Lombard in DuPage County, Illinois — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)

Lombard Veterans Memorial

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, August 30, 2024

1. Lombard Veterans Memorial Marker

Inscription. [At the center of the memorial is a large boulder with two plaques, an older one on the left that lists local veterans of the Civil War, Spanish-American War and World War I, and a newer one from 2000 that lists men who died in World War II and Vietnam.]

[Left plaque:]
They served their country in her hour of need
Civil War Levi Castelman • Henry Churchill • Charles Donley • Frank Filer • David Frank • Perry Harris • Delos Hull • Frank Hull • J B Hull • Tiddiman Hull • Watson Kenyon • Peter Maas • Ed Main • William Newhall • John Scharlau • Lewis Stover • Port Warner

Spanish American War Geo H Assmann • Fred Fabri • Charles A Johnson • John Schuetz • Wm H Schuetz

World War Albert Anderson • Frederick B Andrews • Roger W Andrews • Howard Arnold • Merrill Arnold • Norman Arnold • Arthur W Asman • William G Asman • Gustine C Ballard • Gerald D Bassett • Saunders Bente • Ernest Birch • Edward L Birr • J Bidwell Blake • Osbourne Blake • Henry Blitzen • Lloyd D Browne • Peter Burke • James Callahan • Edward C Claflin • Stephen T Claflin • Harry S Cochran • Lloyd Colmorn • Glenn H Davies • Edwin F Deicke • Albert

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E Dobberstein • Wm J Dobberstein • Richard C Ehinger • Paul Eilrich • Fred Fabri • ★ Otto Finke • Albert Fischer • Paul Fischer • Glenn C Fisk • Harry K Frank • Joseph Futimo • Blythe W Graves • Henry Gray • E Hammerschmidt • T F Hammerschmidt • August Hammling • Arthur Harris • Clifford Haviland • Thos E Hensler • Horace H Housegood • ★ Clinton D Kendall • ★ James H Kendall • Edward Kloerher • John F Koch • ★ William J Koch • Carl Koester • Frank A Lewis • Marcus V Linington • Alpheus F Maple • Wm S Maple • Frank A Marack • Arthur C Marriott • James L Mayer • Seth C Mayer • John B McDonough • ★ Fred Mech • Walter R Mech • Wm H Mech • Otto H L Merz • Thomas F Mills • John H Miller • Albert Moko • Eugene Moore • John L Moore • Joseph B Moore • Frank Mueller • Matthew Mueller • Patrick Murphy Jr • Chas F Cetke • Daniel O'Keefe • Wrisley B Oleson • Blake Osborn • Walter W Pearson • Lawrence Pearson • ★ John A Peterson • Thomas B Peterson • Elmer B Read • Alfred H Rengstorf • Roy H Ruth • Clarence Stadtler • William Stockman • George Sorenson • Herman Steben • Frank Surges • Dwight Templein • George W

Lombard Veterans Memorial (left plaque) image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, August 30, 2024

2. Lombard Veterans Memorial (left plaque)

The men who died during World War I are marked with stars on this plaque.

Toomey • Peirce Vandercook • Donald Vandercook • Albert Voss • Harold L Webb • Harold Wegner • Ralph A Wegner • Ferdinand Weigand • C E Werner • ★ Emil F Zabel • Ferdinand Zielske • William H Zielske • August Zuelsdorf

[Right plaque:] They gave their lives for our country
World War II Edward L. Biehl • William C. Brandt • Ralph O. Carlson • Don L. Chiles • Donald A. Dettmer • Robert T. Duncan • Clarence D. Edwards • Clayton E. Fisher • William E. Grieve • Aloysius A. Jochum • Einar Julian • Robert R. Kawell • Robert C. Kimball • Ralph L. Knippen • Thomas W. Kopper • Oliver J. Kusta • Elmer D. Martin, Jr. • Frank C. Miller • Raymond H. Mueller • Albert C. Notard • Edward L. Parke • Mark F. Reifschneider • Harry J. Rogers • Vincent Ropinski • Edward L. Sample • Morton E. Smith, Jr. • Roy F. Soldman • George R. Swanson • William A. Tonne • Ray J. Tuhey • Martin C. Weimer • Richard T. Wilson

Vietnam Dieter Hans Burger • Edward L. Gustafson • Thomas Forest Herring • William Perry Lyons • Charles Dennis Pekny • Claude D. Protz • Richard Phillip Robbley • William Ross Romano • Joel Kurt Watkins* • John Simmons Weaver
*U.S.S. Scorpion
Dedicated

Lombard Veterans Memorial (right plaque) image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, August 30, 2024

3. Lombard Veterans Memorial (right plaque)

Memorial Day, 5/29/2000

Erected 2009.

Topics. This memorial is listed in these topic lists: War, Spanish-American • War, US Civil • War, World I • War, World II.

Location. 41° 53.116′ N, 88° 0.397′ W. Memorial is in Lombard, Illinois, in DuPage County. It is on Maple Street east of South Grace Street, on the right when traveling north. The memorial is on the southern end of Lombard Common park. It is accessible via a parking lot that is located off Maple Street. While it is visible from Grace Street and could be accessed by foot across the grass, there is no pathway from Grace to the memorial. Touch for map. Memorial is at or near this postal address: 443 East St Charles Road, Lombard IL 60148, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this memorial is in Greater Chicago.

It is also in the American Midwest.

Globally, it is in North America,

on the Great Lakes,

in the Western Hemisphere,

in the Western World,

and in the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture

and also the

Lombard Veterans Memorial image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, August 30, 2024

4. Lombard Veterans Memorial

There are six emblems behind the boulder, one each for the Navy, Merchant Marines, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and Army.

Northwest Territory.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Native Trees, Grasses, and Wildflowers (approx. ¼ mile away); Sheldon Peck Homestead and Underground Railroad Site (approx. ¼ mile away); Original Dairy Queen Sign (approx. 0.6 miles away); Gearing Bicycle Ads Towards Women (approx. 0.6 miles away); Watts Up with the Illinois Prairie Path? (approx. 0.6 miles away); Downtown Public Art Program (approx. 0.6 miles away); Main Street Station (approx. 0.6 miles away); Votes For Women (approx. 0.7 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Lombard.

More about this memorial. A plaque behind the giant boulder is related to the memorial's rededication in 2009. The boulder includes two plaques. The one on the left, apparently from the years between the world wars, includes the names of veterans of the Civil War, Spanish-American War and World War I, with those who died in WWI indicated with a star. The bottom right corner is bent inwards.

The plaque on the right, from Memorial Day 2000, includes the names of men who died in World War II and Vietnam. Around the boulder

Lombard Veterans Memorial, rear view with Grace Street in the far background image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, August 30, 2024

5. Lombard Veterans Memorial, rear view with Grace Street in the far background

are flags as well as emblems for the branches of the U.S. military.

The revamped memorial site was the result of an Eagle Scout project by Ben Pelz, a member of Lombard Boy Scout Troop 51, who presented his proposal to the local VFW post, Lilac Post 5815, in 2008. The memorial's rededication on May 25, 2009, included Civil War reenactors, a visit from Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln impersonators, speeches by local dignitaries, and a 21-gun salute.

Regarding Lombard Veterans Memorial. Joel Kurt Watkins was a 25-year-old machinist's mate first-class and one of 99 crew who perished when the U.S.S. Scorpion, a nuclear-powered submarine, sank in the North Atlantic in May 1968. The wrecked submarine was found about 400 miles southwest of the Azores in October of 1968, and the cause of its sinking remains officially inconclusive. A June 1968 report in the Chicago Tribune about local men missing from the Scorpion said that Watkins lived at 409 South Grace Street in Lombard, which is about ⅓ due south of this memorial, and had attended Willowbrook High School in neighboring Villa Park; his father worked for Industrial Filter and

2009 dedication plaque for the Lombard Veterans Memorial image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, August 30, 2024

6. 2009 dedication plaque for the Lombard Veterans Memorial

This is located behind the boulder at the center of the memorial.

Pump in Cicero. According to the report, Watkins left behind a wife, Peggy, and two daughters, who were living in Norfolk, Virginia, at the time of the accident. The Scorpion's wreckage (including the submarine's nuclear reactor) remain on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Watkins is honored with a memorial headstone in Section H of Arlington National Cemetery.

Also see . . . Lombard Veteran's Memorial Upgrade and Rededication, May 25, 2009. From Lilac VFW Post 5815, headquartered in Lombard.

Excerpt: "Ben Pelz presented his original proposal to the Lombard VFW Lilac Post 5815 in September 2008 and discussed suggestions with the members. It called for the addition of flagpoles, benches, and a walkway. Everyone liked his ideas, and the VFW Lilac Post 5815 and its Ladies Auxiliary both made donations."

(Submitted on September 4, 2024, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)

Credits. This page was last revised on November 13, 2025. It was originally submitted on September 4, 2024, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. This page has been viewed 368 times since then and 55 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on September 4, 2024, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. 6. submitted on September 5, 2024, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.