Stone Park in Cook County, Illinois — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)

Cpl. Robert H. Corley and Pfc. Ronnie L. Russell

Photographed by Sean Flynn, April 13, 2024

1. Cpl. Robert H. Corley and Pfc. Ronnie L. Russell Marker

Inscription. Cpl. Robert H. Corley
1942 - 1966

Pfc. Ronnie L. Russell
1950 - 1968

We discovered your sacrifice from the Vietnam Wall Memorial and wanted to acknowledge you as residents of Stone Park, added late but not forgotten.

Erected 2012.

Topics. This memorial is listed in this topic list: War, Vietnam.

Location. 41° 54.334′ N, 87° 52.426′ W. Memorial is in Stone Park, Illinois, in Cook County. It is at the intersection of North 33rd Avenue and Le Moyne Street on North 33rd Avenue. The marker is on the Village of Stone Park's Public Works building, the lower of two Vietnam plaques to the right of the entranceway. Touch for map. Memorial is at or near this postal address: 1745 North 33rd Avenue, Stone Park IL 60165, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this memorial is in Greater Chicago.

It is also in the American Midwest

and on the Great Lakes.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Viceroyalty of New France,

the territory

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of the Mississippian Culture,

and the Northwest Territory.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within one mile of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Vietnam War Memorial (here, next to this marker); Sharp Memorial Park (approx. 0.3 miles away); Joe McMillan (approx. 0.3 miles away); Veterans Memorial (approx. ¾ mile away); Ralph "Babe" Serpico Field (approx. 0.8 miles away); San Giovanni Battista Scalabrini (approx. 0.9 miles away); POW-MIA Memorial (approx. one mile away); a different marker also named Veterans Memorial (approx. one mile away).

Regarding Cpl. Robert H. Corley and Pfc. Ronnie L. Russell. Corporal Robert Hal Corley was born in Tunica, Mississippi, in 1942 and, according to a 1966 article in the Chicago Tribune about his death in Vietnam, spent much of his childhood in Thebes, Illinois, a Mississippi River town about 6½ miles southeast of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and about 385 miles southwest of this marker. He later moved to Chicago, where he graduated from Chicago Vocational High School in 1961 (part of the same graduating class at Chicago Vocational as football legend Dick Butkus). He

Stone Park Public Works image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sean Flynn, April 13, 2024

2. Stone Park Public Works

The marker is the lower of the two on the right side.

was living in Stone Park and studying to be a Baptist minister when he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1963 at age 21. Corley died in combat on March 19, 1966, in Quang Nam Province. "He felt he had a duty to perform there," Corley's mother told the Tribune, "and since he was not yet ordained and could not serve as a chaplain he enlisted." He is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in North Carrollton, Mississippi, about 100 miles south of Tunica near where many family members lived.

Ronnie Len Russell was 18 years old when he died in combat in Binh Dinh Province on October 28, 1968. Born in Stone Park and a former student at Proviso East High in Maywood, about 3½ southeast of here, Russell was, according to an article in the Tribune about his death in Vietnam, an apprentice meat cutter at Otto & Sons in Maywood when he enlisted in the army in February 1968 at age 17. His address at the time of his death was 2600 N. Kedzie in Chicago. Russell was buried in Nebo Church Cemetery outside of Lexington, Tennessee, where he had lived prior to moving to the Chicago area in 1956. His father William, who served as an infantryman in World War II, had

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been buried there in 1960, and his mother Alma was also buried there when she died in 2011.

Not much more than the inscription could be found to determine why these two men were omitted from Stone Park's original Vietnam plaque directly above this one, or how exactly they were identified some 45 years after their deaths in Vietnam.

Also see . . .
1. Robert Hal Corley on Findagrave. Robert Hal Corley was buried in North Carrollton, Mississippi, about 670 miles south of this memorial plaque in Stone Park, Illinois. (Submitted on September 5, 2024, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)

2. Ronnie Len Russell on Findagrave. Ronnie Russell is buried in Nebo Church Cemetery on the outskirts of Lexington, Tennessee, about halfway between Nashville and Memphis. (Submitted on September 5, 2024, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)

Credits. This page was last revised on November 15, 2024. It was originally submitted on April 14, 2024, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. This page has been viewed 192 times since then and 14 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on April 14, 2024, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.