Minnesota's Greatest Generation Oral History Project: Part II: Interview with Orval H. Amdahl

Titles: Minnesota's Greatest Generation Oral History Project: Part II: Interview with Orval H. Amdahl (Supplied title)

Description: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Orval Amdahl was born outside Lanesboro, Minnesota. He was raised and attended school there. He later attended Saint Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. In 1941 he enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in the Pacific as a Marine Officer. He served in the Occupation of Japan. Returning home to his wife and family, he ran a lumberyard in Lanesboro. In the early 1950s he and his entire family were stricken with polio. After recovering, he was elected to the position of Fillmore County auditor. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Growing up in a small southern Minnesota Norwegian American community; community life: school, friends, social activities, dating, Boy Scout activities; the depression; student life at a small Minnesota college; joining the Marines; getting married far from home during the war; going overseas; encounters with the Japanese; working with Sperry-Rand technicians to improve military equipment; serving with the movie star Tyrone Power; cross country travel during the war; entering Nagasaki shortly after the atomic bomb was dropped and serving on occupation duty in Japan; returning home: finding a job, raising a family; early 1950s polio epidemic; running for county political office.

Dates

• 01/10/2006 (Creation)

Creation

• interviewee: Amdahl, Orval H.
• interviewer: Bekke, Douglas

Identifiers

• Library Call Number: OH 115
• Accession Number: AV2008.26.2

Holding Type: Oral History - Interview

Project

• Oral History - Project, MHS Collection, project: 'Minnesota's Greatest Generation Oral History Project: Part II' <OH 115>

Quantity: 4 hours sound cassettes 86 pages transcript

Format

• Content Category: sound recordings
• Content Category: text

Measurements

• 190 minutes length

Subjects

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