Newclinic named forGI

Lindstrom earned Medal ofHonor in November 1943.

colorado springs »A Colorado Springs soldier who earned the Medal of Honor inWorldWar II will have his name affixed to a new Department of Veterans Affairs clinic.

After months of delays, the Senate late Wednesday approved naming the clinic after Pfc. Floyd K. Lindstrom, the final step in a process that began nearly 18 months ago.

“I was really surprised to see it,” said Colorado SpringsArmy veteranKeith LaMee, who led the effort to name the clinic after Lindstrom.

Lindstrom earned the medal on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, 1943, when he charged aGerman machine gun nest in southern Italy while serving with the 3rd Infantry Division.

Lindstrom, who never married and had no children, died in combat three months after earning the medal, which was awarded posthumously inApril 1944.

He’s buried in Evergreen Cemetery, and his medal is part of the collection at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum.

“I’m just so glad they decided to honor him,” LaMee said. “His name was pulled fromthe dustbin of history.”

In 1914, Lindstromarrived at the Myron Stratton Home, a Colorado Springs charity established through a mining millionaire’s philanthropy to shelter the poor. After leaving the home in 1931, heworked as a soda jerk and then a truck driver knownfor delivering loads safely and on time.

“In his 11 years of driving, not a fender of the trucks he drove was scratched,” Herbert Sommers, who employed Lindstrom, told The Gazette after the medalwas awarded.

Colorado Sen. Mark Udall, a Democrat, and Republican U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn pushed the bill to name the clinic after Lindstrom.