52 years after he sent it home from Vietnam, this veteran was reunited with his box of medals and mementos

When John Nordgaard returned home from Vietnam in 1971, he was reunited with his family and his college sweetheart, Eleanor. But he wasn't reunited with a box of mementos and medals he had sent home — until May of this year, more than 52 years later.

Nordgaard, who now splits his time between Milwaukee and Minnesota, recalled the day he was reunited with that precious box.

“I think my cheek muscles are still sore from smiling so much that day,” he said.

Nordgaard served as a medic in Vietnam in the 1970s. When he finished his service in April 1971, he mailed a box of letters, videotapes, medals and awards — including a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart and a Medal of Valor — back home. But the box never made it.

Nearly 50 years later, a man in Michigan noticed a cardboard box in his dad's basement that had only a name, but no address. He did some internet searching and found an email address for someone he thought might be a relative — Chari Nordgaard Knueppel, John's daughter.

But the email went to Knueppel's spam folder and sat there for more than three years.

One day she was cleaning out the folder and happened to notice it. The two children of Vietnam veterans connected, and Nordgaard was finally reunited with his box.

It turns out that the Michigan man's father, Peter LundBorg, worked as a clerk for Nordgaard’s company during the war. When he came across a box with only a name — he assumed the address fell off during an inspection — he decided to take it home, where it sat in his basement until the reunion more than 50 years later.

Once his son connected with the rightful owner’s daughter, LundBorg and Nordgaard exchanged letters, and LundBorg drove to Nordgaard's residence to deliver it just before Memorial Day this year.

The two veterans discussed their experiences in Vietnam for a long time that day. Then Nordgaard’s wife, Joan, stepped in.

“Peter, why don’t you just shut up and let him open the box? It's been 52 years,” she said.

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Nordgaard recalls things getting pretty “personal, enlightening and fascinating” once he opened the box full of memories and awards from a past life.

From the football field to the battlefield

Nordgaard was a star football player at the University of Minnesota-Morris, but after he was cut from the Atlanta Falcons after college, he knew he would be drafted to serve in Vietnam.

“I didn’t dread it — I knew it was one of those things I had to do,” he said.

Once he began serving as a medic, he went into survival mode.

“At the time that the chaos was happening, I just had to go about my job.” Nordgaard said. “That was my job. That was what I was supposed to do.”

He knew that in order to make it through the war, he had to put his own well-being on the back burner.

“After it’s all said and done, that’s when you get emotional,” Nordgaard said.

Nordgaard was awarded the Medal of Valor for bravery during a particularly brutal battle.

“I was able to save a bunch of people from dying and prevent them from getting shot,” Nordgaard said.

Upon returning home in April 1971, Nordgaard said his college sweetheart Eleanor, whom he married in June of that year, was his saving grace.

“I don’t know what I would have done if not for the wedding being so soon after,” Nordgaard said. “You’d get back (from the war) and nobody really even gives a rip. But I had her, and she did.”

A reunion 52 years in the making

Peter LundBorg married his sweetheart, Joan, three days before he was deployed to Vietnam in August 1970. The following year, he was working as a postal clerk in Nordgaard’s company when he came upon the box without an address.

Back then, of course, there was no online Whitepages or Facebook to help with finding someone, so LundBorg decided to take the box home. It remained there until those online resources facilitated a reunion with its owner 52 years later.

“I can’t come up with words to explain the feelings (of that day),” Nordgaard said, adding that there was a lot of smiling.

The reunion day was full of heavy recollections, too, but created a lifelong friendship for both families.

“We had a great time, and now we have a great relationship with them,” Nordgaard said, noting that the LundBorgs even visited them at their family cabin.

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"We now have new friends and hope that the friendship will last for all the years to come. We are even planning to head back to Milwaukee from our home in Pentwater, Michigan, to have dinner with them this fall," LundBorg said over the summer.

In addition to the new friendship, Nordgaard said his post-Vietnam life is as “beautiful” as he could have ever wanted. He worked as a high school teacher, then principal, and a coach for football, track and baseball teams.

He’s retired now, but he’s relished watching his children and grandchildren compete. Daughter Chari Nordgaard Knueppel was a star basketball player who played professionally in Greece and is still the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s all-time leading scorer. Son Jeff Nordgaard also was a star at UW-Green Bay and was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks before playing professionally overseas as well. Knueppel’s son Kon, John’s grandson, is one of Wisconsin’s top preps recruits and has committed to play college ball at Duke University.

Nordgaard spoke about his grandchildren one by one, sharing their heights, the sports they play, and reiterating how much joy they bring him.

“You ask about how our life is now — that makes our life super-duper,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: After 52 years, Vietnam vet John Nordgaard was reunited with box of medals, mementos