‘He launched them, I caught them,’ Vets now on Memorial Wall

Juan Cantu and Karl Grein both now have their names on the veterans living memorial wall at Marantette Park, but how they both ended up in Columbia Falls is an interesting tale.

The two men served in the Navy on the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier during Operation Desert Storm in Iraq.

Grein served from ’86 to ’90 and Cantu served from ’87 to ’91.

“He (Grein) launched them and I caught them,” Cantu said during the Memorial Day ceremony at the wall in Columbia Falls’ Marantette Park.

Both men grew up in different states, but Cantu’s and Grein’s wives, Lisa and Stephanie respectively, both worked in Bremerton, Washington at the time. Bremerton is where the Nimitz was stationed when it wasn’t at sea and the two men met the women. They each later married and moved back to Columbia Falls and have now lived here for decades.

Grien recently retired after a career at Weyerhaeuser. He is now starting up a new business, Northwest Montana Shuttle, as he recently bought a small bus from a local assisted living facility.

Cantu works for Big Sky Fastener and Supply.

Their father-in-laws are also on the wall. Neal Lewis is Cantu’s father-in-law and Dick Lundstrom is Grein’s father-in-law.