It was a long-awaited moment this morning for thousands of current and retired members of Minnesota’s 34th Infantry Division as a monument to commemorate more than 100 years of service from the “Red Bull” soldiers was unveiled.

The 34th “Red Bull” Infantry Division is one of the most highly decorated and most deployed military units in the U.S., and as of Sunday, in a cemetery where many of its soldiers are buried alongside their loved ones, lies a monument as a tribute to their ongoing legacy.

There to reveal it was Don Halverson, a retired “Red Bull” soldier who just celebrated his 100th birthday.

“A lot of history in this area for it, you know? They’ve got World War I to here, and a lot of other wars,” he said.

Halverson served in World War II, during which the 34th Infantry fought through 517 days in combat, the most of any Army division in the war. Halverson alone can tell you more than one story where he narrowly survived.

“It was every day there,” he shared. “That’s all we said for two years, ‘One more hill.’ You had to go up and knock the Germans off every hill, you know. And we never lost a hill, I don’t think.”

Speaker and retired Brigadier Gen. Don Kerr listed out a number of decorations awarded to the 34th Division during what he called the “zenith of the division’s history” during World War II.

“During 20 months of fighting in Italy, the division fired over 1 million artillery shells, 15,000 purple hearts were awarded to soldiers of the division and 3,000 decorations for bravery,” Kerr said before adding, “140 soldiers in the division are still listed as missing in action.”

The storied history of sacrifice helps explain why, six years ago, the 34th Infantry Division Association was surprised to realize there was not already a “Red Bull” monument among the many lining the national cemetery in Minneapolis.

“There are so many other divisions from all over, that are recognized here and the one that represents our state was not,” Retired Brigadier Gen. Bill Lieder said.

Lieder says it came up during a meeting, and the Association jumped into action.

“I gave them 20 bucks and I said, ‘Here’s the start for it,'” Halverson added. “And then my son put $99 on my 99th birthday toward the monument.

Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Doug Julin publicly thanked 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS’ Tom Hauser Sunday for his storytelling about the fundraising effort.

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“It was within a day, we had $8,000,” Julin said in an interview following the ceremony. “And within approximately about three weeks, we had enough to fund two memorials, one at Camp Ripley…and the one here.”

Inscribed on the front of the monument is the “Red Bull” motto since Halverson’s World War II days, “Attack, Attack, Attack.”

“It’s the history of the division, never give up,” Lieder said, “It’s ‘Attack, Attack, Attack’. And that’s what we did. We went after this and didn’t stop, and here we are today.”