Kerry Finsaas, assistant site supervisor of the Fort Buford Historic Site and the Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Center, left, presents the 2013 Youth Award to Sawyer Flynn. Pictured right is Merl Paaverud, director of the North Dakota Historical Society. The award was presented at the Volunteer Banquet held at the North Dakota Heritage Center, Bismarck, on August 13, 2013.
Sawyer Flynn, son of Scott and Dona Flynn of Fairview, received the 2013 Youth Award from the State Historical Society of North Dakota. He was nominated for the volunteer work he does at the Fort Buford State Historic Site and the Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Interpretive Center by Kerry Finsaas. Flynn is a member of the 6th Infantry which provides assistance with the Flag Raising and Flag Retreat ceremonies, the Summer and Winter Encampments and the annual Cemetery Walk at Ft. Buford. Flynn participates in these events as well as helping out at Fort Union.
Flynn enjoys his participation at the forts and the Confluence Center a lot. “It gives insights into what life was like for the soldiers. The pay was not great and life wasn’t particularly pleasant but you can see from the pictures some of the fun they had and through reenacting, we can experience, at least in part, the life they had. You can’t get that from a history book,” he said. He also said that life was probably not what the soldiers envisioned when they signed up since it was pretty quiet out on the prairies. “If you walk through the cemetery at Fort Buford, most of the men died of diseases like tuberculosis. Only a small number died from encounters with Indians and at least one of those was a civilian.” Flynn portrayed one of those civilians, Theon Aldrich, during last year’s Cemetery Walk, and will be participating in the walk to be held October 19 this year.
Flynn is a member of the Fort Union Muzzleloaders Association and is black powder certified. He has also written an article for Fort Union, a task he thoroughly enjoyed.
Flynn is a junior at Fairview High School where he is also the class president and a member of the National Honor Society. He also participates in Sidney Tendo. As a sophomore, Flynn attended the Academic Olympics and returned with a 1st place in Social Studies, a 1st place in English and a 2nd place in Science. His team also placed first in the oral rounds. In his “spare time” Flynn also helps on the family farm.
Flynn was happy about the Youth Award. “I was happy to be recognized and happy to get the award,” he said.
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