ELWYN B. ROBINSON DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
CHESTER FRITZ LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA 58202

EDWARD AND ELMER T. LIAN PAPERS

COLLECTION: OGL #208

DATES: 1885-1972

SIZE: .5 linear feet

INTRODUCTION

ACQUISITION: The Edward and Elmer T. Lian Papers were deposited in the Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection by Ed Bonhoff, Grand Forks, North Dakota in 1972 and 1973. The acquisition records are unavailable.

ACCESS: Available for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Department of Special Collections.

RELATED COLLECTIONS:

North Dakota Prisoner of War Records, OGL#786
Kriegieland: Conversations with ex-POWs,Video #1018-1040, 1427-1433
Stalag Luft I POW 55th Anniversary, Video #1460-1462

RELATED PUBLICATION:

The Captured Ones: American Prisoners of War in Germany, 1944-1945 by Erik Dyreborg. iUniverse, 2006.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Edward Lian was born on a farm near Ringerike, Norway on January 20, 1885. In April 1906, he and his brother George immigrated to the United States. They traveled from New York to Fairdale, North Dakota where Edward began farming. After farming elsewhere in North Dakota, Canada, and Montana, he moved back to Fairdale in 1915. On July 25, 1917, he married Martha Haug, in the Aadalen Lutheran Church, in rural Fairdale. In 1920, he began a position as manager of The Fairdale Mercantile Company, while in 1926 he purchased a farm in rural Fairdale. The Mercantile Company failed in 1929, but Edward was able to open a grocery store the following year. Unfortunately, this store also closed in 1935, due to poor economic conditions. Following the death of Martha, on July 28, 1970, Edward moved into Tufte Manor, a retirement home in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Edward Lian died in December 1976 in Grand Forks.

Elmer T. Lian, Edward and Martha Lian's first son, was born on April 17, 1918 in Fairdale. He graduated from high school in Fairdale in 1936, and from UND on June 1, 1940 with a business degree, in addition to four years of training in the Reserve Officers Training Corps. On that same day, Elmer was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He entered the Army Air Force in 1942. Elmer married Edwina Amundrud, a native of Silvesta Township, Walsh County, North Dakota, on July 16, 1942. The ceremony took place at the Fort Dix (New Jersey) Army Air Force Base Chapel. On June 14, 1944, Elmer was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, for flying a crippled bomber safely back to England. A daughter, Linda Rae, was born several weeks later on July 2, 1944, in Grand Forks. On September 27th of that same year, Elmer Lian was shot down over Germany and taken prisoner. He was taken to a Stalag Luft I, a POW camp in northeastern Germany, near the Polish border. He was eventually liberated by the Russian Army in May 1945, and returned to Fairdale in June 1945. He arrived just in time to witness his daughter’s first birthday party, on July 2.

Elmer remained in the Air Force following the end of World War II. A son, Steven Craig, was born September 22, 1946, in Greenville, South Carolina. In November 1964, Elmer retired from the Air Force, having attained the rank of lieutenant colonel. The family then moved to Grand Forks, where he taught mentally challenged young adults for over ten years. Following the death of his father-in-law, he returned to Fairdale to manage the farm and estate.

In 1996-1997, under the auspices of the University of North Dakota AeroSpace Network, Elmer Lian interviewed 22 ex-POWs from World War II and the Korean War. Over 30 hours of videotaped interviews were produced and broadcast on Grand Forks Cable Channel 3 in February 1998 . A second installment of the series was aired in 2000. The series, entitled Kriegieland: Conversations with ex-POWs, is recorded in its entirety in the Department of Special Collections

Elmer Lian died on June 2, 2001 in Grand Forks.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The Edward and Elmer T. Lian Papers consist of an autobiography written by Edward Lian in 1972, entitled From Fjord to Prairie. This manuscript covers his life from its beginning in Norway until Edward entered Tufte Manor. Also included is a preliminary draft of a manuscript written by Elmer Lian, entitled Prisoner of War: Germany - WWII, dating from 1969.

Box 1
Folder

1. Edward Lian. From Fjord to Prairie (1972). An autobiography recounting his life from birth near Ringerike, Norway to his later years in Fairdale, North Dakota
2. Elmer T. Lian. Prisoner of War: Germany - WWII (1969--Preliminary Draft). The true story of Elmer T. Lian as a POW in Germany during WWII

Kriegieland: Conversations with ex-POWs
Videotaped interviews with ex-POWS from World War II and the Korean War, hosted by Elmer Lian

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