Editor’s note: This article was reprinted on Veterans Day.
Fourteen years after the inception of the City of Morrison Veterans’ Park & Memorial in 2003, the inscription on the central, black, granite memorial stone has been fulfilled: “In honor of all [emphasis supplied] the veterans who honorably served or paid the supreme sacrifice in defense of our nation.”
Six engraved tablets were installed on Thursday morning, October 19, 2017; 14 stones plus the memorial piece are aligned now in an L shape.
At left is the farthest west tablet, the first 2500-pounder to be placed by Moore Monument & Granite Company, 2501 W. Lincolnway, Sterling, IL. It includes those serving in WWII, WWII/Korean Conflict, and U. S. Army. Gold Litho titles help seekers find the proper lists.
These are the final–to date–520 deceased veterans’ names who had connections to Morrison, IL. New members served in the
- American Civil War
- WWII
- WWII/Korean Conflict
- Spanish American War/Philippine Insurrection.
Eight noncombatant veterans, who served during peacetime, are also listed.
Donald S. Mulnix stated City Hall now has a complete list of about 750 service personnel whose names are memorialized in granite. He will bring his list to Odell Public Library, updating their records for the Geneaology Room computer. His expansive Civil War data covers 600 pages, and is more than a list of names. He even researched spouse names. Mulnix now is working on checking Civil War veterans for the Illinois State Archives.
His larger project includes records of all Whiteside County veterans, from the Revolutionary War to the present. He included those who lived in, moved into, or died in the County, and those who lived here but moved away before their death. He has worked on these military collations for 14 years.
“The bulk [of the new names, covering three tablets,] are Illinois National Guard members based in Morrison. They called themselves the Morrison Rifles.” Look for this title on the second tablet from the left in the group of four new stones.
“They were sworn in September 11, 1878, and reorganized to become Company I, 6th Illinois Infantry in 1882. From April 21 to May 5, 1886, they were called to the Martin Iron factory in East St. Louis[, IL, to quell] a Union strike. In July 1897 they were sent to handle the Chicago[, IL,] riots [over workers’ rights]. They served in the Spanish American War[, in 1898], and some served in WWI. Later the name changed to Company C, 14th Battalion. In the 1930’s it became Company M. The Rifles served in WWII and the Korean Conflict.”
Moore Monument Installers had prepared well for the project, before they arrived about 9:00 a.m. Engraver Rich Haan had placed a mat over the smooth, polished granite. He ran a sandblast machine that cuts the letters and punctuation marks into the stone. The previous eight stones were then sprayed with white Litho to make the lettering stand out. New stones have no Litho accent.
“The advantage…is it will never fade,” said Joe Shearer, below right. Wayne Dickerson added, “It’s more durable” without the coloring.
Haan’s final and tedious task was to use tweezers to remove remnants of the mat, pulling all the pieces from between and among letters.
The six tablets were marked with removable numbers on each backside, so they would be removed from the end of the truck and placed in the proper order Mulnix described. Each over-a-ton stone was secured for transport with heavy strapping.
Veterans and American Legion members were at Grove Hill Cemetery to observe installation of the first two tablets. Left to right are Terry Jones, E. H. Stralow, Laverne C. Schroeder, and Kenneth D. Petersen. Jerry Brearton departed before the photograph was taken.
Robert Brands, left, and Jim Britt, Sr. also attended. They would see Installers Shearer, below left, and Dickerson settle the second tablet into place, at the east end of the older tablets. It continues the Morrison Rifles listing.
Using one of two Moore Monument remote-controlled cranes, the men expertly aligned the granite on the prepared concrete slab. A coil of putty-like setting compound bonded them, preventing water from seeping underneath and movement of the monument. Extra compound that oozed from underneath was trimmed neatly away.
The last four tablets lie perpendicular to the others. Facing them, left-to-right, are
- tablet 1: U. S. Coast Guard (Harry H. Horning); IL National Guard (Harley Arians, Jon Groharing, Philip I. Jansma, Albert N. Kier, Kevin W. Leech, Eugene R. Watt, and Dale G. Workman)
- tablet 2: Morrison Rifles
- tablet 3: Morrison Rifles
- tablet 4: U. S. Army Reserves (4); U. S. Air Force (13); U. S. Air Force Reserves (2); U. S. Marines (2); U. S. Navy (12.)
The truck was repositioned carefully to install the tablet farthest to the north. It lay under a 50′ Ginko tree, and the crane needed to avoid branches above the concrete pad. Dickerson exclaimed, “Oh, that is beautiful!” when the last tablet was aligned at 12:15 p.m.
Shearer has worked 30 years in area cemeteries, digging graves and doing stone installations and repairs. “We’re getting to the end of [installing these memorial walls],” he noted. “This is big” compared to other communities. He looked over the array of 15 granite testaments to veterans and smiled. “I installed each of them, the [DAR] millstone, and that earlier veterans tablet” with its copper finish. When asked why two names might have been removed from two earlier tablets, He stated, “They were fully engraved when they were installed.”
The central memorial tablet was donated by the Black family in 2004. Its reverse side states, “Freedom rings because of you, With deepest gratitude, Bob and Mary, Jennifer and Susan Black.”
American Legion member Jones explained the tablets were ordered “eight or nine months ago,” and the organization paid “$10,000 at that time. We have $9000 left to pay.” In addition to many individual donors, “major donors were Morrison Lions Club, Morrison Kiwanis, Morrison Rotary, and Triumph Community Bank.” Mayor Everett Pannier said the City “budgeted up to $5000 to support the project.” Jones said that will be enough to make the final payment. Legion Financial Officer Jerry Brearton later added, “One hundred percent of the donations went to purchase the tablets. All promotional material and printing were paid by the Legion. There were no overhead or administrative costs to the project.”
After more than a decade, all deceased Morrison veterans are gathered in place. Veterans Day 2017 will include a deeper sense of pride for those who remember those who served.