Green Bay Reporter

On August 23, 2023, Rep. Gallagher joined members of the Appleton community and the Lundgaard family to celebrate the renaming of the Appleton Post Office in honor of its fallen hero, Firefighter Mitchell Lundgaard, who was tragically killed in the line of duty while responding to an emergency call in 2019.

Firefighter Lundgaard was a Green Bay native and served with the Appleton Fire Department for 14 years, where he achieved the rank of Driver Engineer. During this time, he established himself as a leader both within the Appleton Fire Department and the Appleton community. To commemorate his distinguished career and leadership within the community, the Appleton Post Office was officially renamed the “Mitchell F. Lundgaard Post Office” in his honor. Mitch is survived by his wife, Lindsey, and three sons, Evan, Logan, and Ryan, who were all in attendance at the ceremony on August 23, 2023.

In his speech during the ceremony, Rep. Gallagher said, "All too often, stories of heroes like Mitch fade as the years pass. But thanks to the remarkable efforts of the Appleton community, thanks to the leadership of Lindsey, her boys, and the Appleton Fire Department, that hasn’t happened. Instead, it seems like with each passing year, our community comes together to carry on Mitch’s legacy of family, community and service."

"You see, that’s one of my favorite parts of Northeast Wisconsin. Sometimes, when tragedy strikes, it’s easy for a community to mourn and move on. But thanks to the strong, tight-knit community we have here, we don’t allow that to happen. We go a step further to truly remember and honor people like Mitch, and ensure that their lives and their stories are not forgotten and live in on our community forever," Rep. Gallagher later continued.

Click HERE for pictures of the event available for broadcast and distribution.

Read Rep. Gallagher's remarks as prepared for delivery:

Good morning. It’s an honor to be with you all to celebrate the life of a true Northeast Wisconsin hero: Firefighter Mitch Lundgaard. It’s great to see so many people here. That there are so many people here  on August 23, 202 is really a testament to the immense impact that Mitch had not just on the Appleton Fire Department, but on the Appleton community as a whole. 

Few events have rocked this community the way that the tragedy that occurred on May 15, 2019 did. Many of us still remember where we were when we first heard the news of this tragedy, and the feeling of shock and grief that overcame us in wake of it. Many of us – myself included – remember this without even having had known Mitch. But over the years, thanks to the Lundgaard family and many of you here  on August 23, 202, Mitch is no longer a stranger to us, and we have come to know more about Mitch and the inspiring life of service that he led. For that, we are all grateful. 

By now, everyone here knows Mitch as a hero – and that he was. He was someone who, above all else, dedicated his life to helping other people. Like many of the men and women from my generation who were young adults during the 9/11 attack, he saw those events unfold and decided that he wanted to step up to serve his country. Inspired by the heroism the New York City Fire Department displayed that day, he ultimately decided to change his major from architecture to fire science and become a firefighter so he, too, could help people in his community. 

But while many of us here know him for his heroic service with the Appleton Fire Department, we’ve come to learn so much more about him in the years since. 

For example, he was, of course, a Packers and Brewers fan, who, like any good Wisconsinite, loved spending Sunday afternoons at Lambeau Field. 

He was also a coach, not just of his kids sports teams, but as I understand it, of his friends and colleagues as well. He was a veteran mentor at the Fire Department, a role model, and someone others could look up to. And when Mitch wasn’t playing with or coaching his kids, he was coaching himself and those around him, whether it be encouraging them to run or to do exercises like “man makers.” In fact, I’ve heard he was so passionate about this exercise that many people at the station – and across Appleton – call them “Mitch makers” to this day. 

But most importantly, he was a committed family man, who loved his wife, Lindsey, and three boys, Evan, Logan, and Ryan more than anything else. He truly represented the best of Northeast Wisconsin. 

All too often, stories of heroes like Mitch fade as the years pass. But thanks to the remarkable efforts of the Appleton community, thanks to the leadership of Lindsey, her boys, and the Appleton Fire Department, that hasn’t happened. Instead, it seems like with each passing year, our community comes together to carry on Mitch’s legacy of family, community and service. 

This first became obvious to me in the fall of 2021, when I visited the Appleton Fire Department to meet with Chief Hansen. This seemingly standard visit became a powerful one when on the tour of the Fire Department, Chief Hansen told me stories about Mitch’s service at the department and showed me the fire truck they had dedicated to him. The Fire Department, in more ways than one, had gone to remarkable efforts to ensure that Mitch would not be forgotten, and his legacy of service would continue on. 

But as you all know, this effort wasn’t just contained within the Fire Department. It extended far beyond, to gestures such as funeral processional the community held after Mitch’s death, to annual events honoring and remembering the life of this fallen hero, to the naming of the Lundgaard Park not too far from here, which is now in the process of fundraising to include a pavilion honoring Mitch and other firefighters who died in the line of duty, and to ensure the playground and entire facility have a firefighter theme – definitely a place I will be taking my two young daughters in the near future. 

And that’s why we are all here  on August 23, 202. On August 23, 202, we come together to take another small step to ensure that Mitch’s life and legacy is not forgotten by establishing the Mitchell F. Lundgaard Post Office here in Appleton. And I can’t think Lindsey, her boys, and Chief Hansen enough for the support they provided throughout this process. You’d think that something as simple as renaming a post office would be an easy lift in Congress, but as many of you know, nothing in Congress comes easy. Today’s event is the culmination of three years of hard work that I hope will be a small way to ensure that Mitch’s name and story lives on. 

You see, that’s one of my favorite parts of Northeast Wisconsin. Sometimes, when tragedy strikes, it’s easy for a community to mourn and move on. But thanks to the strong, tight-knit community we have here, we don’t allow that to happen. We go a step further to truly remember and honor people like Mitch, and ensure that their lives and their stories are not forgotten and live in on our community forever.  

With that, I’ll turn things over to Lindsey Lundgaard.

Original source can be found here.