Minnesota
Minnesota National Guard families prepare for Father’s Day calls from dads overseas
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COTTAGE GROVE, Minn. — Minnesotans will celebrate dads this weekend. But some Father’s Day celebrations will have to wait until more than 500 Minnesota National Guard members come home from Kuwait.
For better or worse, the United States Military has become something of a family business. Maj. Sverre Sundgaard has no problem with that.
“My dad told me, ‘I always knew you were going to join the military. I just ask you to go to college and get a degree first,’” said Maj. Sundgaard.
He’s currently in Kuwait, one of roughly 550 Minnesota soldiers from the 34th Infantry Red Bulls. He’s been deployed before as a Marine in Afghanistan, but now he’s married with two young children.
“I think they’re doing good. My wife’s a great mother, so I think we’ll all be stronger as a family when I get home.”
The Red Bulls’ mission in Kuwait is to train and support regional partners. The War on Terror might be over, but they’re still in a rough neighborhood. And that was never more apparent than on April 13, when Iran launched more than 300 missiles at Israel. The U.S., Israel and other allies shot down almost all of them.
Back in Cottage Grove, Sundgaard’s wife, Ania, told WCCO she purposely keeps a very busy schedule for the kids, Thor and Zosia. But it starts with a morning call from Dad.
“We know he’s going to be back soon. We just keep going,” said Ania Sundgaard. “Just think positive and take every day (laughs)!”
They’re not the only ones waiting either. The major’s dad, Kip Sundgaard, will certainly miss his son this Father’s Day. But he says there’s no greater gift than family values being passed down from generation to generation.
“You want your kids to learn that it’s important to be a giving person and not selfish, and to be willing to sacrifice for other people,” said Kip Sundgaard.
The Red Bulls are due home around Christmas. Maj. Sundgaard said that besides being back with family, he’s most excited to jump in a lake. It was 112 degrees in Kuwait on Friday.
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Minnesota
Crews work to recover submerged vehicle in Minnesota River, and more headlines
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Minnesota
So Minnesota: German POW camp at Wright County Fairgrounds
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So Minnesota: German POW camp at Wright County Fairgrounds
Minnesota played an important role during World War II.
In the summers of 1944 and 1945, a group of about 60 German prisoners of war were brought to a camp at the Wright County Fairgrounds to help work in factories.
“They would be picking the corn for the canning company,” Geoff Welles with the Wright County Historical Society said.
The fairgrounds were turned into the POWs’ home.
“They had the barracks over in the ag building, showers in the poultry building. They ate around here at the grandstand,” Welles said.
One year the Wright County Fair was delayed because of the POW camp. The prisoners were allowed to worship at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Winsted and were treated very well.
“They were given toys, tools, games to play,” Welles said.
Few who attend the Wright County Fair know of its connection to a German POW camp.
Minnesota
Wet conditions remain a problem in Minnesota – Brownfield Ag News
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News
Wet conditions remain a problem in Minnesota
Excessive moisture continues to hinder spring fieldwork in Minnesota.
USDA’s latest weekly crop update says topsoil and subsoil moisture supplies are 97 percent adequate to surplus.
Soybean planting is 94 percent complete, four days behind the five-year average. Seventy percent of the crop is rated in good to excellent condition.
Corn emergence is 93 percent, slightly off the usual pace, with the condition of the crop called 71 percent good to excellent.
For small grains, crop condition ratings are in the low 80’s.
Sugarbeet condition ratings bounced back on the week, improving to 81 percent good to excellent.
And the first cutting of alfalfa reached 67 percent, with 77 percent of hay considered good to excellent.
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