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Friday, October 13, 2006
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Gene Bierhaus, prominent athlete, veterinarian and veteran of Battle of Iwo Jima, dies at 85
Staff Writer Gene Bierhaus, a prominent Brainerd athlete, decorated World War II veteran and well-known veterinarian, passed away Wednesday at his home in Lake Shore at the age of 85.
Bierhaus was born March 23, 1921, in Brainerd. After graduating from high school he played football at the University of Minnesota and as a Marine fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. Following the war he became a doctor of veterinary medicine, working in Colorado. In the early 1990s he returned to the area, spending his retirement years on Gull Lake.
On Thursday, he was remembered fondly by those who knew him.
"He wound up being an outstanding citizen in every way," said longtime friend Stewart Mills Jr., whose cousin, Jeanne, was married to Bierhaus. "He loved his wife and he loved his children, Kristy and Susy."
Mills said he was in grade school at Whittier Elementary School when he came to know Bierhaus, who at that time was dating Jeanne.
Bierhaus excelled in Brainerd athletics, participating in football, basketball, track and golf. In 1985 he was inducted into the Brainerd High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
Bierhaus was a celebrity of sorts in his early days, Mills said.
"Our friendship goes back to that fact that he was the hero of Brainerd. Everything that ever came up in the Dispatch was Bierhaus this and Bierhaus that," Mills said. "He was in the headlines of almost everything.
"I know that when I was in grade school and so forth, Bierhaus was dating my cousin, and I'd say to my friends, 'Come with us and you could meet Gene Bierhaus.'"
"It was an honor to know him. He was such a great guy. He excelled at almost everything he did," said Brainerd Dispatch Publisher Terry McCollough, whose parents were good friends with Bierhaus and his late wife. "Just a wonderful guy to be around, always with great stories. Just a gracious gentleman ... and extremely modest about his accomplishments."
Jack Echternacht, an East Gull Lake resident who attended the University of Minnesota at the same time as Bierhaus and remained good friends with him since, said Bierhaus was one of the greatest - if not the greatest - athlete the Brainerd area had ever produced.
"He was just one of the greatest guys I've ever known," Echternacht said. "He was always a gentleman. Just a joy to know."
Ken Oaks, of Nisswa, was friends with Bierhaus for almost 20 years. He said along with a love of the outdoors, especially hunting and fishing, Bierhaus was a student of people, observing and analyzing their personalities.
Oaks described his friend as a gentleman with a lot of integrity who was "old school" in his politics, religion and in the way he interacted with others. He also remembered Bierhaus as the "king of the one-liners."
"He had the greatest, and at the same time the driest, sense of humor of anyone I knew," Oaks said. "And he was very accomplished. Not much stood in his way when he made his mind up to do something."
"He was an unbelievably great guy, a lot of fun," added friend Gary Lichey, of East Gull Lake. "I couldn't have asked for a better buddy. I'll really miss him a lot."
Said friend Dick Ashmun: "Gene to me is a true example of a kind, gentle person who also was a war hero, a sportsman, had a sense of humor, a Christian attitude who was a true friend. He was just a neat guy."
The Battle of Iwo Jima
After graduating from Brainerd High School in 1939, Bierhaus attended the University of Minnesota, playing football with the Gophers from 1939-1942. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 1943 as the 238th overall pick in the 25th round.
However, he never got the chance to play a game with the Packers. Instead, he joined the Marines, where in 1945 as a lieutenant he was with the first wave of soldiers who landed at Iwo Jima. Bierhaus was wounded twice in that campaign.
"Gene was a very modest guy, he never wanted to talk about himself but he did say how important it was when the flag was raised on Iwo Jima," Mills said. "He was a combat veteran who loved his country, who loved the Marine Corps."
Before he died, Bierhaus was preparing for an interview with the Dispatch to discuss his experiences during the Battle of Iwo Jima in light of a new movie about the battle, "Flags of Our Fathers," opening Oct. 20. The movie is based on a book of the same name by James Bradley and Ron Powers.
"He had read the book and said obviously he saw different things on the island and during the battle than were in the book. That's what we were hoping to hear from him, that personal perspective," McCollough said. "Literally, he was one of the last of what Tom Brokaw called, 'The Greatest Generation.'"
Bierhaus was a first lieutenant in a rifle platoon with the 5th Marine Division. According to the notes Bierhaus prepared for his interview with the Dispatch, when Marines landed on Iwo Jima, they had discovered the Japanese had dug tunnels and rooms underground on the island. Despite constant bombing of the Japanese strongholds by U.S. bombers and ships, they continued to make new bunkers, caves and emplacements every night, he noted.
Bierhaus wrote that he watched as the first, smaller flag was raised atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima after Marines had taken control of the island, though there was still shooting on the mountain. He noted that later, after the shooting had stopped, Marines raised the larger flag - one that would become famous in a photograph by Joe Rosenthal.
Veterinarian career
After the war Bierhaus returned to the U.S. to recuperate from his wounds in Arizona. Two years later, he went to Colorado to receive a degree in veterinary medicine. He opened a veterinarian clinic for several years, then took a position serving as chief veterinarian with the Colorado Horse Racing Commission and became a consultant and witness in cases involving drugs in horse races. In 1960 he was the president of the Colorado Veterinary Medical Association. In 1972 in Australia he received the International Man of the Year Award from the Equine Association, the first veterinarian to receive the honor.
"He had a very active life, he wasn't going to quit," despite suffering health problems from his war wounds and other maladies, said Mills. "He was no quitter."
MATT ERICKSON can be reached at matt.erickson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5857.
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