Their names are on the wall and their stories are in the Golden Memory Book. It is in a locked, see-through plastic case adjacent to ºÙºÙÊÓƵ' memorial to Aggies lost in war.
The book and the memorial have been part of the Memorial Union since its opening in 1955. The book's plastic case dates back to 1994, to protect the pages from further wear and tear. An MU employee unlocks the case and turns the page every now and then.
When Phil Knox added the names of four Vietnam War casualties to the memorial, he also added pages to the memory book, after gathering information from the families of the fallen soldiers.
Recently the book displayed Marine Corps Cpl. Elton Ralph Sanstad's page, complete with a photo of him in his dress uniform, with his cap slightly cocked over a face with a satisfied, confident look. He graduated from ºÙºÙÊÓƵ in 1941.
He was 21 in November 1942 when he enlisted in the military. Before long he was fighting in the Pacific, first in the Gilbert Islands and then the Marshall Islands, where he was killed in action on Feb. 14, 1942, at age 23. He received the Bronze Star posthumously, and his memory book page quotes from the citation that declared him a hero:
"After his senior officer had been wounded, Corporal Sanstad promptly organized and led a rescue party, effecting the evacuation of his comrade while under heavy enemy machine gun fire from an adjacent island. … Corporal Sanstad led a small party which silenced the Japanese fire, but he was killed in this action. …
"He gallantly gave his life for his country."
— Dave Jones
Media Resources
Clifton B. Parker, Dateline, (530) 752-1932, cparker@ucdavis.edu