The Minnesota Military Museum at Camp Ripley is honoring the 72nd anniversary of D-Day Monday with an exhibit on Sgt. Albert H. Larson, "B" Company, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division in their Featured Veteran exhibit.
Larson was one of perhaps 1,000 paratroopers to have made four combat jumps in World War II who lived to tell the story.
Larson was born in Minneapolis in 1922 and went to Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis where he was a member of the Civilian Conservation Corps. He joined the Army at Fort Snelling in 1941 and attended basic training at Fort Wolters in Texas and airborne training at Fort Benning in Georgia.
He then embarked on a transport ship to Casablanca, Morocco, where his unit spent time before their first combat jump during Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily on July 9, 1943.
The 505th made their second combat jump into Salerno, Italy, on September 14, 1943.
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In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, the 505th made their third combat jump of the war into Normandy as part of the D-Day invasion.
Larson had many close calls in the first days of the invasion and had the heel of one of his paratrooper boots shot off by a machine gun round. He kept the boot, had it repaired and brought it home as a souvenir after the war.
On June 11, 1944, Larson was wounded by a piece of shrapnel from a German mortar or artillery piece. He was evacuated to England to recover from his wounds.
The 4th and last combat jump of the 505th was on September 17, 1944 during Operation Market-Garden.
Larson would survive the war to come home to Minnesota, where he worked as a pressman for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. He passed away on July 4, 2012, and is buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.
The public is invited to visit the entire exhibit on Larson. The museum represents all branches of the service and honors Minnesota veterans and military history from the state's frontier days to the present.
The Minnesota Military Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, May through September, including all holidays. The museum is located just inside the gates of Camp Ripley. Adult visitors to Camp Ripley need a photo I.D. for entrance.
The Minnesota Military Museum is an outreach effort of the Military Historical Society of Minnesota, a nonprofit educational organization dependent on donations from members and supporters to preserve and protect Minnesota's military history.
