MONROE — During World War Two there were over 45 fallen service members from Green County. The day they died, their stories died too. For many, even the how, when and where they were killed was lost.
Now a statewide writer’s group headed by Jean Cookle is telling their stories. For the past three years her volunteers with Stories Behind the Stars have been researching, writing, and posting stories of the 8,600 fallen from Wisconsin. These memorial stories are posted on the veteran website Fold3.com. More than 2,300 of Wisconsin’s WWII heroes have been remembered by these dedicated volunteer writers. Cookle is hoping to double her group of volunteer writers and complete the project soon. Many of her volunteers have strong patriotic and family bonds.
Navy veteran Jeff Veesenmeyer joined Stories Behind the Stars after researching and writing about his own family member. “My Uncle Louis was killed by a kamikaze at Okinawa in 1945. We were told he was buried at sea. Nobody in our family knew much more about how he died.”
Through research Veesenmeyer was able to tell the story of a 95-minute air sea battle at Okinawa. Destroyer USS Hadley nearly sank after being hit by two bombs and four kamikazes. Thirty crewmembers were killed, 151 were wounded. His Uncle Louis had been manning a quad 40mm gun. The nine-man gun crew continued firing at a kamikaze plane until it crashed into their mount. The gun and all the men were blown out to sea. No remains for Louis were ever found. The action report listed the nine men on mount forty-four as “Outstanding in performance of duty.” Veesenmeyer posted the story on a Fold3.com memorial.
“Now my family finally knew the story. They thanked me,” recalled Veesenmeyer. “I knew I wanted to honor other service men and women the same way. I’ve told over a hundred stories like this one. And I’ve been thanked by many of their family members.”
One response to a Stories Behind the Stars story was “As my family’s amateur genealogist, I was delighted to read about PFC Howard E. Penniston, Jr... These stories are to be treasured during our lifetimes so that people like PFC Howard E. Penniston, Jr. will never be forgotten.”
This important project is part of a national non-profit organization called Stories Behind the Stars. The goal is to tell the stories of all 421,000 Americans who died during WWII. Their memorial stories are posted on Fold3.com and will be linked to a phone app. Grave site visitors will be able to scan the name on a headstone and read the fallen’s story on their phone.
Jean Cookle is the Wisconsin WWII Fallen Project Director. She is looking for more help. Her goal is to complete the remaining 6,300 fallen from Wisconsin. But she needs more volunteers. “Eighty years ago, thousands of brave Wisconsin sons and daughters fought and died for our freedom. Telling stories for those who never could is very powerful,” says Cookle. “They deserve to be remembered.”
Cookle points out that volunteering is fairly easy. Writers work from home at their own pace. This could also be a group project for a history class, a historical society or genealogy project. A bonus benefit is the free access to research sites, Fold3.com, Ancestry.com and Newspspers.com. This three-site package would normally cost $479.00 per year. But it is free to members who can also use it to search for data on their own families.
For more information Jean Cookle can be contacted at jean@storiesbehindthestars.org or visit the project website at https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org/. Discover military ancestors across more than a dozen wars and subjects at https://www.fold3.com/.
“Each time I post a story for a WWII fallen I feel proud,” says Veesenmeyer. I know I have filled in the blank years between the birth date and death date that is only a dash on a gravestone.”
