to read. He loved geography and history, and he traveled often with his wife and two daughters.

He married Carmel Hanke in 1946, and they had two daughters. The family raised black angus cattle in Brownsville.