Daughter surprises dad with replacement medals

Daughter surprises dad with replacement medals
By Steve Wagner - Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer via AP
Posted : Monday Dec 24, 2012

BEMIDJI, Minn. — Two years ago, while vacationing over Christmas, someone broke into Arlin Melgaard’s home.

The bandit made off with nearly everything he and his wife, Wanda, owned: a car parked in the garage, the 2001 retirement gift containing his military medals and badges, the longtime musician’s electric guitars, even canned goods and coffee filters stored in the cupboard.

Over time, the couple had replaced most items, but one piece of his past couldn’t be replaced easily — the shadow box commemorating Melgaard’s Army and reservist career.

On Saturday, the 71-year-old Bemidji man, a 40-year veteran, received re-issued medals, badges and service stripes.

At his bedside at the Sanford Bemidji Medical Center, daughter Angie Kamin of Fargo presented him a replica of the retirement gift given to him nearly 12 years ago by the North Dakota Army National Guard unit in which he served.

“Those are all my medals,” proclaimed Melgaard, when his daughter surprised him with the shadow box.

“Of all the things I lost ... that was the worst,” he said. “I wondered, ‘Why the hell would anybody take medals that weren’t even theirs?’ It was devastating.”
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