We thank you for your service....

Selmer Edward Langager was born near Veblen, South Dakota, on September 7, 1917, to Sigvart and Lizabeth Langager. Selmer was the oldest of four children. He attended school in the Veblen area and worked for farmers in the community and in North Dakota. In the middle thirties, Selmer entered the Civilian Conservation Corps and served at Wind Cave in the Black Hills. After moving to Rapid City, he met and married Dona Alsager in March 1941. They had a child, Olivia Marie, who was two years old at the time of her father’s death.

Selmer Langager entered the service in May 1939 and was stationed at Fort Meade at Sturgis, South Dakota, for basic training. Corporal Langager also received several months of jungle and desert training in California and then at Camp Maxey in Texas. Corporal Langager was sent overseas at the end of December 1943 where he was stationed in England until about June 15 when he was called to active duty and landed at Utah Beach in France. He was a member of the Old 4^th Horse Calvary, which later became the Mechanized Armor 24^th Calvary RCNLG.

Mrs. Dona Langager received word from the War Department that her husband, Army Cpl. Selmer Edward Langager, was killed in action in the area of St. Meere Eglesea in France on June 19, 1944. Cpl. Langager was buried at the Normandy American Cemetery at "Omaha Beach," St. Laurent-sur-Mer, France. An inscription on the wall of the chapel says, "These endured all and gave all that justice among nations might prevail and that mankind might enjoy freedom and inherit peace." Cpl. Langager’s name is inscribed on a memorial monument in honor of those whose lives were lost in World War I and II; the monument is located on the south side of American Legion Eddie Robertson Post No. 76 located in Veblen, South Dakota. He was awarded the Purple Heart for his efforts in the war. Cpl. Langager is survived by his only daughter, Olivia (Monte) Loos, who lives in Rapid City, South Dakota, and his brother Jacob, who lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

I will remember the service and sacrifice of Army Cpl. Selmer Edward Langager.

(This entry was respectfully submitted by Tony R. Satrang, 11^th Grade, Veblen High School, Veblen, South Dakota, March 21, 2002. Information for this entry was provided by Mrs. Marjorie Nelson, Moorhead, Minnesota, cousin of Army Cpl. Selmer Edward Langager, and Mr. Jacob Langager, Colorado Springs, Colorado, brother to Army Cpl. Selmer Edward Langager.)

Selmer had 2 brothers and a sister; Jacob Langager from Rapid City, SD, Mildred Langager Laubach from Sisseton, SD, and Leonard Langager from Kingston, WA.