The stories of two American World War II veterans who returned souvenirs to Japan many years after the war will be the topic of the Scott Hosier Veterans Roundtable meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at Autumn Ridge Church, 3611 Salem Road SW, Rochester.
Orval Amdahl and his, son, Ron Amdahl, will tell of Orval's efforts to return a Japanese sword he had taken as a souvenir from Russell Island during the war. In 2006, a representative of the family of the serviceman to whom the sword belonged came to St. Paul to retrieve it from Amdahl.
In a similar case, Glenn Miller, of Rochester, was able to return to Japan a military shirt he had picked up while fighting on the island of Tinian. In 2004, Miller was able to deliver the shirt to a Japanese professor at the University of Guam, who in turn returned it to the serviceman's family. "I felt good that I had done something I would hope to have done for me if the situation had been reversed," Miller said.
The program is preceded by period music at 6:30 p.m. Admission is $5; students admitted free.
