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Edward and Elmer T. Lian Papers
Edward and Elmer T. Lian Papers, 1969-1995
Collection Overview
Title: Edward and Elmer T. Lian Papers, 1969-1995
ID: OGLMC208
Primary Creator: Lian, Elmer T. (1918-2001)
Other Creators: Lian, Edward (1885-1976)
Extent: 2.5 Linear Feet
Date Acquired: 00/00/1972. More info below under Accruals.
Subjects: Military History - Prisoners of War (POW), Military History - World War II (WW2), University of North Dakota - Alumni
Languages: English
Scope and Contents of the Materials
The Edward and Elmer T. Lian Papers date from 1969 to 1995 and have been divided into two series.
Series 1: Edward Lian
Series 2: Elmer T. Lian
Collection Historical Note
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 the University of North Dakota in 1940 with a business degree and four years of training in the Reserve Officers Training Corps. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army in June 1940. 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.
Subject/Index Terms
Military History - Prisoners of War (POW)
Military History - World War II (WW2)
University of North Dakota - Alumni
Administrative Information
Repository: Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections
Elmer T. Lian of Grand Forks, North Dakota, donated numerous additions: July 20, 1982 (Accession 82-1008), February 1983 (Accession 83-1057), the summer of 1984 (Accessions 84-1317 and 85-1368), and March 30, 1989 (Accession 89-1646).
A donation was received from Steve Hoffbeck, Grand Forks, North Dakota, on July 28, 1993 (Accession 92-1840).
Access Restrictions: Open for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections.
Acquisition Source: Ed Bonhoff, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Acquisition Method: Donation; the original acquisition records are unavailable.
Related Materials:
North Dakota Prisoner of War Reports: OGLMC 786
Kriegieland: Conversations with ex-POWs,Video #1018-1040, 1427-1433
Stalag Luft I POW 55th Anniversary, Video #1460-1462
Preferred Citation: (Description of Item) Edward and Elmer T. Lian Papers. OGLMC 208. Box #, Folder #. Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections. Chester Fritz Library. University of North Dakota, Grand Forks.
Finding Aid Revision History: Finding aid revised and migrated to Archon in July 2015.
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Series:
[Series 1: Edward Lian],
[Series 2: Elmer T. Lian],
[All]
- Series 2: Elmer T. Lian
The second series is the largest in the collection and consists of material written by and/or related to Elmer T. Lian. This includes several publications related to Lian's experiences as a POW (Prisoner of War) in the Second World War, several autobiographical publications, an oral history interview and newspaper clippings.
This series also includes scanned copies of two underground newspapers from Stalag Luft I. "POW-WOW" was the official underground newspaper and contained news articles gathered from a hidden BBC radio at the camp. "BOW-WOW" was a spoof of the official "POW-WOW" and printed "only unreliable news." Both of these publications were gathered by Elmer Lian and scanned by his son, Steven. The scans are preserved on a Special Collections server and are available by contacting Special Collections.
- Box 1
- Folder 2: Prisoner of War: Germany - WWII, 1969
- Preliminary Draft. The true story of Elmer T. Lian as a POW in Germany during WWII
- Folder 4: Mentally Retarded: Outcasts of Society Volume I, 1973
- Folder 5: Mentally Retarded: Outcasts of Society Volume II, 1973
- Folder 6: Mentally Retarded: Outcasts of Society Volume III, 1973
- Folder 7: Mentally Retarded: Outcasts of Society Volume IV, 1973
- Box 2
- Folder 1: USAF Prisoner of War: Germany–WWII. Volume One, 1973
- Folder 2: USAF Prisoner of War: Germany–WWII. Volume Two, 1973
- Folder 3: USAF Prisoner of War: Germany–WWII. Volume Three, 1973
- Folder 4: USAF Prisoner of War: Germany–WWII. Volume Four, 1973
- Folder 5: Carl Ott. The True Stories of Selected North Dakota War Veterans: North Dakota World War II "Dakota Demon"
- Folder 6: Elmer Lian. The True Stories of Selected North Dakota War Veterans: A True Story of One Man, One Crew, and One Plane, in One of the Great Air Battles Over “Fortress Europe"
- Folder 7: A series of articles in the Grand Forks Air Force Base Leader telling the story of Elmer T. Lian's battle over Europe and his experiences as a POW in Germany. Article from the Western Viking, a Norwegian-American Newspaper telling of Lian’s exploits (2 copies), 1983
- Folder 8: Peder H. Nelson. Krigsflyver av Rineriksaett (1983) The story of the WWII activities of Elmer T. Lian printed in the Norwegian Historic Magazine Ringerike.
- Folder 9: Elmer T. Lian. POW Picture Book, A collection of photocopies of photographs relating to WWII, Elmer as a POW, and his family (2 copies)
- Folder 10: Photocopies of WWII photographs
- Folder 11: Elmer T. Lian. The Great Depression Strikes the Prairie: Writer's Guide Instructions
- Folder 12: Elmer T. Lian. The Great Depression Strikes the Prairie: Writer's Guide Instructions. (Revised Edition)
- Folder 13: Elmer T. Lian. The Strange Saga of Dr. John Olaf Sethre as a Life Long Hermit on His Homestead on the Prairie in Western North Dakota
- Folder 14: Interview by Elmer T. Lian. John H. Bosch: A Great American Agricultural Leader, August 28, 1974
- Folder 15: Elmer T. Lian. Where Am I or My Place In the World. A questionnaire and information sheet dealing with the passing of familial information from one generation to the next
- Folder 16: Charles E. Stabo. The Saga of the Great Depression
- Folder 17: Elmer T. Lian. American Air Force Pilot, Prisoner-of-War
- Folder 18: Elmer Lian. The True Stories of Selected North Dakota War Veterans: A True Story of One Man, One Crew, and One Plane, in One of the Great Air Battles Over “Fortress Europe”
- Folder 19: Elmer T. Lian. North Dakota 100 Years: years of hope, years of progress, years of pain. Volume I
- Folder 20: North Dakota 100 Years: years of hope, years of progress, years of pain. Volume II
- Folder 21: North Dakota 100 Years: years of hope, years of progress, years of pain. Volume III.
- Folder 22: Oral history interview with Elmer T. Lian, by Terry Hjelmstad, February 9, 1990
- Folder 23: Elmer Lian. American Air Force Pilot, Prisoner of War: Germany–World War II
- Folder 24: Elmer Lian. A True Story of One Man, One Crew, and One Plane, in One of the Great Air Battles Over “Fortress Europe”
- Folder 25: Grand Forks Herald Articles, 1970-2001
Prisoner of War Writes His Story by Marilyn Hagerty, 9 September 1970
Prisoners of the Nazis by Darrel Koehler, 2 April 1995
POW hero Lian dies by Stephen J. Lee, 4 June 2001
Elmer Lian: 'An extraordinary man' (editorial) by Chris Breitling, 17 June 2001
Browse by Series:
[Series 1: Edward Lian],
[Series 2: Elmer T. Lian],
[All]