Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) issued the following statement on the passing of World War II veteran and Minot resident Lynn Aas:
“Lynn Aas is just one of those personalities who even at the age of 100 you think is never going to die, and yet he’s earned this opportunity to rest. God bless his memory. I am praying for his family, and I am just really grateful that I get to count Lynn Aas as one of my friends and one of my mentors in public service and in public life. He will be greatly missed.”
In June, Senator Cramer delivered remarks on the Senate floor honoring his life and service to celebrate Aas’ 100th birthday.
Aas was raised during the Great Depression on a farm near the town of Benedict, 40 miles south of Minot. In August 1942, he became one of 60,000 North Dakotans to serve in the U.S. armed forces in World War II, enlisting in the U.S. Army, where his first combat experience was the Battle of the Bulge. His combat days ended after being wounded in his left arm by shrapnel, when he was honorably discharged on November 1, 1945. He was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star medals, in addition to the Glider Badge, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Good Conduct Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one Bronze Arrowhead and three Bronze Campaign Stars, and the World War II Victory Medal. In 2017, the French government awarded Lynn its highest honor, the “Knight of the Legion of Honor” medal.
After serving in the Army, Aas earned law and business degrees from the University of North Dakota, managed a medical clinic, served in the North Dakota Legislature for eight years, and was a delegate to the state’s 1972 Constitutional Convention. He and his late wife, Beverly, raised four sons.