Remembering local men, women serving in uniform
To commemorate the Press-Citizen’s 150th anniversary, a diverse group of eight volunteers spent hours attempting to identify the top 150 local area newsmakers of the past 150 years.
Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so news and newsmakers are in the eye of editors and news consumers. If you asked 150 different people for that list, you’d get 150 different lists.
But we tried. We brought up and discussed hundreds of names. Some I recognized as nationally prominent, some I recognized as locally prominent, and some I didn’t recognize.
If you were doing it, I’m sure you’d add some we didn’t have and delete some we did have. But we came up with a pretty good list.
However, I write this narrative with some regret. That’s because we were asked to focus on newsmakers, and there’s a difference between newsmakers and greatness. Many of our newsmakers embodied greatness, but we left out hundreds of others who carried greatness as part of their routine responsibilities.
I speak of men and women who answered the call when our government asked them to defend our nation on the field of battle. Without them, we wouldn’t be living under the protection of the U.S. Constitution, or we may not be alive at all.
For one segment of those in the military, I focus on 387 very special people.
That’s how many people are on the Johnson County Gold Star List.
Based on information provided by Major Gen. (Retired) Robert Sentman of Tiffin, 387 local county residents were killed in action during the past 150 years.
I don’t know all their names, and unfortunately, Sentman might be the only one around who does. That’s a shame, because it was Abraham Lincoln who said, “… from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion …”
According to Sentman, the Civil War was responsible for by far the largest number of county residents killed in action — 262. The numbers killed in action in other wars and conflicts are four in World War I (34 others died from wounds and disease), 100 in World War II, nine in Korea, 10 in Vietnam, and two in Iraq/Afghanistan.
Our list includes several who were among hundreds of locally known men and women who put on military uniforms to defend our country. Included among them are Congressional Medal of Honor winner Ralph Neppel, Will Hayek and Nile Kinnick.
When it comes to serving and protecting, lest we forget hundreds of those in other uniforms — police and firefighters. Three who lost their lives in the line of duty here were Motorcycle Patrolman Edward Leeney, killed in a 1926 traffic accident; and two firefighters, Lt. Bob Hein, fatally injured in the 1969 Mercy Hospital fire, and Lycurgus “Kirk” Leek, fatally injured in the 1897 Mechanics Academy fire on property later the site of Seashore Hall.
We can enjoy and admire newsmakers and their stories. Just be sure we don’t forget those who put on uniforms — military, police or firefighter — and put their lives on the line for us.