Beltrami County Minnesota

Freyholtz, Michael
Alaska Air National Guard Major

Michael Freyholtz from Hines, Minnesota, Beltrami county.

Parents: Mary Freyholtz
Spouse: Ex-wife Kim Freyholtz
Children: Son, 9; daughter, 8

Schools: Blackduck High graduate; University of Minnesota-Duluth.
Military history: Alaska Air National Guard’s 249th Airlift Squadron. Enlisted in Air Force May 1998. 608 combat hours in support of Operations Enduinrg Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

Date of death: Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Death details: Aboard a C-17 cargo plane when it went down in a ball of fire at an Air Force base near Anchorage, Alaska during preparation for an air show. Killed were Aaron Malone, Michael Freyholtz, Jeffrey A. Hill and Thomas Cicardo.

Source: Cedar Rapids Gazette, Anchorage Daily News, Star Tribune, CNN, Bemideji Pioneer

Arionus, Lyman Henry
Army Private 1st class

Lyman Henry Arionus, age 28, from Beltrami County Blackduck, Minnesota .

Parents: Florence Blair

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Saturday, March 31, 1951
Death details: By mid-November 1950, U.S. and Allied forces had advanced to within approximately sixty miles of the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. On November 25, approximately 300,000 Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) “volunteers” suddenly and fiercely counterattacked after crossing the Yalu. The 2nd Infantry Division, located the farthest north of units at the Chongchon River, could not halt the CCF advance and was ordered to withdraw to defensive positions at Sunchon in the South Pyongan province of North Korea. As the division pulled back from Kunu-ri toward Sunchon, it conducted an intense rearguard action while fighting to break through well-defended roadblocks set up by CCF infiltrators. The withdrawal was not complete until December 1, and the 2nd Infantry Division suffered extremely heavy casualties in the process. Corporal Lyman Henry Arionus, who joined the U.S. Army from Minnesota, served with the Headquarters, Headquarters and Service Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on November 30, 1950, as his unit was fighting through a heavily defended roadblock during their withdrawal to Sunchon. Corporal Arionus was first marched to the Pukchin-Tarigol Valley Camp with a large group of POWs. His group then arrived at Camp 5 in Pyokyong in late January, 1951, and died there of malnutrition and pneumonia on an unrecorded date in May. His remains have not been recovered. Corporal Arionus is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Minneapolis Star Tribune (1953)

Brooks, Donald
Army Private 1st class

Donald Brooks, age 22, from Beltrami County Minnesota.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, November 30, 1950
Death details: By mid-November 1950, U.S. and Allied forces had advanced to within approximately sixty miles of the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. On November 25, approximately 300,000 Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) “volunteers” suddenly and fiercely counterattacked after crossing the Yalu. The 2nd Infantry Division, located the farthest north of units at the Chongchon River, could not halt the CCF advance and was ordered to withdraw to defensive positions at Sunchon in the South Pyongan province of North Korea. As the division pulled back from Kunu-ri toward Sunchon, it conducted an intense rearguard action while fighting to break through well-defended roadblocks set up by CCF infiltrators. The withdrawal was not complete until December 1, and the 2nd Infantry Division suffered extremely heavy casualties in the process. Corporal Donald Brooks, who joined the U.S. Army from Minnesota, served with Battery B, 37th Field Artillery battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He went missing in action on November 30, 1950, as his unit made a fighting withdrawal from the area around Kunu-ri, North Korea to Sunchon. He was not reported to be a prisoner of war, and as the area where he went missing never reverted to Allied control, it was not possible to conduct a search for him. After the war, his remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody. Today, Corporal Brooks is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, which was updated in 2022 to include the names of the fallen.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

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