The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1186464
A-2 Front Wednesday, November 20, 2019 The Press-Dispatch German American Bank BUY YOUR $18 CIRCUS TICKETS AT Donnie Boger • 812-789-3232 D.R. Minnis • 812-582-1385 Hadi Shrine Circus starts Thanksgiving Day! CIRCUS SHOW TIMES FORD CENTER THURSDAY November 28 5pm CST SUNDAY December 1 3pm CST FRIDAY & SATURDAY November 29 & 30 9:30am • 2pm • 7pm CST is ticket can be exchanged for a Reserved Seat at any performance. Exchange value of this ticket is $22. Must exchange ticket for reserved $22 seats by Wednesday, Nov. 27 is exchange ticket and: $0 will purchase a $22 Reserved Seat $5 will purchase a $27 Reserved Seat $10 will purchase a $32 Reserved Seat $15 will purchase a $37 Reserved Seat Exchange tickets at Hadi Shrine Circus Ticket Office or Ford Center Box Office. All seating in lower bowl of Ford Center ALL SEATS RESERVED Give the gift of good vision Schedule an eye exam, or come in and check out our collection of attractive designer frames. Locally Owned and Operated Dr. Clint Shoultz 715 S. 9th Street, Petersburg • (812) 354-9400 Mon. 8am-7pm, Tues. 8am-noon, Wed. 10am-7pm, Thurs-Fri. 8am-5pm HONORED Continued from page 1 Their married daughter, Io- na, died. So her husband and their three children also moved into the Jones house- hold. Marvin, at the age of 16, traveled to Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, falsified his age, listing his birthday as August 19, 1923, instead of 1925, and joined the Army. He was inducted into the U.S. Army on September 29, 1941, and sent to Fort McDowell, Calif., near San Francisco for basic training. He was then sent to the home of the Seventh In- fantry Division, 31st Infan- try Regiment, Fort Lew- is, Wash., for Advanced In- dividual Infantry Training. From there, he was sent to the Philippines for "occupa- tional duty" to protect the in- habitants and maintain the freedoms Americans enjoy. "To this day, the Filipinos are grateful to the United States for the support they received," said Hochmeister. World War II had started and was spreading across the globe. Shortly after he arrived in the Philippines, the Jap- anese attacked Pearl Har- bor on December 7, 1941, drawing the United States into W WII. Just hours after bombing Pearl Harbor, they also attacked the Philip- pines, bombing and destroy- ing airfields, aircraft and U.S. Navy vessels. The 31st Infantry was sent to Bata- an, Luzon, where they were again hit by a Japanese air raid that killed many Amer- ican and Filipino soldiers. Fighting with poor supplies and plagued with malaria and dysentery, they were eventually overwhelmed by the Japanese, which forced the surrender of Bataan. Japanese Col. Nubuhiko's orders to his army were: "Every troop which fought at Bataan against our Japa- nese army on Bataan should be wiped out thoroughly, whether he surrenders or not, and any American cap- tives who are unable to con- tinue marching all the way to the concentration camp should be put to death in the area 200 meters off the highway." It was a 65 -mile march that included numerous atrocities by the Japanese, such as decapitations, drownings, starvations and the taking of American and Filipino lives for no reason. More than 1,000 Amer- ican and 10,000 Filipinos died in the march. A fter the march, more men died at the camp, including Private Stroud. Abie Abraham, au- thor of the book "Oh, God, Where are You? " and sur- vivor of the Bataan Death March, met with Hochme- sister while visiting his mother. Abraham told Ho- chmeister he had carried Stroud the last three days before arriving at the pris- on camp. He said Marvin died as a skeleton, a victim of malaria and dysentery. His body was pushed into a common grave with other prisoners of war. Hochmeister said he has given a DNA sample in hopes of officials being able to identify Stroud's remains and having them brought back to Pike County. In recent years, Hoch- meister found and read a letter his grandmother, Hel- en Jones, had written to the U.S. Department of Defense. The letter was written on May 1, 1946. In the letter, she tells the Department of Defense, "He was just like one of mine for I had raised his mother, then him. Al- so had five of my own and lost two of them, now I am raising three of my grand- children. So that don't leave much. I have to ask his fa- ther to buy a small mark- er and have it placed on the lot beside his mother. If and when he got the insurance and that is why I am writing to ask if it would be possible that the government would place a small marker on the said lot. If this is asking too much, just forget it." Hochmeister, at the grave- side memorial, said that sounded just like his grand- mother. "When I saw that, I knew I had to do whatever I could to get a marker placed here," said Hochmeister. On Veterans Day 2019, the Hochmeister family was able to dedicate that marker. EVENTS Continued from page 1 get the card punch at other merchants. No purchase necessary. Punched cards will put in a drawing and then a drawing for prizes. OTWELL Breakfast with Santa at the Otwell Community Cen- ter is scheduled for 8 to 10 a.m. on Saturday, December 7. Santa will be there to talk with children and they will be serving donuts and juice. Two arrested for OVWI in separate incidents Two people were arrest- ed for drunken driving last week in Pike County. A rural Winslow man was arrested for drunken driving after he backed into anoth- er car in the parking lot of the Winslow Kangaroo last Thursday evening. Justin L. White, 24, of 1711 E. CR 25 S., Winslow, was backing out of a parking spot and collided with Tere- sa Hensley, also of Winslow. The accident caused minor damage. Pike County Deputy Sher- iff Paul Collier said when he arrived at the Kangaroo Convenience Store, Winslow Town Marshal Steve Nelson was there with White. Deputy Collier said while talking with White, he no- ticed his speech was slurred and he had poor balance. White failed field sobri- ety tests and, according to a portable breath test, he had a blood alcohol level of more than twice the legal limit. He was taken into custody, but refused a chemical test. White was preliminari- ly charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, (refusal). A Jasper man was arrest- ed after police responded to a car in the ditch on Highway 56, near CR 700 E. Clay Lechner, 32, of 422 Giesler Rd., of Jasper, was arrested after Pike County Sheriff's Sgt. Buck Seger re- sponded to the report. Seger said when he ar- rived, he found Lechner sit- ting in the vehicle and could smell alcohol. Sgt. Seger said Lech- ner said it was his wife who had crashed the vehicle in- to the ditch. She had left the scene to get their kids from a grandparent. Lechner said he drove to the scene and was sitting in the car wait- ing on a wrecker that had been contacted through in- surance. Sgt. Seger's report stated Lechner said his wife drove his vehicle home. Lechner initially denied drinking prior to driving to the scene, then admitted he had two beers. He failed two of three field sobriety tests and then test- ed 0.082 percent for blood al- cohol content. The legal lim- it in Indiana is 0.08 percent. He was charged with oper- ating a vehicle while intoxi- cated. SCHOOL Continued from page 1 Four Star Fabricators, Sub- way, Home Building Savings Bank, German American Bank, No. 423 Smokehouse, Dairy Queen, Fish Hut and IPL. •Approved Caleb Cher- ry and Jordan Froderman as boys' basketball coach- es and Samantha Halbrad- er and Stephanie Shedd as girls' basketball coaches at Winslow Elementary; Mar- va Bradfield as an instruc- tional assistant at the middle school; Demetre Young as a high school robotics team sponsor; Hannah Allen as a teaching assistant at Peters- burg Elementary; Robert Col- lins and Tiffany Wiscaver as a fifth-grade boys' basketball coach and fifth-grade cheer coach at Petersburg Elemen- tary; Cynthia Harrison for the ECA position of 2019 -20 Cho- ral Accompanist for the high school; JJ Howald (eighth grade), Jake Robinette (sev- enth grade) and Dave Ste- phens (sixth grade) as boys' basketball coaches; Jeff Tay- lor as the sixth-grade girls' basketball coach; and Jason McKinney as an assistant on the high school's swim team. •Approved Director of Nu- trition Deloris Henson's re- quest to take managers from each school to the INSA Con- ference November 14 and 15 and Nichole Nalley's leave re- quest to attend a High Ability Conference in Indianapolis. Above: Gordon Hochmeister (r) speaks during a me- morial service for Marvin Stroud. He died in a Japanese prisoner of war camp on July 19, 1942 at 16-years-old, following the Bataan Death March. On Veteran's Day, Ho- chmeister, a second cousin to Stroud, and his family had a memorial service next to a plaque marking his military service recently being placed near his mother's grave. Right: The bronze plaque which was placed at Arnold Cemetery in memory of Marvin Stroud. Below: A family member places flowers on the marker.