By FRANK LEE

McClatchy News Service

St. Cloud — Mike Mills’ life was changed forever by a roadside bomb in Iraq, and not a day goes by that the retired staff sergeant from Freeport doesn’t think about his comrades who never made it home alive.

The Minnesota Army National Guard veteran chose to honor the memories of five soldiers he knew who gave their lives serving their country by applying decals of their names to his truck’s tailgate in 2007.

“Once I got back and was discharged from the military, I started an organization to help fellow veterans, and I’ve dedicated my life and my vehicle to that cause to remember all the veterans that have lost their lives in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Mills said.

The 46-year-old’s rolling memorial is just one example of an unconventional way those in the military or veterans are choosing to honor others like themselves this Memorial Day.

“What Memorial Day means to me is that — not only is it in remembrance of fallen friends and comrades — it’s also in remembrance of family members that I have had pass away,” Mills said.

Michael Mynczywor is a social worker at the St. Cloud VA Health Care System in the post-deployment program, working with returning combat veterans.

“I think for each person individually — whether it’s the truck … or planting a tree — they’re trying to do something that makes sense to them, that helps them to recover,” said Mynczywor, who has dealt with people with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I think you have to find something you’re passionate about and then connect to that, and that’s where the healing comes from.”

Rolling memorial

Mills, a husband and father of two, said he has been saluted and given the thumbs-up when he drives his 2004 Nissan Titan around town and that strangers have even left notes of appreciation on his truck.

“I’ve been stopped in different places and people have asked me about my truck and what it means,” Mills said of his truck, which features the words “To my fallen brothers in arms” in bold, black letters next to a decal of the American flag and a bald eagle.

The hood of Mills’ truck, which he bought for about $25,000, features a large decal of the American flag with the words “In loving memory of my father,” who was a Vietnam veteran who died in 1983.

“I bought the truck in Texas when I was down there at the burn hospital,” said Mills, who suffered burns over 31 percent of his body when he was injured as well as sustaining a broken scapula, a broken clavicle, four broken bones in his left foot and a broken hip.

After Mills was injured by a roadside bomb June 14, 2005, in Iraq he started the organization For the Veteran … By a Veteran, a support group for wounded, retired and deployed soldiers that gives advice about post-combat life.

“It’s a work in progress; it’ll never be done. I’ll keep adding to it,” Mills said of his truck Thursday as it was parked at the St. Cloud VA Health Care System, where he receives care.

Workout routine

Pain, sweat and sacrifice — that’s how Tim Fleck, a Marine for more than a dozen years, is choosing to honor American service members on Memorial Day.

“I didn’t see any combat, but I served in special operation forces,” said Fleck, owner of CrossFit St. Cloud, a gym that includes high-intensity workouts that are part weight training, gymnastics and running.

The 45-year-old father of three from Sauk Rapids will have a free “Murph” workout starting at 9 a.m. today in honor of Navy Lt. Michael Murphy, a SEAL who was killed June 28, 2005, in Afghanistan.

“ ‘Murph’ is a workout that is done in CrossFit circles a lot around Memorial Day,” Fleck said of today’s workout at his gym on Eighth Street South. The public is invited to participate.

For his heroism, the 29-year-old from Patchogue, N.Y., was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously; the Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the federal government.

“Lt. Murphy actually used to do this workout (that was named after him) … but it’s more of a tribute to people like him and their sacrifice by putting forth some pain and effort of your own,” Fleck said of the “Murph,” which includes two 1-mile runs, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups and 300 squats.

Rock, garden

Maj. Jeff Howe was Mills’ commanding officer in Iraq for almost two years. The 51-year-old husband and father of four from Rockville erected a kidney-shaped memorial garden in his front yard in honor of all who served.

“Every year, I just add either a plaque or some plants or something to it every year on the anniversary of his passing,” Howe said of the garden, which has a piece of granite with a photo etched into it of the late Sgt. Manny Hornedo of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Howe is the fire and emergency management coordinator for Waite Park when he is not tending to the memorial garden. It features an evergreen tree he planted after construction began in 2006.

“I’m considering now my next addition to it will be another piece of granite with the folks that I have been personally with that have since given their lives,” Howe said of Hornedo, who died June 28, 2005.

The 27-year-old who Howe described as “very smart” and “very articulate” was killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee while he was conducting convoy operations in Tikrit, Iraq.

“It was the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do: Upon my return from Iraq, my battalion commander and myself and the commander of that patrol went to see his widow and two small boys to answer any questions they had,” Howe said.

“Memorial Day is not a day off for me. It’s a time when I think of those folks who gave their all … because without them doing what they did, we wouldn’t be able to live the way we live.”