Jill Schramm/MDN A veterans display at First Lutheran Church in Minot showcases memorabilia associated with local service members during the first and second world wars.

In honor of Veterans Day, First Lutheran Church in Minot has installed a display of World War I and II memorabilia that highlight the sacrifices of congregational and Ward County service members.

The display will be in place through Nov. 21.

Among the items is a Blue Star Banner sewn by First Lutheran Church ladies in 1918 to recognize congregation members in the military during World War I. There were 31 blue stars for 31 members, and four of those stars had gold stars sewn over them to represent lives lost.

Those soldiers included brothers Walter and George Larson, who left behind their mother in Minot, three sisters and a brother. Serving with the Canadian Army, Walter Larson died June 25, 1918, in France. George Larson died Oct. 5, 1918, in France. The display includes articles in the Ward County Independent regarding lives lost in the war.

Across Ward County, there were 83 servicemen who lost their lives on the battlefields or died of wounds from injuries during World War I.

World War I was the first time the United States sent soldiers abroad to fight on foreign soil, according to information in the display. The United States entered the war on April 6, 1917.

The memorabilia from World War II includes the uniform of Staff Sgt. Donald Gates, who served in the Army Air Corps from October 1942 to December 1943 as maintenance crew chief with the 500th Bomb Group, 73rd Bomb Wing, in supporting missions over Japan. His daughter Ann Zeltinger and family loaned the uniform as well as photographs.

There were more than 12.2 million military members serving in the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines or Coast Guard toward the end of the war in 1945, compared to 334,473 military members at the start in 1939.