Cliff Buchan
News EditorClarence Lien, the former Columbus Township man who spent a year in a German Prisoner of War camp during World War II, has died.
Lien, who resided in Chisago City, died Wednesday, May 12. He was 82.
Lien was a tail gunner on an Army Air Corps B-24 bomber that flew missions over German targets in early 1944. On his 13th mission from his base in England, Lienís plane was shot down on a bombing raid of Berlin.
He was captured on April 8, 1944 and spent the next 13 months as a German prisoner, including a year at the famous Stalag 17 at Krems, Austria.
Lien was eventually liberated by American troops on May 3, 1945 in a wooded area of rural Germany where hundreds of POWs were sent on a 200-mile forced march by their captors as the Russian army drove into Austria.
The 200-mile forced march came one year to the date he was shot down.
Lien returned to his hometown in Wisconsin one month later and after his August discharge from the Army, resumed civilian life.
It took 54 years for Lien to be granted the Purple Heart for the injuries he took when his plane was shot down.
He received his medal in a ceremony at American Legion Post 225 in Forest Lake on June 5, 1999.
1 POW to another
Former Stacy resident Ray Elias, now of White Bear Lake, knows the war experience that his buddy Lien endured.
Also an Army flyer, Eliasí bomber was shot down on Aug. 17, 1943 and he eventually wound up at Stalag 17 where he spent two years as a POW. Although in a different section of the camp, Elias and Lien met ìacross the wire,î Elias said.
There were close to 5000 allied prisoners at Stalag 17 and the POWs would shout across the open areas between camps, looking for friends of people from home.
ìWe saw each other across the wire,î Elias said. ìYou didnít have mess halls there like they do in the U.S.î
Elias said Lien was no different than any of the POWs. He saw his weight dwindle, friends die and had to dig deep inside to complete what Elias called the 200 mile ìdeath marchî near the end of the war.
The two men became separated after American troops liberated the POWs. Both went different directions as they were sent back to the states. For the next six years they did not see each other.
That changed in 1951 when Stalag 17, a national organization of former POWs formed. Both joined the Minnesota chapter and became fast friends, attending unit functions and spending family time together.
Elias, a former national and state commander of Stalag 17, is preparing for the 60th anniversary of the POWs freedom in 2005. At Lienís funeral last week, Elias placed a plaque on Lienís casket honoring the manís 60th year of freedom.
Life after service
Lien returned to his roots near Prairie Farm, WI, after the war and eventually moved to Minnesota. He worked in the construction business from 1945 until 1984. He retired from Hagaman Construction, Minneapolis, where he was a job superintendent.
Clarence and Harriet Lien lived in Columbus Heights before moving to Columbus Township in 1970. They moved to Chisago City in 1996.
In 1998, one year before receiving his Purple Heart, Lien was honored as grand marshal of the Forest Lake Fourth of July parade sponsored by Legion Post 225.
He was a life member of Post 225 and VFW Post 4210 in Forest Lake.
In 1995 he was a lead planner in a community event recognizing the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Funeral details
A funeral service for Clarence Lien was Friday, May 14 at Mattson Funeral Home, Forest Lake. Interment was at Akers Cemetery, Prairie Farm, WI, on Monday, May 17.
He is survived by four daughters, Dianne Buffie, Pamela Carpenter, Connie (Terry) Tusler and Debbie (John) Vaughn; nine grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren; and two sisters, Agnes Mangum and Vivian (Nick) Ketz.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Harriet; one son, Michael; and 10 siblings.
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