March Of Time

Patience, patience, Rick Peterson kept telling himself. Don't ask too many questions. Don't make him mad.

It took years. But eventually, Peterson coaxed his friend, Alf R. Larson, to spill his World War II story. Larson survived the Bataan Death March and 41 months as a prisoner of war. It's a powerful story and horrific. So much so that Larson, now 81, had pushed it aside in his brain for 55 years.

Even his wife and children didn't know much of it. "That's why he married me. I didn't ask a bunch of questions," said his wife, Jane. She said that only half joking.

But Peterson was busting to know Larson's story. Somehow, he decided it was his mission to get his friend's war experiences on paper. "We need to remember the sacrifices these people made for us and for our freedom," Peterson said. "Freedom is not free."

"He just kept wearing me down," Larson said. First, he let Peterson take notes. Then, he used a tape recorder. At first, the 54-page story was for the Larson family. Now revised and expanded to 77 pages, it's posted on the internet. "Back To Bataan: A Survivor's Story" is the title.

Larson was born in Sweden. He grew up in Duluth and now lives in Crystal. He and Peterson met at the Minnesota Zoo. That's where Larson was a longtime volunteer and Peterson worked in sales.

Peterson has been fascinated with World War II since he was 4 or 5. He remembers touching his father's olive drab uniform with all the ribbons on it. His dad was a combat pilot in the Army Air Corps. He won the Air Medal for flying 35 missions over Germany. "But he didn't talk about it either," Peterson said of his father.