Military History
53:1 ROCKPORT IN THE CIVIL WAR
STORY OF LAKEWOOD E.G. Lindstrom, Pg. 135
When Fort Sumter was fired upon in April, 1861, President Lincoln called for volunteers. Many loyal sons from Rockport answered that call. There were enlistments in the 103rd, 124th and 42nd regiments. The 124th was at Chattanooga under Grant at the taking of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge from General Bragg in 1863. The 42nd was at the siege and surrender of Vicksburg July 4, 1863 when General Pembleton gave up that stronghold on the Mississippi to General Grant. The 150th regiment saw one hundred days service.
This Company was raised in Cleveland and was composed of eight companies, Company K. from Oberlin and Company I from Dover, Olmsted and Rockport.
The Regiment was mustered in May 5, 1864, and sent to Washington, and was divided and companies were assigned to the different forts about that city.
On July 11 and 12 the rebel General Early made a raid on Washington with the object to capturing the capitol but with the aid of the 6th and 19th Army Corps was saved. W. Leach of Company K was shot and killed while on the picket line and four other members of the same company died in hospitals. Ten members of the Regiment were killed or died in hospitals during the one hundred days' service. President Lincoln was at Fort Stevens during the battle.
53:2 LAKEWOOD MEN IN SOUTHERN TRAINING CAMPS
THE LAKEWOOD PRESS - Aug. 29, 1918, Page 7
Twenty-three more men entrained Monday morning from the first Cuyahoga district, covering all the territory west of the river, outside the city of Cleveland. These men were sent over the Erie to Camp Zachary Taylor, near Louisville, Ky., with 800 from Cleveland. Nineteen more men will be sent from the same district on Saturday to Camp Greene, N.C. Following is the list of men who went out Monday to the camp, preliminary to their start across the seas as soon as their training is completed.
William Andresejewski, Rayland.
Phillip Jacob Bauman, 1299 Manor Park, Lakewood.
Stanley Closter, 1616 Superior Avenue, Lakewood.
George Edward Bendall, 18411 Detroit avenue, Lakewood.
Claude F. Bettner, Berea.
William C. Budd, 1327 Edward Avenue, Lakewood.
Edward Daniel Frank, 1483 Roycroft avenue, Lakewood.
Joseph L. Gaspavik, 2011 Lark street, Lakewood.
Fred Anton Gillis, Rocky River.
John Hansen, Bonnie Band road, Rocky River.
Raymond Franklin Heasley, 14227 Orinice avenue, E. Cleveland.
William Heldmann, 9605 West Madison avenue, Cleveland.
George Impett, Lorain road, North Olmstead.
Julius Jenkins, Gates Mills.
Fred Martin, 4919 Eichorn avenue, Cleveland.
Robert McCall, 1496 Lakewood avenue, Lakewood.
Charles W. Grossman, 1302 Ethel street, Lakewood.
James R. Ransom, 1572 W. 112th St., Cleveland.
Nicholas V. Peis, 3805 Cypress St., Cleveland.
William E. Schneldwind, 3427 Robinwood avenue, Lakewood.
Stencil Oleiniezrk, Berea.
George Wolf, West Park.
William J. Beck, West Park.
George Banya, 1630 Ridgewood avenue, Lakewood.
William G. Broxham, 1211 Marlowe avenue, Lakewood.
Michael G. Charnigo, 2036 Quail avenue, Lakewood.
Wilburt G. Broxham, 1211 Marlowe avenue, Lakewood.
Wilburt W. Dieckmann, West Park.
Joseph G. Dorko, 2037 Marlowe avenue, Lakewood.
Cark F. Dreege, 1531 Hopkins avenue, Lakewood.
Cyril J. Edwards, 1452 Larchmont avenue, Lakewood.
Roger E. James, Berea.
Joseph Jandecker, Berea.
Arthur A. Krandt, Berea
Louis J. Konarski, Berea.
Carl H. Koshnick, Rocky River.
53:3 FOURTH LIBERTY LOAN DRIVE
THE LAKEWOOD PRESS, Sept. 12, 1918, Page 1
The Fourth Liberty Loan campaign will be inaugurated Sept. 28 and will continue for three weeks. Plans are in preparation for handling the canvas of Lakewood. The campaign will be in charge of C.R. Cross, with O.W. Carpenter assisting. Mrs. W.G. Waitt will be in command of the women. Lakewood's quota has been fixed at $2,000,000, which is double the amount subscribed in the last campaign.
The management is very anxious to have all the old workers and as many new ones as possible to help in this big task. Any one willing to volunteer will please get into communication with one of the above named leaders.
In the former campaign many persons did not realize what it meant to Lakewood to have their subscriptions and went over to Cleveland and gave their subscriptions to banks and individuals, and Lakewood lost the credit for such subscriptions.
All persons are urged to give their subscriptions to Lakewood solicitors, designating the bank or building and loan where they expect to buy the bonds. In this way Lakewood will be credited and also the bank. Citizens who are able to make large subscriptions will probably be solicited by special salesman, but it is hoped that such individuals may save part of their subscriptions for the credit of Lakewood.
In order to meet the quota it will be necessary to have many patriotic and enthusiastic workers and to have the citizens ready to subscribe liberally and promptly when called on. Lakewood was the first place in the county in the last drive to float the honor flag and we must maintain our prestige by keeping that honored position. Boost for the Lakewood Liberty Loan campaign and see that you get credit through Lakewood.
53:4 SUBMARINE CHASERS BUILT AT ROCKY RIVER
THE LAKEWOOD PRESS - Sept. 12, 1918, Page 1
Not much publicity has been given to the work of the builders of the U-boat chasers at Rocky River, but the workers keep persistently on the job and two more destroyers are ready for usethis week in hunting the Hun submarines. One of the new boats was tried out Tuesday and sent on its way down towards the Atlantic Ocean. The second chaser will start eastward before the end of the week. That will make four submarine chasers completed at the Rocky River plant this year, in addition to several boats that were constructed there last year.
These boats are nearly 100 feet in length - the long rakish narrow type of speed boat, that can outrun anything in the way of U-boats that are afloat on top or under water. These boats can turn within the radius of their length, going at full speed.
Twenty-two men constitute the crew of a submarine chaser and the women of the Federal War Emergency Board of Lakewood have been busy this week looking after the comfort and social welfare of the 44 young men who have been sent here by the government from the Great Lakes training camps to take the new boats down to the ocean. Whether the crews who take the boats to the ocean will continue their trips, as they did last year until the boats with the same crews they started with in Lakewood get in action on the coast of France and England is not known.
Earlier in the season a country home on the lake front was thrown open for the entertainment of the crews of the boats, who went out with the first chasers. This week, the women are giving little parties, dinners and entertainments, so that the 44 young men have been made to feel very much at home here. The church parlors of the Congregational church have been open for the entertainment of the visitors and the hospitable ladies of that church have constituted themselves a committee to make the sailors comfortable, during their stay at Rocky River.
But submarine chasers are not the only vessels that will be turned out at Rocky River to help win the war. The Lakewood Shipbuilding Company organized several weeks ago, and asked permission from the city council to use, during the war period, some portion of the banks of the river, belonging to the city. This permission was granted. It is proposed to build scows and coal barges for the government in the new ship yards, that are located far from the yards of the submarine chasers.
The Mathews Company has a large plant for turning out ornamental wood work for buildings, located at the east end of the big bridge. The demand for house building materials has dropped off in the past two years and the company will engage in more essential war work. The change can be made, while retaining the effective organization the company has built up. Work on the new ship building yards is already well under way. It is expected a number of scows and barges will be completed this season.
53:5 MORE THAN NAMES: LAKEWOOD WAR CASUALTIES FROM WWI, WWII, KOREA AND VIETNAM
Lucy Lang Sekerka, Monument Research, January 1989
MORE THAN NAMES
World War II ended in August, 1945. That may seem like a long time ago, if you're preoccupied by the concerns of earning a living, raising a family, going to school. But to a Lakewood woman, over 83, who lost her son in World War II, it doesn't seem like such a long time at all. She recalls, "He would be 62 years old now if he had lived." She mourns him every day. She doesn't need a monument to remember.
The Vietnam War ended in 1975. That's more than a whole life time ago to the toddlers running in the park, the kids playing and giggling in the schoolyards of Lakewood. The mother of a marine sergeant who died in Vietnam remembers, "He was such a gentle kid. He never even got into a fight on the sidewalk." That soldier's family honors what they lost. They don't need a monument to remember.
As long as members of their families have life, these and other men who died for their country will not be forgotten. Their loved ones remember birthdays, anniversaries, funny things they said as a kid. And always, they wonder, "Who would he be now?" A monument with names engraved on it will not change that.
But it will say that we, as a community, recognize the sacrifice their sons have made. It will be a place set aside by a community anxious to grant comfort to the families who have lost so much. It will be a reminder to future generations that at least in their hometown, these soldiers were not forgotten.
Most important, a monument will remind the rest of us, we who never knew the families whose lives were changed forever by a telegram or a stranger in a uniform. We might fail to recall their sacrifice without the gentle reminder of a proudly placed monument. It is too easy to think of these soldiers and their deaths as something that happened a long time ago. That is, unless you're still marking birthdays or looking at framed photos of little boys who were lost only yesterday.
In 1989 Lucy Lang Sekerka completed her research into the casualty lists of Lakewood servicemen who served and died in the U. S. wars between 1917 and 1975. The goal of her project was to find the names of all the U.S. servicemen from Lakewood, Ohio* who have given their lives during World War I, World War II, the Korean war or the Vietnam War. She entitled her research "More Than Names" for she provided name and rank, place and date of death, a Lakewood address, graduation date from Lakewood High School where applicable, and a brief synopsis of the service record of hundreds of our war heroes, our war dead. This work is presented in the Local History files as an historic document: the facts remain as she presented them to the Mayor of our city in 1989 to help establish a monument to these men. We welcome any additional information about Lakewood's war dead at lpl@lkwdpl.org.
*Criteria for the list were as follows: 1. Lakewood residents at the time of death 2. Student at Lakewood High School prior to enlistment.