News
Jelleberg honored by the King of Norway
Scott Wagar
05/01/2012
Lloyd Jelleberg has been granted the Norwegian’s Defense Medal on orders by King Harald V of Norway for his war service in Norway during World War II.
In October of last year, King Harald V invited Jelleberg and his fellow brothers-in-arms of the 99th Infantry Battalion (sep) to the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Washington, D.C. for the medal ceremony, which was presented to the soldiers by General Harald Sunde, Norway’s defense minister.
“It was a nice offer but I wasn’t able to go due to my health,” said Jelleberg who turned 90 last year. “Forty-seven of us were still alive when the invitations went out, but by the time of the ceremony only 40 of us were still alive, with me being the only 99th soldier from North Dakota. However, the medal was eventually sent to me here in North Dakota.”
The 99th (sep) is a battalion of commandos made up of Norwegian men from America and Norway who were sent to Norway to participate in clandestine missions behind Nazi lines.
However, as the battalion’s training ended, it was decided that a group of around 1,000 men would not be productive in Norway, and the battalion mission was revised. A small number of the 99th (sep) were sent to Norway, while the remainder of the battalion were sent to the European Theater where they did commando raids throughout Europe.
At this time, a number of men from different parts of the U.S., made up of different nationalities, joined the exclusive Norwegian battalion and fought out the war with the original 99th soldiers.
Jelleberg was sent to Europe and he entered the war in Normandy and conducted raids in such places as Elbeuf, France; Wurzeln, Germany and in Malmedy where the 99th (sep) saw some of its worst fighting during the Battle of the Bulge.
“In Malmedy, the 99th (sep) was completely surrounded by SS Forces for a month in one of the coldest winters in Europe and during one of the most deadliest battles of WWII during the Battle of the Bulge,” Jelleberg said. In 1945, Jelleberg and the 99th were sent to Norway where they were given orders to disarm the Nazis still occupying the country.
“We disarmed 300,000 Germans in Norway, which took us six months to do,” said Jelleberg who stated that for the most part the German soldiers surrendered with little resistance. “They were ready to go home and most of them surrendered quite easily, but some skirmishes happened before surrendering to us.”
While waiting to be sent back to Germany, the 99th put the Nazi soldiers to work.
“We had them load all their ammunition on a barge, which included bombs, bullets and every other type of ammunition they had,” Jelleberg said. “The ammunition was then transported out to sea and dumped.”
Sixty-six years after the war, the Norwegian government honored the 99th (sep) in Washington, D.C., during its “Veteran 2011” ceremony with the Defense Medal.
The Medal of Defense, which is made of bronze, is awarded to every soldier, Norwegian and their allies, who served in Norway during WWII.
The adverse side of the medal holds the Norwegian Coat of Arms with the inscription, “9 April 1940 – 8 May 1945”. On the reverse side of the medal is the royal King’s flag, the flag of trade or commerce and State and Nationality, which consists of split flags. The inscription on the reverse side is “Participated in Battle,” with the entire image and words surround by a chain. The ribbon, which holds the medal is in Norway’s colors of red, blue and white.
The J. Tostrup firm in Olso, Norway, created the Defense Medal.
With the medal in the hand of Jelleberg, his mind these days drifts back to the soldiers who spent their duration of the war in Norway carrying out the clandestine mission against the Germans.
“It’s an honor to receive this medal,” Jelleberg said. “However, it’s difficult to accept the medal because of the men who actually fought the entire war in Norway, they were the real heroes in Norway. The rest of us came in as the war was ending. But, it was a nice sentiment by King Harald.”