A year after graduating from Faribault High School in 1953, Wayne Winjum joined the United States Army Reserves and then put in for active duty with hopes of using the GI Bill to pay for his college education.
A lifetime area resident, Winjum’s military experience began with his basic training at Fort Leonard Wood near the Ozark in Missouri.
“After eight weeks there, I went to Fort Sill, Oklahoma to be in an artillery situation, but they had an honor guard outfit there where a lot of them left, so they brought all of us over there and I did that.”
As part of the honor guard at Fort Sill, Winjum and the rest of his unit helped show others how to do things in the field and execute different troop formations. They also helped welcome dignitaries that came to flew into the airport at Fort Sill.
“It was a very educational time and a fun time,” Winjum said “I enjoyed it very much and it was an opportunity to see the country.”
After a half of year at Fort Sill, Winjum decided to explore opportunities that the Army might offer at bases out of the country.
He went to a U.S. Navy base in Iceland. His unit would often serve on guard duty at jet fuel tanks located in the nearby mountains. He also recalled that they were stationed near a port where whaling ships would bring in harpooned whales to be slaughtered and processed.
Winjum completed his time in the Army in 1956 and had advanced to the corporal at the time of his discharge. He opted to return home and work toward a college degree.
“The reason I enlisted was to get the GI bill when I came out of the service. It helped my way to get an education,” Winjum said.
He attended St. Cloud State University for his first year and then came back to work the summer at Northern States Power in Faribault.
“I worked a summer for NSP and at the end of summer they had a job open, and I was going to make as much money if I had a degree, so I stayed with NSP for 38 years,” Winjum recalled.
His first assignment with NSP was working on the electric line crews and he later moved into reading meters, installing meters and testing meters during his career. He retired from NSP (which is now called Xcel Energy) in 1995.
Winjum married his wife Pat (Meyers) in 1958 and the couple had three daughters. Pat died from cancer in 1992. Winjum later married Esther Hunt in 1997 and the couple were together until Esther died last fall.
Winjum has resided for over 50 years on his property in the countryside near Faribault. At one point, he farmed his land and raised livestock in addition to his work with NSP. He currently keeps active raising and training homing pigeons.
“I have a hobby with racing homers, or what they call homing pigeons. They were used in World War I and World War II and some of the Korean War,” Winjum said. “They we used in combat to send messages and they saved thousands of people. If they were pinned down somewhere and they had pigeons with them, they would release them with messages on their leg.”
Winjum’s pigeons will be transported to various locations around the Midwest to be released and fly back to their roost in rural Faribault — traveling hundreds of miles in just one or two days.
Winjum has cameras and electronic devices set up at his home roost to track times of when the pigeons come home.
As he looks back on his time in the military, Winjum has fond memories of his service.
“I recommend going into the service for any kid. In the service, not only do you get to see a little bit of the country, but you also learn a little respect, learn how to take orders and give orders…and you learn how to make beds because your mother probably did all of that when you were a kid,” Winjum said with a smile.
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