Ladoga Heroes

Pete Parker  1919

                                                                    Frank Cating

World War I monument (moved to cemetery)

Confederate Veterans Monument

Veterans Monument

Confederate Veterans Monument

Confederate Monument

WW I Monument

Ladoga Heroes

            There are three monuments in the Ladoga Cemetery honoring veterans who have Ladoga roots.  One monument stands at the entrance to the cemetery; it was placed in the center of the town square in 1927 by the Bachelor Maids Culture Club, and stood in the center of Washington and Main streets enduring collisions, chips, and other indignities until 1938, when the state began paving 234.  It was moved to the Ladoga Cemetery where the eagle stands as a silent sentinel over the final resting places of veterans of Ladoga, Clark Township, and Scott Township.   It is engraved with the names of 18 veterans who gave their lives for freedom in WW I.  The front of the monument has the engraving “WW I 1914-1918.” The names are as follows:

Ruby Barnes

Clair McCrery

Nathan Jones

Everett Harshbarger

Oscar Murrell

James F. Barnard

Robert E. Burkett

Irwin L. Cotton

Japer Orrick

Forest Hicks

Roscoe Davis

Grant Peffley

William Kessler

William Otterman

Wayne M. Wyncoop

Oliver E. Fouts

Harold E. Sanders

Norman N. Zachary

            The second monument was erected and dedicated on November 11, 1991.  There are 259 names inscribed on the monument representing 256 veterans who have strong Ladoga, Clark Township and Scott Township connections.  There are two names from the War of 1812, two from the Mexican War, six from the Spanish-American War, three from the Korean War, and five from the Vietnam War.  There are seven veterans represented who were buried in foreign lands.  In addition there are the names of 77 veterans of WWI with eight being on the Gold Star Honor Roll which means they lost their lives during the war.  The following is a list of the members of the Gold Star Honor Roll:

Ruby C. Barnes

Roscoe N. Davis

Everett L. Harshbarger

Forest L. Hicks

Benjamin f. Johns

James Mason

Clare S. McCrery

Grant E. Peffley

 There are also 79 Civil War veterans of whom 59 are Union veterans and 20 are Confederate.

            The third monument and the one most recently placed, was dedicated on November 13, 2010.  It was erected to honor 65 Confederate veterans who are buried in Montgomery County.  An amazing fact is that there are more Confederate veterans buried in Montgomery County than in any other county north of the Mason-Dixon Line.  That would include only veterans who came north of their own free will, not those who came as prisoners of war.  At last count, there are at least 34 Confederate veterans buried in Clark and Scott Townships.  In addition to the 20 buried at the Ladoga Cemetery, there are six at Harshbarger, four at Cornstalk, three at Bethel Brethren (Dunkard) and one at Stoner Cemetery.

Anne Petty covered the dedication of the second monument for the local newspaper and wrote:

            “On November 11, 1991, a new memorial was dedicated to deceased veterans buried in the Ladoga Cemetery, Clark Township, and Montgomery County, Indiana.  The large, three-paneled monument, cut from black granite, had been erected a month earlier just downhill for a group of cemetery markers.  Newly-planted, evergreen ground cover, in front of the marker, and the American flag, flying on a pole behind, accented the winter-brown landscape.

            A maple tree, its dark branches bare, stood silhouetted against the steel-gray sky as a sharp early-winter wind reminded the gathering crowd it was November.  Yellow buses from Ladoga Elementary School pulled up, and a throng of some 200 children tumbled out to join several generations of onlookers.  Charles Coffman, their principal, had let the youngsters out of regular classes to witness a ceremony that the older men and women hoped they would long remember.   

   

            The crowd, waiting in front of the memorial, admired the ‘ebony mist’-colored panels commemorating those who had served in the United Military from, the Revolutionary War to the war in Vietnam.  Several people walking up the newly-cemented sidewalk to get a closer look, read the epitaph:

                        ‘To those who survived, we are grateful and welcome you home.  To those who still suffer, either in mind or body, we acknowledge it and appreciate what you’ve done for us and we will never forget.’

                        ‘For those who are missing, we will not give up hope of bringing you home.  And to the families of these who did not survive, whether they died on foreign soil or here at home, we offer our respect and prayers that the tragedy of war does not come again to our homeland.’

            ‘We etch these names in granite to stand against time so we and our children can learn and remember.’

            ‘In the shadow of liberty there are many benefits and freedoms for us all, but at a cost of great personal tragedy.’

            The ceremony was about to begin.  Frank Cating, past commander of the Crawfordsville American Legion spoke first, dedicating the monument with words from the commander’s handbook.  Del Hamm, minister of the Ladoga Christian Church, gave the invocation.

            Lawrence Brown, representing the Ladoga Cemetery Board, spoke next.  Brown, himself a veteran of World War II, provided some information about the marker:

            ‘This memorial is the result of almost two years of planning and research.’ He said.  ‘After submitting numerous ideas, the memorial was purchased with the help of Fred Clements from the Crawfordsville Monument Company through Wearly Monuments of Muncie, Ind.’  There the names were etched in granite, then embossed with white stain to make the letters stand out against the dark rock, Clements, had explained earlier.

            ‘The stone was quarried about 600 miles east of here,’ Brown continued, ‘on the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border.  The project was expensive, (with costs coming to $13,000) but was totally financed through funds and donations.’  Serving on the cemetery board, in addition to Chet Vice and Brown, are Joe Zachary and Forest Allen Scott.

            The inscription on the monument indicates that there are memorials in this cemetery for veterans buried in foreign lands (including a captain of the Revolutionary War, Jonathon Byrd), veterans of the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.

            ‘There are 259 names inscribed on the memorial representing 256 veterans,’ Brown said,  ‘Bruce McCallum served in World War I and World War II and is listed under both wars.  Edwin J; Wilson is listed three times, having served in WW II, Korea, and Vietnam.  Four women veterans are listed:  Elizabeth Mears Sullivan (WW I, Cuba Ella Johnson (WW II) Jean Scott (who served with her husband, Lewis E. Scott in WW II) and Jean P. Young (WW II).  One Civil War soldier, Joseph E. Smith, served in the U.S. Colored Troops.’

            Brown indicated that the names were complete through July 1991 when Steven Lister, a Vietnam veteran, was buried here.  ‘We intend to add names on a yearly basis in May as new names come to light through research and as old veterans die.’

            Researching the names of many of these veterans was done by Andrew Keith Houk, Jr. of Jamestown, IN, himself a combat veteran of Vietnam,. And Jay Wilson, Jr., of Springville (Lawrence County), Ind.  Keith, a noted Civil War historian and professional genealogist, and his friend Jay, also a noted Civil War historian and researcher, combined their expertise to update the Indiana Civil War veteran’s registry.

            Chet Vice (cemetery caretaker and president of the Ladoga Cemetery Board) first encountered Keith one day when he was looking for the burial site of Parke County’s last Civil War veteran.  Later, Keith was contacted by Lawrence Brown (Secretary-treasurer of the board), who asked him about veterans buried in the cemetery.

            As the last visitors arrived, Brown introduced Keith Houk, principal speaker for the dedication ceremony.  Together, they had walked the cemetery many times, exchanging information.  Today, at Brown’s invitation, Keith shared with the onlooking crowd interesting facts and stories about the veterans buried there.

            ‘In doing our research (locating all known Confederate veterans of the American Civil War residing in Indiana afterwards), Jay and I discovered that of the 78 Civil War veterans buried here, 22 were Confederates.  Ladoga Cemetery is third in actual numbers only to Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis (where 1616 died while prisoners of war in Camp Morton) and Breckenridge Cemetery in Bedford (where 32 died while prisoners of war in Camp Lawrence).  As a result of our research in Bedford, a large limestone memorial was carved and erected by the Indiana limestone industry to commemorate these men.  The Ladoga Cemetery, though third in actual numbers,’ Keith added, ‘has the distinction of having more Confederate veterans than any cemetery in Indiana.’

            ‘All of Ladoga’s Confederate veterans served in the Army of Northern Virginia under the command of General Robert E. Lee,’ Keith told his audience.  ‘These men also were survivors of Pickett’s Charge (July 1863) during the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania.  (Of the over 13,000 Confederate soldiers who participated in Pickett’s Charge, more than 7,500 were killed or wounded).  All of the Ladoga men were present at Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, April 9, 1865.  In 1913, four of the Ladoga area Confederates returned to Gettysburg for the 50^th anniversary of the battle.’

            ‘One reason so many Confederate veterans came to Clark Township in the years following the Civil War, ‘ Keith explained,  ‘was that many of the early settlers were from Kentucky, Virginia,  and North Carolina.’  In 1831 alone, a group of six families had traveled from Virginia to Clark Township.  Many of these Southerners came because they wanted to live outside of slave territory.  While against slavery, they did believe in the sovereignty of the states and aligned themselves with the sympathies of the Southern cause in that regard. ‘So the veterans were welcomed into this area by friends and relatives who understood their reason for fighting for the Confederacy.’

            ‘Ladoga and Clark Township supplied men to the Union cause as well,’ Keith assured his listeners.  ‘Returning Union soldiers and their families were not sympathetic toward their Confederate counterparts.  This caused numerous problems over the years, especially on Memorial Day, when the Ladoga Grand Army of the Republic Post #273 would meet down town, then march to the cemetery to decorate the graves of their fallen comrades.  Often, words were exchanged and fights ensued, and the Civil War was relived once again in the minds of many old men.  As years passed, the bitterness and hatred subsided.  By the turn of the century, whenever a Confederate or Union man died, veterans of both sides of the conflict, together, paid their last respects.’

            ‘In fact,’ Keith added, ‘two of the early cemetery caretakers, Jonas and Jerry Gish (brothers who had served in the Confederate Army from Virginia.) made sure that when a local Civil War veteran passed away, all remaining veterans were notified of the death so all (both Union and Confederate) could attend the graveside rites.

            ‘The veteran status of one Union soldier was determined after IO found that the stone of John T. Lookabaugh had the letters ‘GAR’ engraved on the back,’ Keith continued. ‘Lookabaugh had been in Company A, 51^st Indiana Infantry.  He served several terms as commander for the Parkersburg, Ind. GAR post, initiating the community’s annual fund-raising bean suppers.  The pallbearers at his funeral, appropriately enough, wore empty 100-pound burlap bean sacks over their shoulders like sashes.’

            ‘Another Union veteran I determined was buried in the cemetery is Joseph E. Smith, a black man who served with Company E, 28^th U.S.Colored Troops.  Smith came to the Ladoga area following the Civil War and was a section hand and later a porter on the old Monon Railroad line.  At his funeral in 1898, three Union and three Confederate veterans served as pallbearers.’

            ‘A father and son, both veterans, are buried in the cemetery.  Dr. Henry Rogers served in the War of 1812 with the Kentucky Militia, commanded by General William Henry Harrison.  The doctor participated in the Battle of Tippecanoe, northeast of Lafayette, Ind. At the present-day site of the town of Battleground.  He died in 1876.’

            ‘His son, Dr. Henry Clay Rogers, was a Union soldier during the Civil War.  He eventually moved to Rockville, Ind., where he was a member of the GAR for 61 years.  He was on the executive board for the Indiana Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Indianapolis.  When he died in 1946, Dr. Rogers was Parke County’s last remaining Civil War veteran and the last veteran of the Civil War to be interred in the Ladoga Cemetery.’

            Keith had some interesting facts to share about the town:  ‘Ladoga has the distinction of having been the home of the northernmost United Confederate Veteran’s camp, a camp they named Stonewall Jackson Camp #1.  The UCV was the South’s equivalent of the North’s GAR (Grand Army of the Republic).  The old Central Normal school building on Main Street in Ladoga has housed both the GAR and the UCV.  It has also served as the Ladoga High School, later as the armory for the Company L of the 151^st Infantry, Indiana National Guard and finally became the home for the Ladoga American Post #324.’

            While researching old Ladoga Leader newspaper articles, Keith learned that the Ladoga Cemetery was originally called Poplar Grove Cemetery for the many native tulip poplar trees that grew there.  An older war memorial monument (north of the new one) was erected by the Bachelor Maid’s Culture Club in 1927 and was originally placed in the middle of the intersection of Washington and Main Streets in Ladoga.  In 1938, when Main Street became State Highway 234, the monument was moved to its present location.

            ‘I also found that the last Spanish-American War veteran of Jamestown, Ind., Charles A. Kessler, was buried here.  Kessler, who had been with the 20^th U.S. Infantry died in 1960.  One of his honorary pallbearers was Homer Linn who was later to become the last Spanish-American War veteran of Montgomery County.’

            In a conversation after the dedication, Keith mentioned that over 3,000 men and women had died as the result of wound or illness (often pneumonia or influenza) during World War I.  Six of these ‘Gold Star Honor Roll’ members are buried or remembered in the Ladoga Cemetery: Ruby C. Barnes, Roscoe N. Davis, Everett L. Harshbarger, Forest L. Hicks, Clare S. McCrery, and James Mason.  Two more Gold Star names to be added to the memorial are Benjamin F. Johns and Grant E. Peffley.

            A number of veterans had unmarked graves.  In some cases, original stones were weather-worn.  Military headstones made of white marble were ordered from the federal government (free of charge) by Chet Vice and Lawrence Brown and placed in the cemetery.  The two men have also put small permanent flag holders beside each veteran for the traditional Memorial Day flags.

            ‘Have you noticed the difference between Union and Confederate markers?’ Keith asked.  ‘The standard white marble or granite headstone used for Union soldiers had a rounded top.  During the war, Confederate prisoners were appalled to see their Union captors casually sitting on cemetery gravestones.  When later the government asked the UCV’s  what style marker they thought suitable for their Confederate dead, the Southerners replied that the standard issue military stone would suffice, but with one exception; the top of the stone should be slightly pointed so that no damn Yankee could sit on it.  

            Research on Civil War veterans was done by reading old newspaper obituaries.  ‘Over 100,000 pages of newsprint were viewed for this project,’ Keith estimated.  ‘We also looked at veterans enrollments and soldiers enlistments.  Cemetery files and family records were consulted.  Confederate veterans were verified by using the 1910 federal census, newspaper obituaries, and Confederate Civil War listings.’

            ‘Many people have helped with our research, but two women, now deceased deserve special mention: Edna Terry’s and Iva Johns Plunkett of Ladoga.  Without Edna Terry’s knowledge of the Confederate veterans of Montgomery County, many would still be unknown.  Iva Plunkett remembered that several veterans of the Civil War and World War I were buried in unmarked graves during the great influenza outbreak of 1918-1919.  Others who assisted in the researched were Carolyn Cross of the Ladoga Public Library, Mary Early Johnson (reference librarian) and Jean Thompson (Montgomery County Historian and local history librarian), both of the Crawfordsville District Public Library.’

            ‘Doing research in cemeteries has made me realize that these are not just names on stones; these stones represent actual people, people who there,’ Keith reflected. ‘And it is up to us and future generation of men, women, and children,’ he concluded ‘to carry on the legacy of honoring the veterans as the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars are doing today.  Just as these two groups took over when the Grand Army of the Republic passed, so too must we carry on to insure that the names on these stones are not just names, but are remembered as people.  We must remember.  We will remember.’

            With this promise echoing in the hearts and minds of many present, two Legionnaires—James B. Cox (a Ladoga graduate in the class of 1962) of Crawfordsville and George Terry of New Ross—placed a wreath at the base of the monument.  The crowd was asked to face the east.

            Suddenly, breaking the silence, shots were heard as the firing squad (nine members of the American Legion and VFW honor guards from Crawfordsville) raised their rifles, three men at a time, firing three volleys.  A delegation of men from the West Central Indiana Vietnam Veterans group was in attendance, as were members and their auxiliaries from the VFW post in Roachdale and VFW members from Crawfordsville—all helping pay tribute to the American veterans everywhere, but especially those buried at the Ladoga Cemetery.

            As the slant of afternoon light grew longer, Edwin Armstrong, a 90-year-old WW I veteran from New Market, mournfully played “Taps” on his bugle—a poignant conclusion to this special Veterans Day service.

One group of guys very  special to me was the group of seven former teammates from Ladoga High School Class of 1954.  These were guys that I played basketball and baseball with and who enlisted in the Air Force right after graduation.  There were eight of them who answered the call, but only seven were accepted.  These guys represented a class that numbered only fifteen boys.  They were the cream of Ladoga’s crop that year.  They were baseball players, basketball players, track men, cheerleaders, athletic managers and band members.  The ones who joined the Air Force were the following: Keith Todd, Max Todd, Don Todd, John Gott, Clarence Radcliff, Dick Powers, Bill Kimmel, and Joe Heeter.  They even let two New Ross Bluejays, Mel Routh and Bill Largent come along for the ride.  Don Todd did not get to go along with his buddies because of asthma.  I don’t think he ever recovered from the disappointment.  I’ll have more to say about these personal heroes of mine as they check in with more specifics about their service.

Three Todd sons followed their Dad into military service.

Carl H. (Sandy) Todd, WW I

Sandy WW I

Alfred Todd

Carl Todd

George Earl Keithley Todd

L-R Keith Todd, Joe Heeter, Max Todd, and Clarence Radcliffe.
Kneeling--Dick Powers, John Gott, Bill Kimmel, and Don Todd.
Cheerleader--Joe Heeter

Lt. Col. Roscoe R. Gravit

Grant Peffley 1917

Grant E. Peffley died of pneumonia while serving in France and is buried at the St. Mihiel American Cemetery in France.

                                                  Grant Peffley's marker in France

Abraham Carman

      

Capt. John Larabee

Thomas Harris

                                                         
                                                           

William Bailey

                                                              Dr. Maurice Gross

Jim Barnard, Billy Otterman, and Allen Ray Cummings

Three Ladoga heroes lost their lives in WW II and never returned home.  James Barnard was killed when a bomb hit his truck in the Philippines.   He was the All-American boy.  He was the ambassador of the Barnard Family, paper boy, athlete and musician.  He is buried in New Guinea.  His parents placed a memorial stone at the Ladoga Cemetery.
Grant Peffley died in France during WW 1 and is buried there.

I remember seeing a Gold Star Banner in the window of the Barnard home honoring the death of James F. Barnard.

A simple white cross in Manilla commemorates the service of James F. Barnard

                                           Jim Barnard and band, The Phantoms in 1938
Loretta Martin teacher at piano. Front Row L-R, Eddie Holsapple, Tom Byrd, Marianna Ashby, Anna Shackelford (Drum), Jane Henry Betty Golden.  Back Row, L-R, Winnie Werts, ____VanMeter, Leslie Lee, Jim Barnard, and Paul Webster.

James Barnard in dress uniform

Jim Barnard and his flying group

                                                                Edwin Barnard

                                                                Jim Barnard and squadron VB 118

                                               Jim in his flying suit at home in Ladoga

William McKnight Otterman was killed on a bombing mission just as the war was ending.  He is buried in Morotia of the Molucco Islands.  His parents placed a memorial stone at Stoner Cemetery southeast of Ladoga.  Both Jim Barnard and Billy Otterman were graduates of Ladoga High in the class of 1938.

Allen Ray Cummings was a graduate of Ladoga High School in the class of 1941.  He was killed when his plane crashed on Luzon Island in the Philippines.  He is buried there.

                                                             Allen Ray Cummings

                                                                 Ed Fendley


Regardless of the bravery and heroism of Ladoga veterans, none will ever receive the Ladoga Medal.  That was a medal awarded to members of the 3^rd Coastal Artillery defending what was the Finnish side of Lake Ladoga, the largest lake in Europe.  It was named the Laatokan Mitali and awarded to members of the Coastal Guard in the Winter War of 1939-1940.   

                          Edsel Ball, Wimpy's brother served in the Army under General McArthur.

Wimpy Ball served on board the Aircraft Carrier, The Boxer

                                                     Warren Britts was in the Coast Guard

                        Steven Ball, Wimpy's son became the third generation to serve in the Navy.

                                                                      Bill Gerald

Dick Scott

LaMarr Nicholson

Charles Mason

Ed Hart

John Sabens

Kenny Lester

Carl Cox

Warren Boling

Bill Long

George Long

George Ronk

Les Warner

Mike Page

Bill Thomas