After over 81 years, a young man who once called Juda and Monroe home will finally be returning. David Joseph Riley was born February 18, 1916 in the Green Bay area, his biological parents named as George F. and Ethel J. (Chedister) Riley in a 1920 census.  Almost nothing is known about his earliest years, other than in August 1927 at age 11, he became the foster son and only child of Elmer and Della (Matzke) Asmus of rural Juda. He attended Juda schools into his sophomore year, as well as what was then the Evangelical Church in Juda.  As a young adult, he worked at Karlen Bakery, which was located just south of Monroe’s Square, and was a cook at the Moose Café (now Amy’s Corner Café), also in Monroe.  Prior to enlisting for a six-year stint in the Navy in May 1940, he served in the Wisconsin National Guard Company K, where it was noted that he was of “excellent” character and “faithful and honest” in his service. Following a brief leave home in July 1940, David was assigned to the USS Oklahoma.  At 25 years of age, Seaman Second Class David Joseph Riley lost his life on December 7, 1941 aboard the USS Oklahoma during Japan’s surprise military attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.  He was Green County’s first casualty of WW II.  His remains were deemed unrecoverable and unaccounted for until February 24, 2021, when the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) used forensic technology, including DNA, to identify him.  Because he was a foster child, it was a long and arduous process to get his remains returned to Green County, but on November 10, 2022, word was received from the Navy that David’s remains would finally be able to return to Juda to be laid to rest with his foster parents.

 Posthumously, David was awarded a Purple Heart, the American Campaign Medal, and the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal.  Monroe’s American Legion Post #84 was renamed Zilmer-Riley in 1947 in his honor and memory. At the time of his passing, he was survived by his foster parents, a maternal foster grandmother, Oricka Zeittlow Matzke, and other foster aunts, uncles, and cousins.  His foster mother, Della Matzke Asmus, passed on in 1960, and his foster father, Elmer, in 1976.   Present-day survivors include numerous foster cousins in the area and community members who have never forgotten his story.

The public is invited and encouraged to honor and remember David on Saturday, May 27, with a short memorial program at 11 am at Juda High School, followed by his inurnment alongside his foster parents, with full military honors, at Mt. Vernon Cemetery just outside Juda.  The Zilmer-Riley American Legion Post # 84 in Monroe will host a reception following the burial.  The public is also welcome to participate in a vehicle procession and escort from Shriner-Hager-Gohlke Funeral Home in Monroe to Juda High School, with the line-up starting at 9:15 am.  Additionally David will be remembered on Monday, May 29 at 10:30 am as part of the Memorial Day ceremony at Mt. Vernon Cemetery.

If desired, memorials in David’s name may be made to the Zilmer-Riley American Legion Post #84, the Wisconsin Patriot Guard Riders, or the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.