Reply from Aggie Casavant (69): Fort Mill, SC
To Kenny Nerple, The pictures are great, especially the one of the barn on the water. As crazy as this world has gotten anymore, it seems like N.Dakota is the only place you can go anymore to find a place this peaceful. Thanks for sharing. Aggie
Larry Liere (55) Devils Lake, ND & Mesa, AZ
Reply to Mark Schimetz (70) on C. Emerson Murry (42) memories
When I lived in Dunseith during WWII the Murry family (Emerson’s Mom & Dad) lived across the street from the Catholic Church on the North end of the block and we live in the 2nd. house from the South end.
Gary & Mark since we are all old GI’s ( I am the oldest ) I, Mark, his brother David, all did boot camp at Ft. Leonard Wood, I have a few memories to add about MG C. Emerson Murry. I was in boot camp at Ft. Leonard Wood in 1960 and moved to Ft. Dix, NJ for AIT in supply. My mother’s last name was Leonard so I thought Leonard Wood would be a nice place. Well it wasn’t very nice there in April and May, Cold wet weather and as the Sgts. would say “it never rains in the Army it rains on the Army”. In 1977 I became a Supply Officer in the North Dakota National Guard serving full time at Camp Grafton six miles South of Devils Lake, ND. From about 1979 to 1984 I did some flights on military aircraft with General Murry to Leonard Wood, Washington DC, Pentagon, Aberdeen Proving Ground, and other sites where North Dakota National Guard people were being trained. Mark when you talk to your brother David ask him what month, and year he talk with Gen. Murry at Leonard Wood because I may have been on the same flight. One thing I always liked to see was at Graduation from Boot Camp when Gen. Murry was at the event they would ask how many National Guard members were from North Dakota and have them stand up. They would then ask how many of the standing North Dakota Guard members were going to college when they returned home and almost all would remain standing. That was because of the college tuition program the North Dakota National Guard offered to it’s members. One thing Gen. Murry had fun doing was the way we would pay for our dinner meal. Most nights when we were in DC we would go the Fort Myer Officer Club to eat. There would generally be 8 to 20 officers at the table. Some would order a low cost meal, but after your 1st. trip you would always order a high priced meal because Gen. Murry would say, when he got the bill, “I think we will split the bill equally”. ( The people that had a $10.00 meal paid the same amount as those that had a $24.00 meal ) There are many other good memories I have of these trips with Gen. Murry and the many talks we had about our Dads, our family, and living in Dunseith “In The Good Old Days”. All I can say is I left Dunseith in 3rd. grade but I still have a lot of good memories from there and Gen. Murry had many more good memories that he talked about.
C. Emerson Murry (42) Memories and Funeral
From Art Rude (71): Bismarck, ND
Gary,
Yesterday, I was privileged to be at the funeral of C. Emerson Murry. He was surely one of Dunseith’s greatest achievers, and a very nice guy. I grew up knowing the name, and later on I got to know the man, and admired him greatly. I’m sure there are few funerals where the Governor of the state, and the Adjutant General of National Guard are the speakers. They both spoke congenially about a man they both knew personally, and admired as a mentor, friend, American hero, and champion for North Dakota. His impact was great and ongoing, as he wrote major sections that became part of the North Dakota Century Code while being the first director of the ND Legislative Council, and brought the ND National Guard to the very top of the heap. I will scan in the information from the funeral, I thought it was well done, and all very appropriate.
Just a few weeks ago, he emailed me after seeing information in your emails, inquiring about Dad’s health, and he asked me to keep him informed.
Thank you Gary.
Art Rude
Bismarck
Peace and Power,
Art
