Maywood in Cook County, Illinois — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
Conner-Heise Memorial Park
Photographed By Sean Flynn, January 3, 2024
1. Conner-Heise Memorial Park Marker
Erected 1969.
Topics. This memorial is listed in these topic lists: Patriots & Patriotism • War, Vietnam.
Location. 41° 52.926′ N, 87° 50.761′ W. Marker is in Maywood, Illinois, in Cook County. Memorial is at the intersection of South 11th Avenue and Washington Boulevard, on the right when traveling north on South 11th Avenue. The marker is in the northern part of the park, near the playground and in front of a flagpole. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 609 South 11th Avenue, Maywood IL 60153, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Bicentennial Bandstand (approx. half a mile away); Frederick Allen Hampton (approx. 0.6 miles away); Maywood World War I Veterans Memorial (approx. 0.7 miles away); Company B, 192nd Tank Battalion Memorial (approx. 0.7 miles away); 192nd Tank Battalion Memorial (approx. 0.7 miles away); Benjamin R. Morin, S.J., Memorial (approx. 0.7 miles away);
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Regarding Conner-Heise Memorial Park. This small park along Washington Boulevard in Maywood, a Chicago suburb, is named after a pair of local natives who died in Vietnam before their 19th birthdays.
Born and raised in Maywood, Thomas "Tommie" Conner attended Washington School (located kitty-corner to the northwest of the park) and later Proviso East High School, from which he graduated in 1965. Enlisting as a marine rifleman after graduation, Conner was killed while on patrol in Quang Nam Province on March 8, 1966, about a month before his 19th birthday. He is buried in Sunset Memorial Lawns in Northbrook, Illinois, about 25 miles north of this park. Conner's brother Ralph served as Maywood's village president from 2001 until 2005.
Thomas "Tommy" Heise, was a marine mortarman who graduated from Proviso East in 1968. Still 17 when he enlisted after graduation (his stepfather had to sign off on his early enlistment, according to one news report), he began his tour in Vietnam in February of 1969. Early in the
Photographed By Sean Flynn, January 3, 2024
2. Conner-Heise Memorial Park and Marker
Also see . . . Memorial Day comes at a cost. This article, from the Wednesday Journal of Oak Park and River Forest, looks at the "Two Tommys" memorialized at this park in Maywood.
Excerpt: "Now that memorial is a half century old, 'an island in a stark playground. They don’t have the money. Sometimes the weeds get pretty long,' Heise said. 'But no one’s ever going to move that boulder,' he added, 'and the plaque is still firmly affixed.' So the memorial will last, even if the residents — and people from other towns driving through — may not know, or much care, who the two Tommys were or why the park is named Conner-Heise."(Submitted on January 3, 2024, by Sean Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)
Additional keywords. KIA
Photographed By Sean Flynn, January 3, 2024
3. Conner-Heise Memorial Park
Credits. This page was last revised on January 10, 2024. It was originally submitted on January 3, 2024, by Sean Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. This page has been viewed 58 times since then. Last updated on January 3, 2024, by Sean Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. Photos: 1. submitted on January 3, 2024, by Sean Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. 2, 3. submitted on January 8, 2024, by Sean Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. • J. Makali Bruton was the editor who published this page.
