A native Des Plaines resident, who is active in local military veterans organizations, responded to an article in last weeks Journal & Topics that asked readers who knew any of the Des Plaines residents who died in the Korean War to help with locating surviving family members.
After reading the story in the Jan. 14 Journal & Topics, August Schwiesow contacted Mike Lake, commander of Des Plaines Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2992, to say that he knew most of the Des Plaines men who perished during the Korean War, 1950-53.
Lake, who with fellow VFW members have begun planning for the communitys Memorial Day observance, said last week that the theme of the ceremony will be Remembering the Forgotten War. The Korean War claimed 33,686 American battle deaths. Lake and local resident Joseph Yi have said that the observance might include members of the five Korean churches that serve Des Plaines.
The name of Des Plaines servicemen who died in the Korean conflict are inscribed on the Lake Park Memorial Pavilion next to Lake Opeka in Des Plaines.
I knew most of them, said Schwiesow on Sunday. He mentioned that another Des Plaines resident who was a friend of his, Edmund Seuren, also died in the war. In last weeks Journal & Topics story, Lake said the Des Plaines servicemen who died during the conflict were Richard Becker, Robert Beth, Donald Engh, Sam Wakefield and William Zoellick.
Schwiesow, who served on an aircraft carrier during the Korean War, grew up with the men whose names are on the pavilions wall. They went to school and confirmation classes together in the late 1930s when Des Plaines population was around 8,000.
Those were the days, said Schwiesow. There was no traffic and every year there was a carnival along Ellinwood Street.
Schwiesow served for many years on the Des Plaines police force that included being head of the departments Detective Division.
