James Bennie Landmark was born August 9, 1923 in Hawley, Minnesota to parents Emil and Gina Landmark. Emil was a carpenter who built houses. James had a brother Adolph and sisters Bertha, Mildred, Gladys and Grace. The family moved to Bear Creek Township and James attended school at Alida through the 8^th grade.

James registered for the draft on June 20, 1942 when he was 19. He was a tall man, 6’1” and 160 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes.

James enlisted in the Army July 15, 1944 at Fort Snelling and was sent to Camp Joseph T. Robinson in Arkansas. He trained as an automatic rifleman and was attached to Company A, 7^th Regiment, 3^rd Infantry Division. James joined the division in time to take part in Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of Southern France. 

The 3^rd Infantry Division advanced up the Rhone Valley, through the Vosges Mountains and reached the Rhine at Strasbourg near the end of November, 1944. In January it helped to clear the Colmar Pocket and on the 15^th of March struck against Siegfried Line positions.  The division crossed the Rhine on March 26, 1945, drove on to take Nuremberg in a fierce battle featuring block-by-block fighting. It was in the vicinity of Salzburg when the war in Europe ended. Some parts of the 7^th Infantry Regiment captured Hitler’s retreat at Berchtesgaden.

James returned to the U.S. and was mustered out on May 2, 1946.

James married country schoolteacher Minnie Annie Gardner on August 20, 1949 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Bagley and they had three sons, Daniel, James and Steven. In 1953 James found employment at the Mando Paper Mill in International Falls so the family moved there. James died on January 23, 2005 and is buried in the VFW portion of Forest Hills Cemetery in International Falls.

Plot: 1      Side: East         Row from Bottom: 2

Scroll down to view map or click Veteran’s Stone Locator to the left