Helmer Ham Myhrer, 88, died on Thursday, January 23, 2003, at Northwest Medical Center, CNC Unit, Thief River Falls, MN.

Funeral services will be at 2:00 P.M. on Saturday, January 25, 2003, at the Evangelical Free Church in Thief River Falls, MN, with Reverend Jim Howard officiating. Burial will be in the Greenwood Cemetery in Thief River Falls.

Visitation will be from 4:00 " 8:00 PM on Friday at the Johnson-Green Funeral Home in Thief River Falls with a prayer service held at 7:00 PM and on Saturday one hour prior to the service in the church.

Helmer Ham Andrew Myhrer was born on August 20, 1914, in Stillwater, MN, the son of Rev. Thorvald and Bertha (Kjimmestad) Myhrer. He was baptized in the Christian Faith in Stillwater. Ham moved with his family to Newfolden in 1919, where he was confirmed and attended grade school and graduated from high school. He attended St. Olaf College and transferred to Moorhead State.

During World War II, Ham served in the US Army 99th Infantry Battalion Sep., which was a Norwegian-American Ski Unit of Special Forces. He received his training at Camp Ripley in Minnesota and Camp Hale in Colorado. In 1943 the Battalion left for Europe landing in Glasglow, Scotland and then went to training at Tidworth, England for 9 months. They moved to Abergavinne, Wales and trained for 3 more months, then moved to the English Channel where they were involved in the invasion of Normandy. Helmer never forgot those 60 days spent in the hedgerows of Normandy. Finally they broke out of Normandy on August 7, 1944 and went through France & Belgium serving with the 1st, 3rd and 9th Army wherever needed because they were Special Forces. They rode the back of 2nd Armored Tanks, which created the Cherbourg Pocket. They continued through Belgium and Holland and were involved in fiercer fighting in Aachen, Germany. The 99th cut off the Germans escape route out of Aachen, which was an Audubon Highway, and the town of Aachen gave up. The 99th paid a dear price for that victory losing 10 percent of the Battalion. They were promised a 10 day rest period, which was the first since the invasion, in a chateau outside of Liege, Belgium. This lasted 3 days. There was a minor breakthrough at Malmandy, Belgium. So, on December 17th they left before daybreak in snow and miserable weather and had been on the road about 5 hours when they met several complete units going the other way. Those other units told the 99th that Malmandy was full of Germans. They said the 99th was Crazy but the 99th said we might be, but were going anyway. They arrived at 11:00 PM and found the town was full of Germans wearing American uniforms. The 99th held that town for 31 days and nights sleeping in the cold and snow when they could. The Mass Murder of Malmandy took place just before they arrived. The Battle of the Bulge ended January 16, 1944 after 31 days. The 99th proceeded through the Sigfried Line and across the Rhine and kept moving with small pockets of interference, but the Germans were weakening. In the process they hit Bauchenwald head on without a shot being fired. Helmer and Leonard Furuseth got permission to go through the camp and found it a sight that they would never care to see again. The 99th went on and on May 8 they were across the river from Ragensberg, Germany when they heard the war was over. They didnt believe it, so that night they dug in as usual and in the next morning Col. Hanson called the 99th together and told them its official, your dreams have come true. Tomorrow morning at daybreak we leave for LaHarve, France to depart for Norway. After lying on the docks for a few days while getting trucks and equipment, they finally departed for Oslo with 80 men and their equipment on each LST. After 4 days and 4 nights they finally arrived at the Oslo Fjord where the 99th docked in several different towns with one or two LST in each town with orders to meet in Camp Smestad in Oslo. They were there for four months assisting the Norwegians with their police work gathering up all the nationalities the Germans had dragged into Norway. On Nov. 17, 1945 the 99th departed for the U.S. and were deactivated. The 99th went into France in June of 1944 when the battalion roster showing 1086 men. On June 8, 1945 when the war ended, there were 483 of those original names still on the 99th Battalion roster. On June 7, 1945 when King Haaken returned to Norway after 7 years of exile, the 99th served as his Honor Guard. For their service, the 99th Battalion has received two French Citations, one Belgian Citation, one Norwegian Citation, they were inducted into the Norwegian-American Hall of Fame, and the entire Battalion received the Bronze Star.

On October 2, 1948, he was united in marriage to Lucille Hetland by his father, Rev. Thorvald Myhrer. They made their home in Thief River Falls, where he worked for a short time for the telephone company and also worked for City Dairy, (Waldy Christensen) for many years, and retired from Bridgmans in 1974, where he made ice cream, bottled and delivered milk, and made door to door deliveries. As a retiree Ham helped Jon Anton farming.

Ham was fluent in Norwegian and enjoyed fishing, bird watching with his grandchildren, playing softball, camping, picnicking, yard work, building bluebird and wren houses, going for drives in the country, visiting with family and friends and had a great sense of humor. He was a member of Evangelical Free Church in Thief River Falls.

Ham is survived by his children Janet (Jon) Anton of Thief River Falls, Randi (Daniel) Hodny of Thief River Falls; grandchildren Ian Anton of Moorhead, Sean Anton, Elizabeth Hodny, Steven Hodny and Michael Hodny all of Thief River Falls; twin sister Helen Hetland of Thief River Falls, sister Verna (Robert) Ehrle of Chisago City, MN; sisters in law Florence Myhrer of Thief River Falls and Verna Myhrer of Newfolden, along with several nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his wife Lucille, parents, sister Elfie Sunde; brothers Kore Myhrer and Marshall Myhrer and an infant brother and sister.