Monday, March 7, 2011

Tombstone Tuesday -- Norwegian WWII Hero


This past summer I saw this grave in the cemetery of Borgund Stave Church located in Borgund, Lærdal, Norway.
Buried here is Kristian Johansen Kullerud from Royken.  He was born the 10th of December in 1909 in Nes, Romerike, and he "fell for Norway" in Borlaug, the 30th of April, 1940. Although I can translate the rest of the
epitaph, I am unsure of the actual meaning.  Help, Dad??? 


3 comments:

  1. http://home.online.no/~steinny/Kap6/Visdomsord/sivle.htm
    on this link you find the hole poem.

    On the tombstone the last part of the poem is writen, and it means something like; what good a man has done in his lifetime will stand even if his dead.

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  2. Now THAT is a beautiful headstone!

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  3. My father sent me the following translation:

    Behold, its the greatest
    thing of them all,
    that the banner still stands,
    while the man, he may fall

    A friend of the family, Torbjørn Skjellum, also tells me the following:
    The lines you have found, are the last lines in Per Sivle’s very national poem
    “Tord Foleson”, about Tord Foleson, who carried Olav’s flag in the battle at
    Stiklestad 1030, and according to the saga planted the staff in the ground before dying. Per Sivle’s poem became very popular in the years of struggle for complete independence (from the union with Sweden).

    Thanks to both of you!!

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