Lowell Benson

Lowell Benson of Alexandria served in the military, alongside his four brothers – David, John, Ronald and Arne. In fact, all five Benson siblings are etched on one of the Cold War stones at the Alexandria Veterans Park.

Lowell served from 1956 to 1963, David served from 1959 to 1963, John served from 1955 to 1964, Ronald served from 1965 to 1969 and Arne served from 1963 until 1973.

And all five are Alexandria graduates.

Lowell Benson was actually one of about 51 classmates from the Alexandria graduating class of 1956 who served in the military. The class size then was 160 students.

ALEXANDRIA ISmilitary strong Benson shared an excerpt from a reunion booklet printed in 2021, which is when the class held its 65th class reunion. It listed the different branches of the military and then names of those who served in that particular branch.

Ralph Daniels, Dick Shogren, Ray Dau, Donald Hallgren, Darcy Lorsun, Luther Myhr and H. Dan Ness. Daniels received the DistinLowell Benson of Alexandria kneels down next to all the Benson names engraved at the Alexandria Veteran Memorial Park, including his own. Contributed photo

Members of the Alexandria graduating Class of 1956 at their 65th reunion in 2021.

Contributed photo guished Flying Cross during 258 missions as a fighter pilot during his two tours in Vietnam. His citation was recommended by the Army for close-in support of ground actions.

Dallas Barnack, Lowell Benson, Hugh Lucas, Norma Blankenship, Darrel Van Amber, Norman Anderson, Jim Becker, Jim Bircher, Tom Bradford, Jim Cassell, Jerome Freding, Davis Froemming, Norman Hanson, Nick Hvezda, Arvo Lofquist, John Loken, Jim Martin, Bill Mechels, Chris Mechels, Dan Pennie, Harlan Ritter, Norman Salto, Leon Schultz, Rodney Swanson and Gaylen Zavadil. Van Amber was reportedly the longest serving classmate with 30 years of active and reserve duty.

Gary Ignowski, Chuck Olson and Mike Schneiderhan.

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James Carlson, Dale Gillespie, Gerald Nicholas, John Petersen, Robert Stemsrud, Wayne Behrens, Don Bundy, David Clark, Bill Evans, Ed Fjerstad, Jim Johnson, Jim Kaufman, Bruce Nelson, Cedric Nelson, Bernie Rooney and Donald Schrupp. Petersen was reportedly the highest-ranking military officer from the class. He retired from the Navy Reserve after 29 years of service.

Lowell also noted that another classmate, Bob Pommerenke, was a civilian teacher for the Department of Defense in Japan.

He shared that some service years could not be verified for some of his classmates but that 42 of the 51, as of September 2021, are engraved on the monuments at the Alexandria Veterans Memorial Park. That is 26% of his class, he said.

He shared that in his opinion, the park is unique because it recognizes those who served and not just those who gave their lives for their country.

“As a cold war veteran, so many of us served ‘behind the scenes’ to help keep our country a great place to live in,” Lowell said. “I do not need individual recognition, but occasionally the general public needs reminding of what/ who has contributed ‘time and talents.’ ”

The Benson family pose for a photo in the 1990s in Legion Park, which is now home to the Alexandria Veterans Memorial Park. Contributed photo