Today in History revisits the Wednesday, June 8, 1960, edition of the Grand Forks Herald and highlights a story of war veteran totals of 72,000 in North Dakota.

More than 72,000 war veterans now reside in North Dakota, Robert Hannah, Grand Forks County veterans service officer, said Tuesday in a report to the board of Commissioners.

Of this total, 43,000 are veterans of World War II and 20,000 are classified as veterans of the Korean conflict.

An additional 3,000 World War II veterans also saw service in Korea, Hannah’s report said.

The figures from the office of Floyd Henderson, state director of Veterans Affairs, reported 9,000 World War I veterans living in North Dakota.

The report classified the remaining 400 as having fought in the Spanish American War, Indian Wars, or as career ex-servicemen who now receive compensation while residing in the state.

Hannah’s report also noted that the patient load at the Veterans Administration Hospital at Fargo reached an all-time high during the month of May. The average daily patient load for the month was 207, he said, and as of May 25, there were 222 patients in the hospital.

Hannah said May was a heavy month for office contacts. He said the majority of the 431 office contacts were persons seeking information on the new pension law and veterans making application for direct loans for home buying in and around Grand Forks. About 70 veterans sought loan information during May, his report showed.

Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — This will be a busy week for North Dakota Air National Guard’s 119th Wing.

They will be conducting a readiness exercise at the Air National Guard Base at Hector International Airport from Monday through Friday.

Those in that area may notice increased military activity, additional vehicle traffic, emergency response training activities, and elevated operations on and around the installation.

The exercise will help evaluate the wing’s ability to respond to a variety of real-world scenarios while maintaining mission readiness and supporting national defense requirements.

MAYVILLE, N.D. — Mayville Fire Chief Richard Hart hopes a new venture in his department will benefit other fire departments, not only in North Dakota but also in Minnesota and South Dakota.

Mayville Fire and Rescue is trying to raise money to create a regional training facility to make it easier for firefighters around the eastern side of the state to get training, as the North Dakota State Fire School is usually held in Minot.

“We’re trying to save people — the taxpayers — money by allowing these members to not have to fork out for room, board and all this other stuff,” Hart said. “They can stay right on site. They can stay here for two or three days, whatever they want, and do all the training that they want at their pace.”

The fire department’s goal is to raise $6 million, which includes $3.1 million to outright purchase the department’s current building, which was formerly used by Titan Machinery; $1.9 million to construct a burn tower to be used for things like practicing firefighter bailouts and training with hoses; and $1 million for other necessary upgrades like new water lines and interior renovation.

Other funding from sources like the department’s existing budget, grants and state monies will be used to purchase a new ladder truck and construct additional space to be used for training, bunks and other potential future growth.

Hart said none of the money for the training facility will come from taxpayers.

“Most of us are homeowners in this town,” he said. “There are homeowners, business owners, teachers and stuff like that in this department, and we’re not trying to dig into the taxpayers any more than we already do with the taxes that we already have to pay.”

One of the goals of the training facility is to help train and hire new firefighters across the state, as Hart said there’s a national shortage of volunteer firefighters.

“North Dakota is about 95% volunteer, and South Dakota is a little over 90% volunteer,” he said. “I think one of the biggest issues that we face as firefighters or volunteer fire departments is that once we get people in the door, we can’t retain them because we can’t train them.”

Mayville State University is planning to partner with the fire department to create a fire science program, with the hope that students may become volunteer firefighters in town. Hart also said he hopes to get a Career and Technical Education program started at the local high school, with the help of the state, where students could get college credit and possibly be certified for certain firefighter skills.

He also said having a regional training facility would not only be a benefit to rural fire departments but also to residents of those departments’ service areas by helping to reduce their fire insurance premiums. The Insurance Services Office evaluates and rates fire departments based on their readiness and fire protection capability — some of which is based on the amount of training the firefighters have received — and those ratings are often used by insurance companies to help determine local fire protection premiums. The higher a fire department is rated, the lower the insurance premiums.

Jordan Rusche is the government reporter for the Grand Forks Herald.