Marker/Plaque/Monument Monday

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Soldiers & Sailors

Memorial Coliseum

Evansville, Indiana

My first visit to this building was on Memorial Day 2012... it is a very nice facility!

 [Click on photos to get

a larger image to read.]

- Photos taken and submitted by JGWest.

Marker/Plaque/Monument Monday

Parker Cemetery near Yankeetown, Indiana (Warrick County)

is a small nicely-kept cemetery with about 163 military veterans buried there!

[Click on the pictures to get a larger image to read the list of veterans.]

 These two plaques are posted on the north and south side of the flag pole in the newer section of the cemetery.  I have not counted the names, but I think they said 163 are buried here.

- Photos taken and submitted by Indiana Bones

Hal Kasper

Hal Hon Kasper

Born: February 19, 1926
Died: May 1, 2010

Hal Hon Kasper, 84, of Evansville, passed away peacefully on Saturday, May 1, 2010, at 4:04 AM. He was born to William Henry Kasper and Mary Hon Kasper on February 19, 1926, at his grandparent's home. A graduate of Bosse High School, he was inducted into the military upon graduation and sent to "Tankers School" at Ft. Knox, KY and then to France. He was a member of Co. B 23rd Tank Battalion - 12th Armored during WWII. He was a recipient of the Occupation Medal – Germany, American Theater Ribbon, EAME Theater Ribbon, WWII Bronze Stars and the Victory Medal. He served from August 9, 1944, until July 3, 1946. On April 15, 1945, he was sitting on top of his tank and was hit by a missile near Burcheim, Germany and was issued a Purple Heart. He served under General Patch and was part of General Patton's "Mystery Division." Hal and Edna Ruth (Edwards) were married November 4, 1950, and celebrated their 50 years together with a special party. He drove new Plymouths from the factory to the shipyards and helped load them on barges to be sent down the Ohio for southern distribution. His father and he founded "William Kasper and Son Painting and Decorating" which was in business for 35 years; then he retired after 12 years as Maintenance Supervisor at Oak Meadows Country Club. Hal loved traveling, fishing and camping. Many summers were spent boating on the Ohio and lakes around. He also enjoyed farming with his father-in-law, Ernest Edwards, in Illinois and also raised cattle. After retirement, he and his wife Edna Ruth traveled all over the United States and across Canada. He especially liked Florida and North Carolina. He was a member of the American Legion Funkhouser Post #8, life member of VFW Post #1114 and Purple Heart. He was past president of the Ohio Valley Chapter Sons of the American Revolution and a member of the 12th Armored Division Association "Hellcats." He volunteered as a driver for the Disabled American Veterans for about eight years and logged over 200,000 miles from Evansville to VA hospitals for Veterans. Hal was preceded in death by his parents, William Henry and Mary Edna (Hon) Kasper; grandparents, George and Dora (Hon) Hon and William and Frances (Wintz) Kasper; and uncles, Kenneth, Donald and Harold Hon and "Babe" Kasper. He is survived by his wife, Edna Ruth Kasper; aunt, Aletha Hon; cousins, Tom, Bill Hon, Judy Dahlem of Ft. Smith, AR, John Hon and family of Houston, TX, Gwen Crowe and Jackie Harlan of Evansville; and niece, Sarah Rose of Quincy, IL.The family would like to give special thanks to the nursing staff and aides who cared for Hal at Golden Living Center Woodbridge. Services will be 1:30 PM Wednesday, May 5, 2010, at Alexander West Chapel, officiated by Rev. Gene Backes with entombment at Oak Hill Mausoleum. Friends may visit Tuesday from 4:00 to 8:00 PM at the funeral home. Memorial contributions may be made to St. James Methodist Church - West, 3101 Hillcrest Terrace, Evansville, IN 47712.

[Note: Edna Kasper was the first President of Tri-State Genealogical Society - JGW]

Tombstone Thursday - James Tobias Long, Jr.

.
James Tobias Long, Jr.
Union Civil War Veteran
My Great Grandfather

Died & buried in Owensboro, KY 12 Mar 1930

Above is a copy of his Military Honorable Discharge!

- Submitted by JGWest

[Tombstone Thursday is dedicated in memory of Donald G. West 1952-2000]

RACING DOWN the RIVER -Brief Genealogical Notes

Interactive Vietnam Memorial

Footnote.com is a website that provides access to numerous historical documents. The site includes social networking features to allow for input from users in order to enhance the materials available on the site. While free material is available on the site, most of the documents require a subscription to view (or, can be purchased individually). One of the free collections available on the site is their interactive Vietnam Memorial, created digitally by stitching together more than 6,000 images. (http://go.footnote.com/thewall/)


Each person listed on the wall has an individual record where further details about their service and the conditions on their death can be viewed. One of the pieces of information available for each person is also their hometown of record. A search on "Evansville" reveals 57 men. Of course, there may be other Evansville soldiers who may have been living elsewhere at the time of enlistment and thus not have Evansville as their hometown of record.


Leveraging the social networking aspect of the site, I went through this list of 57 men and put links from their Footnote Pages to their FindAGrave listings when I could find them. In some cases, I even added obituaries as I found them in online newspaper collections, such as that of Private First Class, Douglas R. Harp (1943-1968) . Harp graduated from Reitz High School in 1961 and was a US Marine.


Take a moment to explore The Wall. If you know any one who died in the Vietnam War, contribute a story or comment to that person's page on Footnote. If we leverage the social networking capabilities of resources such as Footnote, we make them all the more valuable for all of us.

- Submitted by Taneya Koonce.

Marker/Plaque/Monument Monday

"In Memory of Our Veterans & Our Ancestors..."

Oak Hill Cemetery

Evansville, Indiana

Veterans Memorial Plaza

Veterans Memorial Plaza dedication plaque - 11 November 2001

The above plaques recognize the former Vanderburgh county residents who made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our freedom.

Veterans Memorial Plaza near entrance to Oak Hill Cemetery.

Plaque on pedestal at entry point to the plaza. In memory of all american Veterans.

Becky West standing next to plaque at entry point to the plaza.

- Photos taken & submitted by JGWest

"1933 Memorial Day Service"

The following article appeared in the 28 May 1933 issue of the Evansville Press.

Special tribute will be paid the seven living members of the Farragut Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and members who died during the year, at Memorial Day services in Evansville next Tuesday. Five of the “boys in blue” passed away during the year. They were Julius Tzchoppe, G.T. York, John Ziegler, John Reisinger and Richard Suggs, who was a member of Wagner Colored Post. Only three Civil War Veterans will be able to carry on with the services this year. Major Byron Parsons, William Warren and Robert Witzman will attend services at Oak Hill Cemetery and will occupy a car in the parade. John Smith and Fred Frank, Evansville members of Farragut Post, will not be able to take part in the services. The two other members, Joseph Hunnell and Silas Day, will not be here. Mr. Hunnell lives in Bloomington and Mr. Day at the Old Soldiers’ home, Lafayette. Surviving members of the Wagner Post are Albert Cosby, Fred Gibson, Andrew Stubbins, Moses Slaughter, George Winlock, Simon Walker and Charles Williams. Other war veterans who died during the year were Henry E. Elsea, Edmand Bichlein and Michael Matz, Spanish American War; Russell L. Newbit, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Walter M. Carter, Walter W. Gates, Lucian Gordon, Carl Minch and Frank Daugherty, World War.

Services will be held at McCutchanville Church on Sunday and at Camp Ground Cemetery, Salem. Each of the church services will be followed by the decoration of soldiers’ graves in the church cemeteries. Services will also be held at Locust Hill Cemetery and at Lutheran Cemetery. Line of march for the parade will start at the Coliseum and to Eighth Street. Twenty patriotic and civic groups will be represented. Services at Oak Hill Cemetery will conclude the program.


- Submitted by Brenda Jerome

Marker/Plaque/Monument Monday

Posey County, Indiana

DAR Memorial Marker

(Click on photo for larger image)

Honoring the 15 soldiers of the American Revolution buried in Posey County. This was erected by the General Thomas Posey NSDAR Chapter in 1977 as a gift of the Chapter Regent. It is on the West lawn of the County Courthouse in Mt. Vernon, Indiana.

- Photo taken and submitted by JGWest

Marker/Plaque/Monument Monday

This Veterans Memorial Monument is located next to the Post Office in New Harmony, Indiana

Photo taken in July 2006 by JGWest

Marker/Plaque/Monument Monday

Civil War Union & Confederate Soldiers

Memorial Monuments

Oak Hill Cemetery ~ Evansville, Indiana

(Click on photo to enlarge - Photo taken by Don Counts)

The above monument was placed in the cemetery by the United States "In loving remembrance of our Confederate dead 1861-1865"

(Click on photo to enlarge - Photo taken by Don Counts)
"This tablet was placed on this monument by the United States to mark the burial place of twenty-four Confederate soldiers who, while prisoners of war, died at Evansville and were buried in this cemetery, where the individual graves cannot now be identified."
The names and their units are listed on this "tablet."

(Click on photo to enlarge - Photo taken by JGWest)
"Erected by the Woman's Relief Corps A.D. 1909 in memory of the comrades of Farragut Post No. 27 Department of Indiana Grand Army of the Republic 1861-1865."

The base has in large letters:

"LOYALTY"

There are about two dozen graves in this section purchased by this Post No. 27.

RACING DOWN the RIVER -Brief Genealogical Notes

The second Tuesday of the month is the meeting night for the Tri-State Genealogical Society. This month's meeting is: 10 Feb 2009 at 7:30 PM at Willard Library with Guest Speaker Larry Goss, retired Professor from University of Southern Indiana and serves on the TSGS Board of Directors. He will give his presentation on “Grandma's Photo Album.” At the 6:30 PM HELP Session, Rena Goss will present some information on Ohio Research in the Bayard Room. Come and visit with us. Everyone is welcome... you do not need to be a member to attend our meetings or HELP Sessions.

Don Counts sent this link for us: VA Nationwide Gravesite Locator http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/j2ee/servlet/NGL_v1

Virginia L. Aldridge, a former TSGS President, has done a very significant job of posting the images of Volume 25 of the Vanderburgh Co., Indiana marriage applications beginning on 18 April 1905 which has the parents' names and more. She has the images of the volume's index and pages 1 thru 206. This site is worth looking at even if you do not have anyone marrying in Vanderburgh County in 1905! A lot of hard work & time went into this project. Here is the link: http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~thetiethatbindsour/van_mar/vol_25_index.htm

TSGS is becoming known around the world through our regular web site:
[http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~intsgs/index.html] Since 14 Dec 2008 (less than 2 months) we have had over 670 unique visits by people all over the United States and, now, from 21 countries outside of the USA with six Continents represented. Six countries have recorded visits more than once according to our ClustrMaps Counter. Ireland has visited 11 times! We got a visit from one of the seven or so states that had not visited the last update I gave... welcome aboard, Wyoming! We still have not had visits from Mississippi, Maine, West Virginia, Hawaii, New Hampshire, North Dakota. If you know someone from any of these states ask them to come visit our TSGS regular web site and then check out this TSGS Cruiser Blog!

RIVER DEBRIS –TSGS Dock of Shame

Any cemetery vandalism or desecration is bad enough, but to steal statues and other sculptures to sell is the lowest. However, I recently learned that some people can even go lower! Last week I was in the office at Oak Hill Cemetery http://www.evansvillegov.org/cemeteries/ when a gentleman came in to report that his brother-in-law's brass military plaque had been removed and apparently stolen. This has become a major wave of thefts over the last several years, not just a result of the more recent economic problems. At a time when most of the nation is supporting our troops and mourning those soldiers who are killed, as well as, the hundreds of thousands veterans who have passed on... it is unconscionable to understand the theft of these memorials of those who served their country in war and peace. I implore all veterans and their families to help us spread the news of such dishonor for our fallen soldiers and veterans. These thieves are true scum & debris and qualify for the TSGS Dock of Shame! - by John G. West

Don Counts has found these news stories of how wide-spread this shame has become. Last year, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, over 700 markers were stolen from the graves of American soldiers. These bronze plaques and flag holders were placed at every veteran's grave as a memorial to honor their service. In Texas, the grave of Purple Heart recipient Lance Corporal Jeremy Burris was desecrated only 2 days after his burial. Flower arrangements, personal notes, and flags decorating the grave site were torn down and destroyed. All of this destruction to steal and sell wire flower stands. In Georgia, a bronze statue depicting a Marine's boots, rifle and helmet was ripped out of the ground at the grave site of Corporal John Stalvey. Other graves have also been vandalized to steal the bronze plates traditionally placed on the grave sites of fallen service men and women. With the price of bronze on the rise, thieves are stealing these markers to sell as scrap metal. The cost of brass markers has risen to $28 each. Some counties cannot afford to replace the metal markers, so they are being forced to turn to cheaper aluminum markers.

John, I just found other articles, this one on Military.com: War Hero's Statue Stolen for Scrap http://www.military.com/news/article/war-heros-statue-stolen-for-scrap.html?ESRC=marine-a.nl
Veterans grave markers stolen in Waterloo
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2008/09/veterans_grave_markers_stolen.html
In West Virginia, it was vases bolted to headstones. In Washington state, it was bronze markers on veterans' graves. In Chicago, it was nearly half a million dollars' worth of brass ornaments.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25707334/
Cemeteries have new problem: metal theft
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Jul16/0,4670,GraveRobbers,00.html
Working to get a marble marker to replace brass one stolen
http://www.leatherneckmagazine-digital.com/leatherneckmagazine/200810/?pg=4
173 Brass Markers Stolen From Graves of Veterans
http://www.vfwwebcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=1155.msg12275
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/record.xpd?id=110-h20080519-39