COTTAGE GROVE, Minn. - It wouldn't be Memorial Day without star-spangled banners waving from front lawns, fire trucks and light poles.
But one Vietnam War veteran takes quiet pride in displaying another flag along with Old Glory.
Oscar “Tim” Mathison, 69, typically hangs the Minnesota state flag outside his home in Old Cottage Grove on Memorial Day, Flag Day and the Fourth of July.
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There’s incalculable personal meaning attached to this particular pennant. Its blue background bears the signatures of six area men who served in Vietnam, including Mathison himself.
In 1967, he had his 21st birthday thousands of miles from home, where he was stationed in Vietnam as a member of Alpha Company, 4th Battalion, 47th infantry division.
“I got there as a corporal and I left there as a sergeant,” he said. “I was combat infantry.”
Their territory was the muggy Mekong River Delta, where the 4/47, as they were known, first bunked in a barracks made of canvas and wood struts.
“One of the guys in my platoon ended up putting up a flagpole,” Mathison said. “He had a California flag on it. I said, ‘I can’t let this happen,’ so I wrote home and asked the family to send a Minnesota flag. I wanted my state recognized.”
When he could, Mathison displayed the flag in the barracks. When his tour in Vietnam was up in January 1968, he gave the flag to Bruce Johnson of Forest Lake. Johnson’s signature is one of those on the flag.
“I was a grunt,” said Johnson, now an insurance executive.”I carried a machine gun.”
But he was a Gopher State grunt, which is why Mathison chose him.
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“I said, ‘Here, you keep this thing going,’” Mathison said. “‘When it’s time for you to leave pass it on to another Minnesota man.’”
But the flag was left behind after Johnson was hit by shrapnel more than seven months into his tour. Wounded soldiers typically were evacuated without their gear, which was shipped later.
“I was wounded so I didn’t come back with all my belongings,” Johnson said.
When he finally did received his things, the flag was still there. He eventually mailed it back to his brother in arms.
“He was moving after so many years,” Mathison recalled. “He came up with this flag and knew who it needed to go back to. He mailed it back to me. It was a big surprise after 25 years. Ever since I hang it out on Flag Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July.”
Mathison clearly is still pained by his memories of the war, particularly a savage battle on June 19, 1967, that killed nearly 50 U.S. troops.
His unit was crossing a rice paddy near the Rach Ga River. They were approaching a tree line. Unbeknownst to them, Viet Cong were dug in, waiting with machine guns and mortars.
“They waited until we were in range and opened up on us,” Mathison said. “We walked into an ambush.”
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The signatures on the flag include Frank Lewanovich of Cottage Grove, Bob Ehlert of St. Paul Park, John Moxness of Forest Lake and Jerry Matheis of Adams.
They still keep in touch.
“We have phone calls or emails or even have lunch together,” Mathison said. “That’s the brotherhood.”
