Byklum’s time in service coincides with major historic events

Written by Kari Sundberg, Eagle Editor

“The day I was getting discharged things were delayed a bit. We got word that President Kennedy had been assassinated,” recalls Wally. “All of a sudden word came that he had been shot and killed. It was such a shock…and I thought for sure my service would be extended that day,” he added.

It was November 22, 1963. On this day in history, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. It was also the day Wallace Byklum, U.S. Army SPC E-4, left North Carolina and headed for home after being discharged from the United States Army.

Wally was 23 years old when he received his draft letter in August of 1961. After graduating from Goodridge High School in 1956, he was living in Minneapolis at the time; he was single and working construction laying hard wood floors. Wally says if he had to choose, he would have rather enlisted at 17-18 year old, but his parents wouldn’t sign for him. “Going into the service at 23 years old set my life back a bit. I was already getting established with my life and career, but that’s just the way things worked out,” he says. 

Wally considers himself blessed that he never had to leave American soil during his time in the army. He missed having to go to Vietnam by just two months. At the time he would have had to go overseas, he had just four months left in the service. If you had six months left, you had to go. “I definitely consider myself blessed,” he admitted.

Wally was drafted during the Berlin Crisis. By the time he arrived for his Basic Training at Fort Carson, Colorado, in November of 1961, things had been negotiated and settled with that, but the Vietnam War was still ongoing, and being sent overseas seemed imminent. During his 8-week BCT at Ft. Carson, Wally recalls the intense training. Though he was in pretty good shape, he still remembers how tough those times were. “They break you down to nothing,” he stated. “Physically and mentally. All in an attempt to build you back up as a soldier.” He remembers the 25-mile road marches with full gear. And climbing what is referred to as Agony Hill with a full pack. Once the men hiked at an angle for over a mile, they finally reached the top where they rolled out their tents in the snow, laid out their sleeping bags and prepared for a 4-day training. 

Wally was able to come home for Christmas half way through Basic Training. After he returned, he was sent to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in February of 1962. He shared, “Whatever you did in civilian life was where they tried to place you. I did carpentry so that’s where I started off.” 

His commander soon asked if he’d rather go into heavy equipment and help build roads. 

“We had black topping outfits and everything in that battalion. We were training for making roads and repairing roads,” said Wally. They even built a floating bridge over a river. The soldiers basically did road maintenance for the Air Force and would clean up the aftermath of their training sessions.

Fort Bragg was home to the 82nd Airborne and Green Beret 7th Special Forces Group. While there, Wally was in the Third Army 159th Engineer Group Company C, 92nd Engineer Battalion Construction attached to the 82nd Airborne Division.

In addition to his training as a heavy equipment operator, Wally also was trained in the United States Army Special Forces, more commonly known as the Green Berets. His Special Forces Guerrilla Warfare training was at Camp Dawson, West Virginia, up in the mountains. Guerilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which a small group of combatants use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids and the element of surprise to eliminate the opponent.

Wally explained that 110 men would split into 11-man bands and scrimmage against the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Believe it or not, people were actually killed in these war games. It’s not something that was/is generally publicized, but a harsh reality, indeed. Wally says they would travel by night and sleep by day. They’d blow up simulated bridges and would be graded on what they did. They would “fight” the enemy, which was the Airborne Division from Kentucky, in preparation for guerilla warfare in Vietnam. 

The Special Forces training lasted two weeks up in the mountains and Wally says it got to be pretty dangerous, especially with the use of bayonets. “If you got caught, they’d try to get you to talk. They’d throw a poncho around you, strap you up, haul you away and try to get information out of you,” he says. 

During his time on base in North Carolina, the Cuban Missile Crisis was in full swing between the United States and the Soviet Union. “The Russians were sitting right off shore. All they had to do was pull the trigger,” Wally remembered. The men were constrained to their barracks for two weeks, only being allowed to leave for half an hour at a time. They unloaded ammunition from every rail road car and flatbed and prepared to go off the tip of Florida by boat and airplane. A D8 Caterpillar, a lowboy, jeeps and other trucks were even loaded and flown in preparation; Wally happened to be on one plane with this heavy equipment and remembers clearly how much the aircraft was vibrating. In fact, they even blew a tire while landing.

Thankfully, Wally never had to go to Cuba as an agreement was soon reached, ending the immediate threat of a nuclear war.

As mentioned, Wally was fortunate enough to not have to leave American soil during his time of service. Nonetheless, he was in the midst of major historic events during that time. 

He underwent special training that was done in a state of military preparedness for breaking up riots in Mississippi surrounding Martin Luther King, Jr. Though they trained as if it was the real thing, the group was never sent out. 

The day finally came when Wally was set to be discharged. It was November 22nd, 1963. After getting cleared and set to sign out, word came in that JFK had been shot and killed. Wally recalls feeling shocked and saddened and thought for sure his time would get extended. The men had to wait for some time, but were soon given their final paycheck and the all-clear to leave. Wally had his car at Fort Bragg. During one of his leaves back home to Minnesota, he had driven the car back to the base in North Carolina. That afternoon, on November 22nd, he got into his familiar automobile and headed for Milwaukee where his brother lived. After visiting a couple of days there, he came home to Grygla for a while and eventually made his way back down to Minneapolis. 

“I went back into carpentry. I met Karol. We had two sons and, eventually, ended up moving back to the area,” he summed up.

Once the family made the move back home, life continued at a normal pace. When Wally’s parents left the homestead, Wally and Karol moved to the property, built a house there in 1977 and still call the farm “home” today.

“All that traveling just to come back here,” Wally laughed.

After his time in the army, Wally joined the American Legion out of Thief River Falls and later transferred his membership to the Grygla post. When asked about his time in the service, Wally shared a pretty honest answer. “I hated it when I was there, but I wouldn’t have wanted to miss it…if that makes sense,” he described.