Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire A very touching Memorial Day

This weekend I was at the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior with some friends sea kayaking. Sunday one of the guys said he knew of a Vietnam Veteran memorial out on York Island. A group of us decided to make the nine mile paddle over to York island and try and find it. It was cool and raining when we launched but by half way it cleared up. We landed on the small beach and started looking for the path that goes up to the bluff where it’s at. There is no markings so if you don’t know where it’s at you would never find it. When we got to the clearing everyone went silent. Most of us are in our 60’s and we all knew guys that didn’t come home.
When we got back to our launch site after a long days paddle there was a park ranger. I decided to ask the young lady if she knew the story behind the memorial.
This is what she told me.
L CPL Merlin Allen was born and raised on York Island. His family made a small memorial for him when they learned of his death. His remains and the others of his team were not recovered until years later.
When the National Park service made the Apostle Islands a National Park most of the people that lived out on the islands had to move, including the Allen family.
His and his teams remains were eventually found and returned to the states. The Allen family asked the NPS if they could bury his remains on the island. With the help of a Wisconsin senator they got the approval. With the help of the Bayfield VFW they buried his remains and built the memorial.
It was a very touching and memorable trip that reminded us of what this weekend is about.

If anyone is ever up this way and would like to visit it while you are taking in the beauty of the shoreline and islands feel free to contact me. I saved the GPS location.

We would never know about these people, if you had no posted this. THANK YOU Rio7

Yesterday morning I was sitting on the shore drinking my coffee and enjoying the calm clear morning. All of a sudden I could hear taps being played followed by a rifle salute. The sound was coming from the direction of York island. It must have been a group from the Bayfield Wi. VFW. They do a great job of keeping the memorial nice and keep it hidden so it doesn't get vandalized. If you dont know where it's at you would never find it.

What a great way to cap off Memorial weekend. Thanks for sharing this with us.

Thanks WS.

Thanks for sharing and the pics.

Very cool deal, whackemstackem! Thanks for this effort!

Thank You

That is touching, thank you.

Thanks for sharing this story, but I would be very careful of who I shared this location with. Thanks again !

Great post. Thanks for sharing it with us.
7mm

Real nice job they did on that,thanks for posting.