7/18/2009:
On this date in 1942, there was one more flag flying on the main flagpole in the middle of the UND campus. Solid blue and marked with nine large, white stars, this flag memorialized the school's nine alumni who had so far died in action during World War II.
The flag was raised in a quiet ceremony, marked as the first of its kind at any school in the U.S. The central figure at the ceremony was C.O. Simensen of Devils Lake, whose son Carlton was the first graduate to fall during the attack at Pearl Harbor. As Simensen hoisted the flag for the first time, local Air Corps cadets marching by stopped and saluted.
It was promised that the flag would fly daily until the war was won. Until then, it flew in memoriam.
Dakota Datebook written by Sarah Walker
Sources:
Knox Advocate, July 17, 1942, p.1