Gunnar Sønsteby, Norway’s most highly decorated hero for his resistance efforts during World War II, is also receiving the highest of state honours after his death last week at the age of 94.
 
Sønsteby received a state funeral and members of the Norwegian government and royal family attended the funeral service.Â
Sønsteby died May 10 after a relatively short illness and a long life dedicated to freedom and democracy. After initially being declared unfit for military service in the late 1930s, Sønsteby became Norway’s most daring and elusive resistance fighter and saboteur during the five-year occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany.
After the war he moved to the US to finish his education at Harvard and work for awhile, but he returned to Norway in 1950, went into private business and worked for shipyard Aker, Phillips Petroleum and Getty Oil Co in Norway. He later launched a new career as a public speaker, keen on making sure Norwegians wouldn’t forget the ordeal of World War II or take Norway’s freedom and democracy for granted.
He was one of the last surviving heroes of World War II and became a valued friend of Norway’s royal family. He served as best man to another war hero, Erling Lorentzen, who married Princess Ragnhild, the elder sister of Norway’s current King Harald V.
Sønsteby is survived by his wife Anne-Karin, whom he married in 1953, and three daughters, Elisabeth, Cecilie and Marianne.
Source: Views and news from Norway
Norwegian
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