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Qvistgaard Niels Iver

Monuments

Qvistgaard Display

 

Name:
Niels Iver Qvistgaard
Rank:
Corporal
Serial Number:
Unit:
7th Marines
Date of Death:
1952-10-26
State:
Denmark
Cemetery:
Arlington national Cemetery
Plot:
Row:
Grave:
Section 12 Site 7620
Decoration:
Purple Heart
Comments:

Corporal Qvistgaard is one of approximately 75 foreign nationals buried at Arlington national cemetery. A Danish citizen , born on March 5, 1925, Corporal Qvistgaard was killed in action fighting on October 26, 1952 with the 7th Marines in the First Battle of the Hook during the Korean War. The following was taken from the Arlington Cemetery TRIBUTE page for Cpl Qvistgaard.: When King Frederick of Denmark visited the United States in 1960 he went to Arlington National Cemetery, not only to place a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns, but to also lay a wreath upon the grave of a United States Marine. Qvistgaard, son of a Danish Admiral who was the Naval Attache to the United States in 1950, had deep admiration for the Marine Corps. He had previously served in the Danish Army and with the British Forces in Germany, but the Korean War had just broken out and he wanted to be a Marine. It took special exemtion to waive the citizenship requirements, but it was done. When he found that he had been ordered to headquarters duty, he begged for a combat assignment in Korea. He was subsequently made a forward artillery observer and was killed in action by a shell when the Communists attacked his region in October 1952. He had said that should he fall he wanted to be buried with his Marine comrades. This request was granted and he was buried in Section 12 of the cemetery. President Truman wrote, in part, to his father, "He stands in the unbroken line of patriots who have dared to die that freedom might live and grow and increase it blessings. Freedom lives and through it, he lives - in a way that humbles the understandings of most men."