Orville Amdahl: Baseball & World War II - American Legion Post #40

The War Years: St.Olaf Baseball During World War Two by David Scheil, May 30, 2025

    Orval's section of the exhibit can be found by clicking one of the section titles that appear at the very top of the page. They should appear when you scroll down from the cover photo, from left to right (An Uneasy Peace, Voices from the Battlefield, Campus During Wartime, etc.). These section titles allow the viewer to jump from one portion of the exhibit to another, rather than just scrolling through the whole thing. Orval's section is titled simply with his name. His story also appears at other points in the exhibit: in the "War in the Pacific" section, and the "Last Breaths of War in Japan" section at the end of the exhibit. Two of Orval's handwritten letters are also included in the "Voices from the Battlefield" section in the middle of the exhibit.  

    The Lanesboro American Legion's "Return of the Sword" Story is quoted in the second page of the "Orval Amdahl" section, beginning with "When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Orval was teaching math at Lanesboro High School..." As I review the exhibit now, I realize that I only used one direct quote from the "Return of the Sword" story, but I used a lot of invaluable information from it to fill in gaps about Orval's service details. This is the only section where the American Legion's story is quoted directly, however.

   Click The War Years link to go to the exhibit. The War Years: St.Olaf Baseball During World War Two. Above are the details to jump to Orville Amdahl articles.

Additional links:

Lanesboro American Legion's "Return of the Sword"

O. Amdahl Letters Available

• Obit
• Stationed in Nagasaki w the occupation force, might have seen the atomic bomb dropped and certainly saw its aftermath
• Navy Muster rolls October of 1945: Headquarters, (10??) Third Battalion, Tenth Marines, Second Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force, in the Field,
• American Legion Post basically tells his whole combat experience
• “Recently returned a japanese sword to its original owner”
• 3 children, 10 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren
• Baseball photo

Wife: Marie Amdahl: obit here  

Children: Ronald Amdahl obit: here

    James Amdahl obit, served in Vietnam

    https://www.skrochfc.com/obituary/james-jim-amdahl

    Daughter Karyl Tammel: phone number (listed under her and her husband) 507-937-3367 from their church

    Grandson Britt Amdahl , member of Lanesboro Sons of the American Legion

Road named after him and his wife in Lanesboro

    Also mentioned in the article is his good friend Jim Haugen. Jim served in the US Navy from 1972 - 1976, stationed in the Philippines and aboard the USS Cleveland.  Served in the Minnesota Army National Guard from 1977 until 2000 retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. Jim is on the City of Lanesboro Park Board, and longtime member of the American Legion Post #40. Commanders Log - American Legion Post #40

   Please feel free to contact David Scheil, the author, at scheil1@stolaf.edu with any questions or comments.