Minnesota fan passes away

Donate To GopherHole
L

laservet

New member
Joined
Mar 8, 2009
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
1
My father, Fernon Gustafson, passed away this Wednesday at the age of 90. He was a HUGE Minnesota fan, was born and raised in the Clearbrook-Gonvick area and was a big fan back in the national championship days. He knew Bernie Bierman. He was a decorated WWII veteran, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross flying Hellcats in the Pacific theater. He remained a staunch Golden Gopher fan until the day he died, and wished that he not be mourned when he passed but rather that friends and family have a party in his memory. So this weekend tip a brew or two in his memory -- a farm boy, warrior, patriot, son, husband, father, and a Golden Gopher fan forever.
 

Thank you for sharing! God bless you and your family!
 

Yes, thank you for sharing.

A hand salute and a toast to Fernon Gustafson!

Distinguished Flying Cross - most impressive - and a big thank you for his service.

Blessings to you and your family.

Go Gophers!!
 




Sorry for your loss. Thanks for sharing this post.
 


May god bless you and your family. Thanks for sharing this with the board.
 




Will do. Sounds like he led a life that many would have dreamed of living.
 


Save a seat for us on the 50, second deck, Fernon. Thanks for leading the way, ski-u-mah!
 

laservet said:
My father, Fernon Gustafson, passed away this Wednesday at the age of 90. He was a HUGE Minnesota fan, was born and raised in the Clearbrook-Gonvick area and was a big fan back in the national championship days. He knew Bernie Bierman. He was a decorated WWII veteran, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross flying Hellcats in the Pacific theater. He remained a staunch Golden Gopher fan until the day he died, and wished that he not be mourned when he passed but rather that friends and family have a party in his memory. So this weekend tip a brew or two in his memory -- a farm boy, warrior, patriot, son, husband, father, and a Golden Gopher fan forever.
Click to expand...

Ski-U-Mah brother Fernon, Ski-U-Mah.

A heartfelt salute to your father, and thanks for sharing with the board.

Go Gophers!
 



Will tip one to him while watching the replay later tonight.

Thanks for your service Fernon, Hat's off to thee!

Ski-U-Mah
 

This one's for you Fernon! A life well lived!
 

laservet said:
My father, Fernon Gustafson, passed away this Wednesday at the age of 90. He was a HUGE Minnesota fan, was born and raised in the Clearbrook-Gonvick area and was a big fan back in the national championship days. He knew Bernie Bierman. He was a decorated WWII veteran, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross flying Hellcats in the Pacific theater. He remained a staunch Golden Gopher fan until the day he died, and wished that he not be mourned when he passed but rather that friends and family have a party in his memory. So this weekend tip a brew or two in his memory -- a farm boy, warrior, patriot, son, husband, father, and a Golden Gopher fan forever.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm talking about. Tip of the cap (and the bottle) to your Dad.
 


laservet said:
My father, Fernon Gustafson, passed away this Wednesday at the age of 90. He was a HUGE Minnesota fan, was born and raised in the Clearbrook-Gonvick area and was a big fan back in the national championship days. He knew Bernie Bierman. He was a decorated WWII veteran, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross flying Hellcats in the Pacific theater. He remained a staunch Golden Gopher fan until the day he died, and wished that he not be mourned when he passed but rather that friends and family have a party in his memory. So this weekend tip a brew or two in his memory -- a farm boy, warrior, patriot, son, husband, father, and a Golden Gopher fan forever.
Click to expand...

laservet,

1. We all owe a debt of gratitude to your father. Do you know which battle(s) he earned his DFC in? Do you know which carriers he flew off? Was he in the Navy or the Marine Corps? Do you know which squadron(s) he flew with? Sorry to bombard you with these questions, but your father was a heroic and incredible man so my curiosity is piqued.

2. For those of you who don't know what an F6F Hellcat is http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/hist-ac/f6f-5.pdf

3. Fernon Gustafson, we salute you. May you enjoy fair winds and following seas! God bless you and have a great time in Heaven. You earned it shipmate!
 

laservet said:
My father, Fernon Gustafson, passed away this Wednesday at the age of 90. He was a HUGE Minnesota fan, was born and raised in the Clearbrook-Gonvick area and was a big fan back in the national championship days. He knew Bernie Bierman. He was a decorated WWII veteran, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross flying Hellcats in the Pacific theater. He remained a staunch Golden Gopher fan until the day he died, and wished that he not be mourned when he passed but rather that friends and family have a party in his memory. So this weekend tip a brew or two in his memory -- a farm boy, warrior, patriot, son, husband, father, and a Golden Gopher fan forever.
Click to expand...

+1. Thanks for sharing this and may he rest in peace.
 

6 Nov 1999 said:
laservet,

1. We all owe a debt of gratitude to your father. Do you know which battle(s) he earned his DFC in? Do you know which carriers he flew off? Was he in the Navy or the Marine Corps? Do you know which squadron(s) he flew with? Sorry to bombard you with these questions, but your father was a heroic and incredible man so my curiosity is piqued.

2. For those of you who don't know what an F6F Hellcat is http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/hist-ac/f6f-5.pdf

3. Fernon Gustafson, we salute you. May you enjoy fair winds and following seas! God bless you and have a great time in Heaven. You earned it shipmate!
Click to expand...

Thank you. Thank you all. And congrats to Minny for the win.

I'll find out the squadron later this week. He was a Navy Lt jg and flew off the USS Cowpens. He never said anything about the war other than that and we didn't know about the DFC until last year. A few years ago my mom told me his greatest regret was that he was told he earned a medal in the war but at the time they said they had run out of them and would present his as soon as more were made. They never did and it was not reflected on his discharge papers. About 15 years ago he tried to track down the medal but was told that all the records were destroyed in a fire at the records building in St Louis. I spent several years trying this avenue and that, only to be told about the fire. I'm a veterinarian in Virginia and in early January of last year I was in an empty exam room finishing another beat your head against the wall call about this when a client who overheard the end of my conversation asked me about it. He is Gordon Helsel and is a state representative in Richmond, earned two Purple Hearts in Vietnam, great guy. He said it was a shame dad didn't receive the medal he earned and told me he was meeting with Sen Warner and the Secretary of the Navy in two weeks and asked for dad's social sec number. I obtained it for him and in less than one month I received a call from Sen Warner's office that a dozen medals, including the DFC, were being shipped overnight to me and dad's discharge papers had been changed to reflect his accomplishments. Sen Warner wanted to present them personally but dad wasn't able to travel and couldn't fly out here from Colorado so we had a family reunion for his 89th birthday and under the guise of going out for a family portrait we took him to his congressman's office where he was presented his medals. It was a complete surprise and he was overwhelmed. My mom said he tried repeatedly to write me a thank you letter but became too emotional each time and could never finish it.

It was after the presentation of the medals that the told us about the action, and told us why he never spoke about it. It was a rescue mission for a downed US pilot, a US submarine was attempting to pick him up in the middle of an enemy destroyer group. His wingman developed "engine trouble" and went back to the carrier, not the first time he had done so when things got hairy and he was sent back to the states after leaving his wingman this time. Dad continued on and found the sub under attack by a Japanese destroyer. In heavy weather and under intense antiaircraft fire, all targeted at his single plane, he repeatedly pressed low level strafing runs at the destroyer until it was finally dead in the water, on fire, with the crew abandoning ship. The sub was able to rescue the downed flyer and slip away. The reason he never spoke about it is that he felt that on his last pass or two he was killing seamen who were abandoning ship and he felt guilty about that. Of course they were still firing at him but he felt guilty anyway.

He was an active member of Sons of Norway, snow skied with the Over the Hill Gang until he was 80, he was on a curling team and participated in the Men's National Curling Bonspiels several times, and was an active member of the Quiet Birdmen, a group of fighter pilots from all sides in WWII. The Quiet Birdmen are giving a presentation at his service and are having a party afterwards, their usual practice after they lose a member. They are an interesting group but have lost many of their members in the past few years. One of dad's friends in the group was a Luftwaffe pilot and flew the Me 109 jet toward the end of the war.

Thanks again for the kind thoughts. I felt I was prepared for his death but am having a very hard time. I miss him. He loved coming to GopherHole for his Minnesota football fix.
 

laservet said:
My father, Fernon Gustafson, passed away this Wednesday at the age of 90. He was a HUGE Minnesota fan, was born and raised in the Clearbrook-Gonvick area and was a big fan back in the national championship days. He knew Bernie Bierman. He was a decorated WWII veteran, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross flying Hellcats in the Pacific theater. He remained a staunch Golden Gopher fan until the day he died, and wished that he not be mourned when he passed but rather that friends and family have a party in his memory. So this weekend tip a brew or two in his memory -- a farm boy, warrior, patriot, son, husband, father, and a Golden Gopher fan forever.
Click to expand...


Easily one of the finest threads I've seen.....ever!

Laservet, thanks for putting up the first and last posts on page #1. Your father, Fernon Gustafson, had to have been one of the finest men to grace this planet during the past century. My only regret was that I never had the opportunity to meet him.

I cannot help but think the Japanese sailors he may have strafed were waiting for their opportunity to meet your dad...and now, after nearly 7 decades, that meeting has finally taken place (in heaven)...and all is forgiven.

Next up, your dad will introduce those Japanese sailors to his old pal, Bernie Bierman.

God bless to you and your family, laservet.
 


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom