Flag-raising honors World War II vet from Minnesota

Harold Albert Maack, born into a family of 11 children on March 23, 1919, was raised on the family farm near Fergus Falls, Minn.

The son of Anna and Ferdinand Maack, he was drafted into the U.S. Army as a private first class on Oct. 2, 1942.

A flag will be raised in his honor for the man who served in the Pacific Theater of World War II at 9 a.m. Friday in front of the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center.

Maack served in Company B, 382nd Infantry, 96th Division in the Pacific Theater in the Philippines, on Leyte Island and Okinawa. His company was one of the first to land on Okinawa. Only five men from his company returned including Maack. He survived due to having been in sickbay with some kind of “jungle rot” on the day of the initial landing.

Maack returned to the Fergus Falls area after he was discharged honorably on Jan. 19, 1946.

He seldom spoke of his war years.

He married Alma Landberg of Fergus Falls on June 7, 1944. Together they raised three daughters. They owned a farm outside of Fergus Falls before moving to Babbitt, Minn. He worked at Reserve Mining Company for 25 years, retiring to his favorite activities of fishing, hunting and wintering in Arizona. He was active in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Babbitt and the community.

Maack died on April 16 at age 93. The Babbitt American Legion Post 1539 and VFW Post 535 honored his memory at his funeral with the Final Salute and the 21-gun salute.

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