Seeking the perfect wedding gift

When Megan Stokke considered possible wedding gifts for her fiance, Kalen Abbott, there was only one possible choice, even though that gift may prove impossible to find.

She wanted to give him his grandfather’s rifle – the rifle his grandfather used during the Korean War while serving in the Marine Corps in a Force Recon company.

“Kalen admires his Grandpa Hank more than anyone else,” Stokke said. “Kalen’s parents divorced and he didn’t have a real stable environment growing up, but his grandpa always gave him his support and approval.”

Henrik “Hank” Sallstrom, who died in 2009, was a proud Marine who also served in the Coast Guard Reserves. He worked for Sears for 31 years. While working at the Spokane Valley Mall store, he befriended a gun collector.

Somewhere between 2006 and 2009, Sallstrom sold his M1 Carbine .30-caliber rifle, formally known as the United States Carbine, Caliber .30, M1, with its accompanying military paperwork, to the collector. The family doesn’t know if the man worked at the mall or was just a frequent visitor or mall-walker.

Sallstrom was unaware of Abbott’s desire to have the rifle or of his longing to keep it in the family.

“Kalen was told not to talk to Grandpa about the war because it might upset him,” Stokke said. “Now he wishes he had. He has such pride and admiration for what Grandpa Hank did for our country”/Cindy Hval, SR. More here (subscription).