ABOVE: Retired First Sergeant Greg Brockberg, formerly of Fairmont, speaks to a crowd of more than 100 Monday morning at the American Legion Post 36 as part of the Memorial Day program.

FAIRMONT– Monday morning’s rain may have cancelled the annual Memorial Day parade in Fairmont, but it couldn’t prevent the program from taking place. American Legion Post 36’s new space on Downtown Plaza in Fairmont provided room for the event to be held indoors, though by the start of it there was standing room only as more than 100 chairs were filled.

The program, which was a joint venture between American Legion Post 36 and VFW Post 1222 and their auxiliaries, began with a recital of the Pledge of Allegiance and a singing of the National Anthem. A prayer was said and Fairmont High school student, Kaycie Brookens recited In Flanders Fields. Then Legion Commander Steve Fosness introduced the guest speaker, Greg Brockberg.

Retired First Sergeant Greg Brockberg, currently of Moorhead, moved to Fairmont at the age of 9 and ended up graduating from Fairmont High School.

On Monday Brockberg wore the unit insignia of the first battalion 188 Air Defense Artillery Regiment based in Grand Forks, ND where he served as a non-commissioned officer from 1997-2012. He also wore the half-rainbow combat patch of the 42nd army infantry division with whom he went to war with in 2004.

In 1997, three weeks after graduation his family moved to Marshall and, as he said he was not college material, Brockberg worked for his father at the local Super Value before enlisting in the marine corps in 1972.

“I went to boot camp in San Diego, attended MOS schools in Memphis and Denver and entered the fleet marine force in September of 1973, serving the Marine Corps air stations in North Carolina, Japan and back to North Carolina before being released from active duty as a bump sergeant in 1976,” Brockberg said.

He jumped his story ahead to the fall of 1996, when he said he had moved from Clear Lake, IA to Moorehead with his wife and two daughters and was working at North Dakota State University but looking for another source of income.

“I was also wondering what it would be like to wear a uniform again and how I would measure up against the younger soldiers of that day,” Brockberg said.

In January 1997, at the age of 43 and 20 years after he had left the Marine Corps, Brockberg enlisted in the North Dakota Army National Guard. Brockberg said his wife was worried he would be deployed somewhere in the world and absent for long periods of time.

“I thought, ‘what could happen.’ Well, we all know what happened on that September day in 2001,” Brockberg said.

In early March 2004 he received a call informing him he was being activated for Operation Iraqi Freedom and in July he flew to Texas to begin five months of infantry training and later Louisiana before arriving in Kuwait in early December.

“A couple of weeks later I found myself as a 51-year-old staff sergeant and unit communications NCO at FOB Warrior just outside of Kirkuk, which is in the heart of the main oil producing area of northern Iraq,” Brockberg said.

He shared some about his work and time spent there and said that in October his unit was replaced by the battalion of the 101st air assault division and he returned home in November 2005.

“A little over four years later, in January of 2010, at the age of 56, I was back in the sand, this time in Afghanistan,” Brockberg said.

About a year after he left for that mission, Brockberg returned home again and in June 2013, the day before he turned 60, he retired from the Guard after serving as a brigade first sergeant for the last 14 months of his career.

“After two mobilizations for duty in southwest Asia, one for 17 months and the other for 12, and 30 day state activations in 1997, 2009 and 2011 fighting major North Dakota floods… several birthdays, anniversaries and Christmases missed… I put on my uniform for the last time until today,” Brockberg said.

He wrapped up his story and jumped back in time to growing up in Fairmont. Brockberg said that he was part of a group of 10 young men who formed a close friendship that has lasted over 50 years.

“By our senior year, we had lost one and gained five others so there were now 14 of us,” Brockberg said.

He said they continued to call themselves the Magnificent 10, or Mag 10. He shared the last names of the men in the group and the activities they did throughout their school years which included sports, lake activities and hanging out at each other’s homes, where they met each other’s parents.

“We thought we knew it all, but what we didn’t realize was what our own fathers had experienced some 25 years before,” Brockberg said.

He said while they knew their fathers had served during WWII, they didn’t know at the time they were part of The Greatest Generation, and they certainly didn’t know their father’s stories.

Brockberg shared what he had learned since then about some of his friend’s fathers, as well as the story of his own father.

“A good share of what I learned about dad’s wartime experience came after his death in 2002. I wish I would have sat down with a pen and paper and had him talk about his 18 months in the Navy but I never did and I will always regret my failure to do so,” Brockberg said.

He said he knew his dad was proud that he enlisted in the Marine Corps, as it was part of the Navy. He also shared that when the Marine recruiter came with a booklet of jobs to the True Value back in 1971, Brockberg picked artillery, but his dad had pointed to electronics, which is what he ended up signing up for.

“That day in 1972, my father’s finger was the hand of God for the field of electronics ended up being my career vocation and the support of myself and my family,” Brockberg said.

He first worked as a computer technician and later as a technician with the federal aviation administration for 21 years, which he retired from in December 2020.

Brockberg ended his speech with saying of the 14 great friends, there were 12 fathers who wore a uniform either during the war or the years right after, which included eight soldiers, three sailors and one marine.

“The Greatest Generation and we didn’t know their stories until it was too late. All our fathers, regardless of where they served…had one thing in common: they all returned to work and raised sons and daughters in this community,” Brockberg said.

He said the reason for Memorial Day is to remember those who served but did not return to communities across the country and that it’s those men and women who are especially remembered on Memorial Day.

The program concluded with Girl Scout members placing wreathes and a rifle salute by members of the VFW. Lilly and Hudson Laven also played echo taps on the trumpet.