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The special recognition ceremony was held in the
activity room of the congregate building at the village.
The room filled quickly with well-wishers and special guests.
Krusemark was accompanied by his son Jim and seated at a table at
the front of the room.
Veteran Bill Dennis led the event.
Special guests seated behind Krusemark rose one at
a time and introduced themselves.
Those guests included Logan County Deputy Jack
Wagner, Logan County Veteran Assistance Commission Superintendent
Dan Benedict, Marine Corps League member Michael Downen, and
American Legion Past Commander and current Commander of the American
Legion Color Guard Bob Sullivan.
Dennis introduced Joe Schaler, a veteran, member of the VAC, the
Military Order of the Purple Heart and active in many veteran
initiatives locally and around the state.
Also on hand for the event was Illinois Senator and Logan County
native Sally Turner. Dennis asked her to stand saying that she was
the current selected State Senator and soon to be elected State
Senator.
Dennis started the program thanking everyone for attending and
noting the reason for the ceremony was to recognize Harold Krusemark.
He noted that it was Krusemarks 100th birthday, and that there were
only a few soldiers who had ever made it to see such a day.
He thanked Julie King of the CV for helping to coordinate the event
in a safe manner. He said that originally the event was scheduled to
take place outside, but with the turn of the temperatures it was
decided that inside would be safer for the well-being of the guests.
He said King had made that happen in a safe manner for all.
It was also noted that American Flags had been placed outside at the
entrance of the building courtesy of the Patriot Guard.
Dennis said that the community was blessed because he knew of three
more veterans of World War II who would celebrate the century mark
in the near future.
The three he named were Wayne Sheley, Orville Schaffer and Bill
Gossett. He asked if those men were present and two of the three
were. Dennis asked for a round of applause for those three.
Dennis then asked Schaler to take the podium to address the group.
Schaler had with him a biography of Harold Krusemark that had been
put together by Harold’s daughter Karen Yocius. The biography was
written in first person as dictated by Harold himself.
I was inducted in the U.S. Army on the
2nd of October 1942 at Peoria, Illinois and reported for active duty
on October 16th, 1942 at Camp Grant, Illinois. This was the
beginning of four-and-a half years of my military experience. My
basic training was at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where I stayed on
assignment as an instructor of the Field Artillery. Other
assignments in preparation for overseas duty took me to camps in
Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, California and Tennessee.
I received a 2nd Lieutenant’s commission in Field Artillery at Fort
Sill, Oklahoma. I was then assigned to serve as a Wheeled Vehicle
Motor Officer in the Service Battery of the 161st Field Artillery of
the 35th Division at Camp Rucker, Alabama. The division participated
in the Tennessee winter maneuvers just outside of Nashville and then
moved to Camp Butner, North Carolina. Being reassigned as an
Assistant Executive Officer in Battery B of the 375th Field
Artillery Battalion of the 100th Division, again I was back to Fort
Bragg, North Carolina.
With the large number of
infantry officer casualties in the early phases of the war in
Europe, many artillery officers were reassigned to the infantry. I
was one of those and went to Fort Benning, Georgia for infantry
retraining. My next assignment took me to Camp Cooke, California as
a platoon officer in Company M of the 303rd Infantry in the 97th
Division.
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 While there we prepared for
overseas shipment by loading all of our material onto rail cars
bound for the New York port for embarkation. I served as train
commander along with three enlisted guards in the caboose of a
freight train across the United States from California to New York.
We arrived in LaHarve, France and staged to relieve the 78th
Division on line. Our mission was to close “the Rhur Pocket” by
taking the key cities of Cologne, Solengen, and Dusseldorf in the
Central Europe Campaign and the many, many small villages in
between. Since I had artillery training, I used the same method of
firing by setting up a central fire direction center for our heavy
mortars, which was very effective. After the surrender of
Dusseldorf, we were on our way to liberate Czechoslovakia and was
only ten miles from Pilsen when the war in Germany ended.
Within a couple weeks, we were on our way back to New York. I
enjoyed two weeks leave and was ordered to report to Seattle,
Washington, where the 97th was preparing to go to Japan. The war
with Japan ended while we were on the way, but the division still
landed and served as occupation forces. I returned to the States in
the latter part of May in 1946 and was separated from the service at
Camp McCoy, Wisconsin on the 18th of June with a Reserve Commission.
Having kept a Reserve Commission, I was recalled to Active duty at
Fort Sheridan, Illinois on May 15, 1951. On June 5th I was on the
way to the Far East Command in Yokohama, Japan headed for Korea. I
was assigned to the 4.2” Chemical Mortar Platoon in the 15th
Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Division as a fire direction center
officer. We supported foot troops (soldiers on the
ground) by firing white phosphorus
shells prior to their advancement. We also set up defensive holding
actions in the Chorwan Reservoir area. I returned to the States the
first part of September in 1952 and was separated from the service
at Fort Sheridan, Illinois on September 17th.
In addition to the military record, Schaler shared that Harold had
married wife Roberta in April of 1951, just prior to being deployed
to Korea. Harold built the home he and Roberta lived in and expanded
it twice to accommodate the arrival of their three children. After
his service in Korea, he began his teaching career in Logan County,
first at a small country school in Emden, then later in the
Hartsburg School District.
Krusemark introduced Industrial Arts to the school system, and held
his first classes in an old house. As time passed, the school
expanded and included a new space for the industrial arts program.
It was noted that he taught for many years, and that in some local
families, four generations of children could say their educations
included classes led by Mr. Krusemark. While active as an
instructor, Krusemark was also a student earning his Master’s Degree
at Illinois State University.
It was noted that during those years, there was a “Junior High
rotation” that included every student in the school receive one
quarter of education in industrial arts. Schaler said it was hard to
imagine, but the fact was thousands of young men and women have been
impacted by the life of Harold Krusemark.
Schaler then read aloud a Certificate of Honor issued by the State
of Illinois Department of Veteran Affairs and signed by Director
Terry Prince. Schaler said that a certificate was also on its way
from United States Congressman Darin Lahood.
Dennis returned to the podium saying that he personally had spent
more than 30 years doing business in Logan County. He had from time
to time heard mention of Harold Krusemark. He said that he had been
curious and had asked about who the man was and why he was notable
back then. He was told by one respondent, that “Harold has taught
two-thirds of Logan County.” The same person recounted that four
generations of his family had been among Krusemark’s students.
Dennis went on to recount some humorous first-hand experiences he
had with Krusemark after he got to know him. Included in the stories
were Dennis’ recounting of the first junk scooter the Marines
collected and fixed up. The scooters, used to increase around the
house mobility for disabled persons were to be fixed and given to
local veterans in need. Krusemark received the first of those
scooters. Dennis talked about how he had visited Krusemark soon
after the scooter was given and seeing large round circles of
scooter tracks in the carpeting of Krusemark’s home, indicating he
had gotten on the thing and just driven around and around enjoying
his new toy.
Dennis completed his talking about Krusemark saying that he thanked
Krusemark for his many years of service to country and community. He
ended saying he would salute Krusemark the man not the rank, and
then did so.
Dennis recognized Marsha Fernandez and thanked her for her help in
getting the entire day’s activities coordinated. He said that he
knew it could not have been done without her.
Next Sullivan came to the podium and presented Krusemark with an
American Flag in a glass and wood case. Sullivan noted that the flag
hosted 48 stars not 50, for during Krusemark’s years of service
there were only 48 starts on the flag. He said that the flag, while
in a case now could be taken out and flown if Krusemark chose
because there is not rule against it in flag protocol.
The last person to speak was Senator Turner, who asked that the room
join her in singing Happy Birthday to Krusemark.
She then presented to Krusemark letters of congratulations and
appreciation from Illinois Representative Tim Butler and herself.
She thanked Krusemark for his service to the community and country.
She said that she congratulated him on his 100 years and was hopeful
that for many years to come, Krusemark would be with us to share
with us his history and permit his life story to influence the
upcoming generations.
The event came to an end with Christian Village Chaplain Ryan
Edgecombe offering the closing prayer. Before going to prayer he
said that he knew Krusemark well, and knew him to be a devout man of
God. He said that as he looked upon Harold he saw not only a friend
but a brother in Christ.
The ceremony was concluded with Dennis inviting guests to speak to
Krusemark one-on-one as they left.
[Nila Smith] |
