CREVE COEUR, MO - There was a startling discovery at a construction site in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Workers uncovered several tombstones, most of them more than 100 years old. "I guess there were some bodies without the headstones." Long time Creve Coure Mayor Harold Dielmann remembers when Mount Zion Methodist Church sat on Olive and Old Ballas Road.

He doesn't know why when the bodies buried there were moved to Bellerive Forever Cemetery, the headstones didn't follow, "The contractor didn't know what was happening."

Builders putting up a new CVS pharmacy discovered as many as a half a dozen headstones earlier this week, explains the mayor, "When they were doing the bulldozing, the stones got pushed over. As our records, indicate all the graves were actually moved, but the stones got mixed up with the rubble and the dirt."

The bodies were actually moved back in the 1960s when the church was torn down. The new sanctuary now sits on Craig Road and has been expanded to accommodate its growing congregation.

Back in late 1990s, an essence hardware store stood on the spot on Olive, but it was destroyed by fire.

The mayor didn't know why the headstones were not found when the store was built, "So they were moved where they needed to be."

One of the headstones found has the engraving "W D Ewen 1838-1912". It and all the others will soon be moved to the Bellerive Forever Cemetery. We called the developer of the project, but he never returned our calls.

The CVS pharmacy will pay for the tombstones to be delivered and set up.

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Workers find 1700 Gravestone

The workers expected to find bones as they dug below Washington Square Park. After all, the remains of as many as 20,000 people are believed to be lying below. But as the backhoe scooped away earth last Friday, it instead revealed a 210-year-old gravestone, the writing still clear.

�Here lies the body of James Jackson,� the inscription declares, �who departed this life the 22nd day of September 1799 aged 28 years native of the county of Kildare Ireland.�

The three-foot-tall sandstone marker is believed to be the first found in the area, which served as a burial ground for the indigent � a potter�s field � long before the land was developed into a park known for its dramatic archway and its central place in Greenwich Village.

Several times during the restoration of the park workers have encountered loose bones and intact skeletons. Because most of the dead were buried in shrouds or in unmarked wooden coffins, the headstone was an unexpected find.

�It�s very unusual,� said Joan H. Geismar, the archaeological consultant for the parks department who made the discovery. �In fact, I�m stunned.�

The headstone, which is in pristine condition, was uncovered about two and a half feet below ground near the southwest corner of the park during preparation work for the next phase of redevelopment of the park. (Passers-by have stopped to peer into the hole and ask workers about the find, one of whom called in news of the discovery to the Washington Square Park blog.)

After the discovery, workers dug seven feet below the gravestone but found no body, which could have been moved when the area was covered over and developed into parade grounds.

Even in the absence of a body, the city is hoping to learn more about the young Irish immigrant who was apparently buried nearby, said the parks commissioner, Adrian Benepe. �They�re going to try to unravel the mystery of James Jackson and how the headstone came to be there,� he said.

The New-York Historical Society has identified one James Jackson, of 19 East George Street, who was listed in city death records on Sept. 23, 1799, Ms. Geismar said. In that record his occupation is listed as a watchman, though a city directory at the time listed him as a grocer. �There are many fewer Jacksons than I would have expected in the directory,� Ms. Geismar said. �Chances are this is him.�

Diana di Zerega Wall, an archaeology professor at the City University of New York and the author of �Unearthing Gotham: The Archaeology of New York City� (Yale University Press, 2003), said that at the time Mr. Jackson was put to rest, the city was wrestling with a series of yellow fever outbreaks.

The area was used by the city as a potter�s field from 1797 to 1826 as well as a cemetery by at least one church, Ms. Wall said. �They needed more places to bury people, so they opened another burial ground in the area that became Washington Square Park,� she said.

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Man helps reveal identity of soldier

A Mission Viejo man who found the military headstone of a soldier who died in 1916 may never learn how it got beneath the front porch of his then-rental home in Old Towne Orange.

But, 16 years after finding the broken marble stone, John Giannini's tenacity led to events that on Tuesday turned up a thumbnail sketch of Sgt. Alvin H. Green, and even the location of where he is buried.

�I feel great,� Giannini, now 87, said Tuesday. �I'm glad they found him.�

In 1994, Giannini and a son were repairing the front porch of the house at 166 S. Lemon St. in Orange, across from American Legion Hall, Post 132.

�When we opened it up, it was solid full of beer bottles,� Giannini said. �We cleared the bottles out, and I'm digging about three feet down and I hit a stone.�

Giannini said when he pulled the stone out of the ground, he wasn't too excited about his find.

�We didn't think much of it, because at that time, I was rebuilding a house,� he said.

Giannini put the stone into storage and went about restoring the home. It was eventually moved to another shed in Orange and finally a shed in Mission Viejo, where it stayed for 10 years.

Giannini remembered the headstone last year when the shed blew over.

Giannini, who served in the U.S. Navy in World War II, cleaned the headstone and realized it might be tied to an even earlier war.

�I thought that we should do something to get it into a graveyard,� he said.

Giannini tried to find a listing for the Green family. He went to the Main Library & History Center in Orange, as well as City Hall, with no success. Finally, he turned to the newspaper.

�I thought � �Hopefully, somebody will remember him,'� Giannini said.

Green was remembered � by the National Cemetery Administration, an arm of Veterans Affairs.

Contacted by The Orange County Register, spokesman Kenneth Johnson said records show Green died Sept. 3, 1916. But there was no record in the California National Cemeteries or in the Nationwide Gravesite Locator of where Green was buried.

Cynthia Nunez, director of the Los Angeles National Cemetery, said the stone's design suggested Green may have served in the Spanish-American War

�I would think that this is a replacement stone,� Nunez said. �Either he was re-interred, or this stone broke and the family asked for this stone.�

Nunez said it was common for families to ask for and receive replaced stones for military personnel.

�It's common that people will find them almost everywhere,� she said. �So that policy has been changed, and we properly dispose of the replacements.�

Proper disposal of stones includes breaking them up and spreading the pieces across the grounds, Nunez said. With Green's stone, this will be done at Los Angeles National Cemetery.

Johnson said the 1910 census showed Green was stationed at the Presidio of Monterey, with his infantry unit in Arizona and Mexico at the time of his death.

On Monday, Nunez was at Giannini's home to retrieve the stone. As it was placed into the bed of a cemetery pickup truck, Giannini shed tears.

�Being a veteran makes me feel this way,� he said. �I say a prayer for him every night. I don't mean to be a baby, but that's how I feel.�

But the story didn't end there.

Tuesday, a reader saw a Register story online about the headstone transfer and pointed a reporter to a database that lists an Alvin H. Green buried at Santa Ana Cemetery. The reporter went to the plot and found a small monument, with the name and date of death matching federal records for the Army sergeant.

According to that stone, Green was 37 when he died.

Julio Amarillas, the cemetery manager, said records were checked Tuesday and it was determined that the headstone from Orange was that of the man buried in Santa Ana.

�It's just awesome,� he said. �When he died, he was on his fifth enlistment.�

Green died of exhaustion, records show, with his last residence in Mexico. It is unclear if he was in the service at the time. The sergeant, who was single, is buried next to family members.

Johnson said that if the remains of the man whose headstone was found in Orange are indeed at Santa Ana Cemetery, and a relative is found and requests a new military stone, the federal government would provide one for free.

The new headstone would go in front of the monument.

Update: Remains for 1916 tombstone found

SANTA ANA � A cemetery manager Tuesday confirmed that the remains of Sgt. Alvin H. Green � whose headstone was found beneath the porch of a home in Old Towne Orange 20 years ago � are buried here.

How the headstone and remains were separated is still a mystery.

On Monday, John Giannini, 87, turned the broken, marble headstone of a soldier who might have fought in the Spanish-American War over to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Tuesday, readers saw a Register story online about the transfer and pointed the reporter to a database that lists an Alvin H. Green buried at Santa Ana Cemetery. The reporter went out to the plot and found a small monument, with the name and exact date of death matching federal records for the Army sergeant.

According to the monument, the buried Green was 37 at the time of his death.

Julio Amarillas, the cemetery manager, said records were checked this afternoon and it was determined the headstone was in fact that of the man buried here.

"It's just awesome,'' he said. "I like that you're able to be 100 percent sure. ... When he died, he was on his fifth enlistment. I guess he made a career out of it.''

Green died of exhaustion, records show, with his last residence in Mexico. It is unclear if he was in the service at the time. The sergeant, who was single, is buried next to family members.

Representatives of the Los Angeles National Cemetery met Giannini at his home in Mission Viejo on Monday to retrieve the infantryman's headstone nearly 20 years after Giannini found it under the front porch of his rental property.

In 1994, Giannini and a son were attempting to repair the front wooden porch of the home at 166 S. Lemon St. in Orange, across the street from American Legion Hall, Post 132.

"When we opened it up, it was solid full of beer bottles," Giannini said. "We cleared the bottles out, and I'm digging about three feet down and I hit a stone."

Giannini said when he pulled the headstone out of the ground, he wasn't too excited about his find.

"I thought that maybe we were in a place where they buried people," he said. "We didn't think much of it, because at that time, I was rebuilding a house."

Giannini put the headstone into a storage shed and went about restoring the home. The headstone was eventually moved to another shed in Orange and finally a shed in Mission Viejo, where it stayed for 10 years.

"Then we forget about it," he said.

Giannini was reminded about the headstone last year when the storage shed it was kept in was blown over by the wind.

"We found it again," Giannini said.

Giannini, who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, cleaned the headstone and realized it was from a war before when he served. Because the dates of birth and death were missing from the stone, Giannini said he could only guess that it was from the World War I era.

"I thought that we should do something to get it into a graveyard," he said.

Giannini tried to find a listing for the Green family. He went to the Main Library & History Center in Orange, as well as City Hall, with no success. Finally, he turned to the newspaper.

"I thought, 'Surely, if it gets in the paper people will read it and maybe they will remember the name,'" Giannini said. "Hopefully, somebody will remember him."

Giannini might have struck gold (A phone message was left to get his reaction).

Green was remembered � by the National Cemetery Administration, an arm of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Spokesman Kenneth Johnson said records show that Green died Sept. 3, 1916 (A birth date was not available). But there is no record in any of the California National Cemeteries or in the Nationwide Gravesite Locator of where Green was buried.

There are no birth or death dates on the headstone.

"We are thinking that he was buried in a private cemetery," said Cynthia Nunez, director of the Los Angeles National Cemetery.

Nunez, contacted by the Register about the headstone, said the design of the stone shows that Green served in the Spanish-American War (1898), or possibly the Civil War (1861-65).

"I would think that this is a replacement stone," Nunez said. "Either he was re-interred or this stone broke and the family asked for this stone."

Nunez said it was formerly common practice for families to ask for and receive replaced headstones from military personnel.

"It's common that people will find them almost everywhere," she said. "So that policy has been changed, and we properly dispose of the replacements."

Proper disposal of headstones includes breaking up the stone into pieces and spreading them across the grounds, Nunez said. This would be done with Green's stone, at Los Angeles National Cemetery.

But Johnson said that if Green's remains are indeed at Santa Ana Cemetery, and a relative is found and requests a new military headstone, the federal government would provide one for free. The new headstone would go in front of the monument.

Johnson said the 1910 census showed Green was stationed at the Presidio of Monterey, with his infantry unit in Arizona and Mexico at the time of Green's death.

"This particular stone, we don't know why it ended up at a private residence in Orange, California," Johnson said.

On Monday, as the stone was placed into the bed of a Los Angeles National Cemetery pickup truck, Giannini shed tears.

"Being a veteran makes me feel this way," he said. "I say a prayer for him every night. I don't mean to be a baby, but that's how I feel."

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Allen Dale June

Allen Dale June, a World War II Navajo Code Talker, died at the age of 91. In WWII, the Code Talkers were able to pass messages along in their native language so that the Japanese were not able to decode the messages. There are only two of the original 29 still alive.

Allen Dale June and Navajo Code Talkers Received Congressional Gold Medal in 2001

He died of natural causes in Prescott at the veteran Assistance Hospital. June was a sergeant, and he was a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal in 2001 along with the rest of the group.

The WWII Code Talkers included hundreds of Navajos, and the original 29 were the ones who developed the code. The world did not learn of the Code Talkers’ huge role in the war until it was declassified in 1968. They were part of every Marine assault in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945. They decoded thousands of messages without any errors. Their service was critical to the ultimate outcome of World War II.

The remaining World War II veterans are quickly dwindling because of their advanced age. It is sad to see the passing of the greatest generation. They really made such a major difference in the history of the world. The Code Talkers were an amazing part of the Allied success.

One of original Navajo Code Talkers dies in Arizona
Group in World War II transmitted messages in native language

The Code Talkers took part in every assault the Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942
to 1945. They sent thousands of messages without error on Japanese troop movements,
battlefield tactics and other communications critical to the war's ultimate outcome.

Several hundred Navajos served as Code Talkers during the war, but a group of 29 that
included June developed the code based on their native language. Their role in the war
wasn't declassified until 1968.

June, who attained the rank of sergeant, received the Congressional Gold Medal in
2001 along with other members of the original Code Talkers.

With his death, only two of the 29 are still living.

"The Navajo Nation lost a great warrior," Tribal Council Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan
said in a statement. "His unique service to his country brought positive attention to the
Navajo Nation. He will be missed."

June first tried to sign up for the Marines in his hometown of Kaibeto on the Navajo Nation,
but a recruiter told him he was too young. He then traveled to the reservation town of Chinle
to enlist � because he figured people there wouldn't recognize him � and he could lie
about his age and forge his father's signature, Virginia June said.

Even after the code was declassified in 1968, June said little about his role as a Code Talker
because he viewed it as bragging, his wife said. Anyone who saw him in the past several years
might have been able to guess he was a Code Talker, as he wore a red Navajo Code Talker
cap with his name on it wherever he went and a black leather jacket with "Marines" written
across the back. He completed his look with a bolo tie that had a large turquoise stone.

Virginia June routinely handed out cards bearing Allen June's picture and rank in the
Marines that he had autographed.

Besides his wife, Allen June is survived by 10 children. Funeral services are scheduled for
Monday in Page, with burial in Kaibeto.

Member Of Original 29 Code Talkers Dies In Arizona

CAMP VERDE, Ariz. -- Lloyd Oliver wasn't much of a talker, but it was clear that he was proud to have his native language serve as a key weapon during World War II. As part of an elite group of Marines, he helped develop and implement a code based on the Navajo language that helped win the war.

Years later, his hearing remained impaired because of gun blasts and other explosives during the war. He rarely brought up his time as a Code Talker, but his eyes gleamed when holding a picture of himself in his uniform. He kept a Marine cap and a U.S. flag displayed on his bedroom walls in the home he shared with his wife on the Yavapai Apache Reservation.

Oliver's death Wednesday means that only one of the original 29 Navajo Code Talkers survives - Chester Nez of Albuquerque, N.M. Oliver died at a hospice center in the Phoenix suburb of Avondale where he had been staying for about three weeks, his nephew, Lawrence, said Friday.

Military records put his age as 87 although Oliver's wife said he was 88 when he died.

"It's very heartbreaking to know that we are losing our Navajo Code Talkers, and especially one of the original 29 whose stories would be tremendously valuable," said Yvonne Murphy, secretary of the Navajo Code Talkers Foundation.

Hundreds of Navajos followed in the original code talkers' footsteps, sending thousands of messages without error on Japanese troop movements, battlefield tactics and other communications critical to the war's ultimate outcome.

The Code Talkers took part in every assault the Marines conducted in the Pacific.

Navajo President Ben Shelly called Oliver a "national treasure" and ordered flags lowered across the reservation in his honor.

Oliver, who preferred not to have a hearing aid, spoke audibly but his words could be difficult to understand.

The Code Talkers were instructed not to discuss their roles and felt compelled to honor those orders even after the code was declassified in 1968. His military records make a single mention of "code talker." He otherwise was listed as "communication duty," or "communication personnel."

Oliver was attending school in Shiprock, N.M., when he signed up for the Marine Corps in 1942 and was discharged as a corporal three years later. Much of his military record focuses on the financial support he provided for his siblings.

Oliver wrote in a 1943 document that his father died recently and his mother didn't make enough to take care of them. He would send $15 or $20 a month to his mother, Ollie, who worked at the U.S. Army's Navajo Ordnance Depot in Bellemont at the time.

"I am now the chief support," he declared in the document.

Oliver's brother, Willard, also served as a Code Talker and died in October 2009. Lawrence Oliver, who is Willard's son, said the two men never spent much time together because his father lived on the reservation and his uncle worked as a silversmith in the Phoenix area.

He recalled one day in the early 1970s when Willard Oliver looked toward a mountain on to a dirt road in the reservation town of Lukachukai and saw a man driving up.

"I'm looking for Willard Oliver," Lawrence Oliver recalled the man saying.

Turns out, the driver - Lloyd Oliver - was in the right place.

When he married his second wife, Lucille, in 2006 after they had been together for years, he was able to mutter "I do." But "those were the only two words," she said.

The couple moved to the Phoenix area last year as his health was failing. His family remembered him as a quiet, giving man.

"We will miss his wonderful smile most of all. He loved his family and was very proud to be a Navajo Code Talker," his stepdaughter, Louanna Hall said in a statement.

Oliver's attention to cleanliness was meticulous. He smoothed out wrinkles in a tablecloth, picked up crumbs from the floor, and brushed the dirt off the stucco wall and rose petals off the driveway during a visit with The Associated Press in September 2009.

Oliver communicated with most people through body language or notes, though he could understand what was being said and particularly liked being spoken to in Navajo.

During the visit with the AP, he muttered his recollection of his service as "overseas in the war," and laughed off assertions that he was famous for it.

Oliver's life was peppered with honors and awards after the Code Talkers became well known. He received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2001 and served as a guest of honor in the nation's largest Veterans Day parade.

Oliver traveled with his grandson and a dozen other Code Talkers to New York in November 2009. He smiled as he looked up at the tall buildings and visited HBO studios and Ellis Island, said Murphy, of the Navajo Code Talkers Association, who went along on the trip.

"He was such a sweet man," said Murphy, the daughter of a Code Talker. "His disposition and character spoke widely of him even though he wasn't verbal."

Oliver's funeral was scheduled for Saturday morning at a church on the Gila River Indian Community reservation south of Phoenix.

KPHO News
March 18, 2011

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