Sometimes, a person carries out a heroic act without thinking. In that split-second when your brain tells you to duck, you rise and set aside the instinct for self-preservation. Two such acts of heroism, decades apart and oceans away, were recognized on Thursday, Oct. 6 because of a link the heroes shared: they had both been students at Columbia Heights High School.
James LaBelle got his mother’s permission to leave school and join the Marines at age 17, in late 1943. The war against Japan in the Pacific had been raging for over three years when Pfc. LaBelle fought in his first battle, on the island of Iwo Jima, in March 1945.
When a Japanese grenade landed in a foxhole with LaBelle and other Marines, he threw himself on it, absorbing the blast with his body, saving their lives. He was 19 years old when he died. For his actions, President Harry S. Truman posthumously awarded LaBelle the nation’s highest military honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor.
In 2015, during a remodeling of the local Applebee’s restaurant, a framed certificate of LaBelle’s Medal of Honor award was discovered and given to Columbia Heights School Superintendent Kathy Kelly. She met with other school officials, many of whom didn’t know LaBelle’s story. They decided to honor him as a Distinguished Alumnus. Then a problem was noticed: that LaBelle, in joining the Marines at 17, hadn’t finished his last year of high school and had never received a diploma. The school decided to award him an honorary high school diploma this past June, making him eligible for Distinguished Alumnus status. His sister Elaine Lauer accepted his diploma at the school’s annual commencement ceremony in June, 2016.
Then Medtronic got involved. The firm’s founder, Earl Bakken, and his wife, Connie, were among a number of Columbia Heights graduates who worked at Medtronic. New monuments near the flagpole at the school’s entrance were made possible by a Medtronic donation.
Speakers at the dedication included Dan Thompson, pastor of Heights Church; Superintendent Kelly; Medtronic VP M. Patrick Joyce; Ron Rand, president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation (CMoHF); Medal of Honor recipients Thomas Kelley and Hal Fritz; and Senator Amy Klobuchar. Klobuchar said, “All these Medal of Honor recipients share the same attributes; they are brave, courageous and loyal.”
Columbia Heights School Board Chair John Larkin read a proclamation by Governor Mark Dayton marking October 6 as “James LaBelle Day.”
Tom Kelley read LaBelle’s Medal of Honor citation, which said, in part: “His dauntless courage, cool decision, and valiant spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of certain death reflect the highest credit upon Pfc. LaBelle and upon the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country.”
After LaBelle family members helped unveil the memorial, Marines of Wing Support Squadron 471 gave a 21-gun salute, a bugler played “Taps,” and the color guard marched away.
The second Columbia Heights graduate to be honored was Matthew Miller, the school’s K-12 Activities Director. In 2007, Miller was a student at Bethel College and had a summer job working for PCI Construction, which was resurfacing the I-35W bridge. On August 1, he was on the east side of the bridge when it buckled and collapsed. He ran to the aid of four co-workers, then pulled eight people from their cars and from the river. He stayed to help survivors onto Coast Guard boats, then drove injured people in his truck to a nearby hospital.
Miller was one of three receiving the 2008 Above and Beyond Citizens award, given, according to their website, “on behalf of the 105 living Medal of Honor recipients for instances of courage, sacrifice, integrity, patriotism, com mitment, and citizenship.” He accepted a medal from Gen. Colin Powell at Arlington Cemetery, VA.
A monument honoring Miller’s actions during the bridge collapse was unveiled, after which he spoke: “I get to thank my wife and see my beautiful princess; James LaBelle did not get that. I’m glad I had a chance to serve others.”
After the ceremony, guests were invited to join students at Highland Elementary School to hear a presentation by CMoHF officials. Foundation VP Cathy Metcalf outlined a first-in-the-nation “Character Development” curriculum to be introduced at the school. The program is designed to teach students “how to make difficult choices based on the values that the Medal of Honor represents: Courage, Commitment, Sacrifice, Patriotism, Integrity and Citizenship.” Kelley and Fritz were present, and answered questions from the students. At the program’s end, two dozen students in sailor hats sang Anchors Aweigh” to former Navy officer Kelley.
The presentation coincided with similar events in Minneapolis public schools that day, including visits by other Medal of Honor recipients. The CMoHF was in Minneapolis for its national convention October 4-8.
On Friday, Oct. 7, the City of Columbia Heights held a “Flagpole Rededication” at LaBelle Park. As Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” played, Mayor Gary Peterson, Columbia Heights Fire Chief Gary Gorman, Police Chief Scott Nadeau, guests, and a fire department honor guard gathered at the park’s south end flagpole. Mike Petrucci sang a stirring a capella version of “The Star Spangled Banner.”
A bronze plaque honoring Pfc. LaBelle was retired, and a new memorial, similar to the high school monuments, was dedicated. The old plaque was given to Bob Laue, LaBelle’s nephew. Mayor Peterson remarked, “We are here to remember ordinary people doing extraordinary things.” Matthew Miller said, of his actions at the bridge collapse, “I just happened to be there. James LaBelle is the real hero today; it doesn’t seem fair that he never got to see his medal. I encourage all of us to help others, whenever we can.”
[WG id=2933] Photos by Mark Peterson.