Statewide County NcArchives News.....HONORING ALL WHO SERVED November 3, 2006 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/ncfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Wendy Fischbach wfischbach@yahoo.com February 16, 2008, 10:14 pm American News, Aberdeen, SD November 3, 2006 American News 121st year No. 153 Friday November 3, 2006 Page 1A ‘HONORING ALL WHO SERVED’ [Photo caption: Veteran’s gravestone: Les Rowland of the Day County Veterans Service Office, left, packs dirt around soldier John Zuechner’s headstone while Martin Eisenbraun and Lyle Berg observe Thursday at Riverside Cemetery in Aberdeen. Zuechner’s headstone was found in an old home near Webster years ago, and the trio helped track down his grave to properly mark it. Eisenbraun is a member of VFW Post 4690 in Webster, where Berg is commander. (American News Photos by Dawn Dietrich-Sahli)] Mystery of soldier laid to rest Day County veterans help provide proper burial of World War I private By Emily Arthur American News Writer Tiny snow flurries dusted the gravesite of John Zuechner as the three strangers bowed their heads in a sign of respect. A flag—small in size, but large in symbolism—sat stuck in the ground, next to the white tombstone the men stared at. “If stones could talk…,” muttered Les Rowland, a Day County veteran service officer, as he reached down to run his fingers over Zuechner’s name. Ten years ago, none of the men who gathered Thursday at Riverside Memorial Cemetery in Aberdeen knew who Zuechner was. Now, it’s a name they’ll never forget. As they dedicated Zuechner’s gravestone, which was missing from the soldier’s burial site for 70 years, they put an end to a unique story and mystery. “The word ‘fate’ is mentioned a lot. I would assume that’s what it was,” Rowland said. World War I soldier: John Zuechner was a private first class in the military during World War I. He worked in the medical division. And he was 37 years old when he died March 25, 1930. Until recently, that’s all Rowland, Lyle Berg and Martin Eisenbraun knew about the man. All the information was taken directly from Zuechner’s gravestone, which was found a number of years ago in an old home near Webster. That’s where the mystery began. The stone, which was found by Wanda Skeide and her former husband underneath a fireplace-type area, was turned over to the Day County Sheriff’s Office and was later put into a shed by a maintenance supervisor. A few years ago, Eisenbraun, a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4690 in Webster, stopped by to visit Rowland. The informal meeting led to questions about the gravestone. While the person the gravestone belonged to was a clear as the name on the stone, nobody knew where it had come from. “I stop in and see the boys in the office once a week,” Eisenbraun said. “I mentioned that there was this stone and nobody knew where it belonged. I was a stubborn old German. I knew it (See SOLDIER, Page 7A) [Photo caption: The Internet provided information on John Zuechner, which eventually led searchers to his daughter in North Carolina. She said her father had been buried in Aberdeen. His tombstone had not marked the grave for the past 70 years.] Page 7A Continued from Page 1A had to belong someplace.” [Quote insertion: “Out of the blue, this woman was going to get the shock of her life.” Penny Behnke of Britton On the prospect of contacting World War I veteran John Zuechner’s 85-year-old daughter] The questions led to a phone call and letter-writing campaign that extended from St. Louis to Kansas City and over to Washington, D.C. “We couldn’t find any records of Mr. Zuechner anywhere,” Rowland said. Eventually, a woman from the Mortuary Affairs Office in Washington, D.C., told Rowland he needed to destroy the gravestone, which was government issued and looked the same as all the other stones issued to veterans during that time. “It’s a common practice,” said Berg, the commander of Webster Post 4690. “It’s so it couldn’t be used inappropriately. There was no record of him.” But Rowland thought it was too early to give up hope. He thought there was a possibility Zuechner’s files could have been destroyed in a fire in the records building in St. Louis in 1973. Daughter located: Instead of giving up, he contacted Linda Walters, owner of the Waubay Clipper in Waubay. Walters wrote a short story in the paper, requesting information on Zuechner’s family and his burial location. It didn’t take Penny Behnke of Britton long to respond. “I get the Waubay Clipper because that’s where I’m originally from,” Behnke said. “I believe my husband had picked up the paper and given it to my mom. She called me and said, ‘I bet you can find out who he is.’” Behnke, a genealogy buff, was able to access census records, draft cards and other information through her subscription with www.ancestry.com. Within a short time, she realized Zuechner wasn’t from Waubay or Webster; he was from Brown County. “I was born and raised in Day County and never had I heard that name before,” she said. “I asked my mother and she had never known that name before. I thought: Well, had he just blown in?” After dong some digging, Behnke found that Zuechner had worked at Standard Oil in Aberdeen, where he had lived, and that he had a wife and three little girls when he died. An Internet search found 85-year-old Shirley Yoder, Zuechner’s daughter, who lives in North Carolina. His wife Lois, and his other two daughters are deceased. “I thought, I’m very delicately going to have to handle this,” Behnke said. “Out of the blue, this woman was going to get the shock of her life. …It was very satisfying to find at least one of John’s daughters alive to share this information with. It was very satisfying to do that for a veteran. It felt good. It felt right.” Some mystery remains: Eventually conversations with Yoder and records search pointed Behnke and Rowland to Riverside Memorial Cemetery in Aberdeen. Because Zuechner was adopted at 2 years old—he was born with the last name Esser—it complicated the research. “I was thrilled to death to hear about what they had found,’ said Yoder in a phone interview. “It’s an unusual story. I grew up in Aberdeen. I knew where my dad was buried, but I didn’t know about the gravestone. I don’t know where it came from. He died in 1930, but his tombstone was never there. We never had one.” The Legion did buy a flat, black grave marker that still sits at the gravesite. It’s the white, standing stone placed in the ground this summer but then reinforced with dirt on Thursday, that is still the mystery. As far as Yoder knows, her father had no connection to Day County. “I was hoping I’d get to Aberdeen to see (the gravestone),” Yoder said. “I’m still waiting.” So is Rowland. While he learned some additional information from burial records Thursday—Zuechner died of heart disease and was born on Nov. 1, 1893, in Algona, Iowa (a fact that’s wrong on the gravestone)—Rowland is still looking for more. Someday, he hopes to solve the biggest mystery of all: Where did the stone come from? But for now he’s content with honoring Zuechner’s memory. “Veteran’s Day is coming up on the 11th. The motto we always say is ‘honoring all who served,’” Rowland said. “That’s the key. All of our veterans deserve that much.” Reporter Emily Arthur; (605)622-2314 or 1-800-925-4100 ext. 314; earthur@aberdeennews.com Additional Comments: Transcribed by: Wendy Fischbach, South Dakota File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/statewide/newspapers/honoring353nnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ncfiles/ File size: 8.2 Kb