CAMP RIPLEY-The Minnesota Military Museum is featuring Army Dentist Col. John Harvey Lien of Willmar in their Featured Veteran Exhibit through March 31.
John Harvey Lien was born June 24, 1911 to Amos and Winifred Lien in Willmar. As a youngster growing up he developed what was to become a lifelong interest in dentistry. He earned his diploma from the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry in 1937. After briefly interning in Rochester, N.Y., and Minneapolis, he moved back to his hometown of Willmar to set up a practice which he was to operate for 42 years.
In 1942, Dr. Lien was called into the Army as a 1st Lt., and served four years in the South Pacific, from the island of Guadalcanal through to the Philippines. While serving in the Philippines, he was part of a medical team that was among the first to enter the newly liberated prisoner of war camps that held some of the many Americans captured in the early battles in the Philippines. He ended up enduring six trips across the Pacific accompanying casualties back to the U.S.
Following active service he remained in the reserves, and was a member of the 5th Army Pistol Team. He retired at the rank of colonel on June 24, 1970. John was a lifelong member of the American Legion and VFW. John had two daughters, Patricia and Joyce, and many nieces, nephews, and grandchildren. He passed away on Oct. 29, 2005 and is interred at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.
The public is invited to view the entire exhibit on Lien along with all the exhibits in the Minnesota Military Museum, a press release said. The museum exhibits artifacts and stories from all branches of the military from frontier days to the present. During winter hours the museum is open Thursdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment. Current featured exhibits include "Minnesota Voices from Vietnam" and "In the Fight: Minnesota and the First World War."
