For decades American Legion Post 153 and Auxiliary have decorated the graves of Veterans at Olathe Memorial Cemetery on Memorial Day. Each year the Post would receive calls from family and friends of graves that were missed. Many different groups have participated in research to identify all of the veterans’ graves. This has resulted in identifying the graves of close to 800 veterans of conflicts for the War of 1812 to the present.
This being the 150 anniversary of the Civil War we have concentrated in identifying the graves of Civil War Veterans that are not marked. We have been able to get VA stones for 10 previously unmarked graves and are working on identifying more. One of new stones is for William C. McElwain who was from Bates County but served in the 10th Kansas Volunteer Infantry. A dedication ceremony is planned for October 15th, 2011 at 5:00 pm at the Civil War Veterans Circle, Olathe Memorial Cemetery, 718 Chestnut St., Olathe Kansas. The main speaker will be Tom Rafiner, author of Caught Between Three Fires, a book about Cass County and General Order 11.
One of the problems identifying veterans is the fluid population of the border counties through the years. Especially during the Civil War, as the tide of war changed, the population changed. As we continue our efforts to identify all veterans’ graves in the cemetery we are asking anyone knowing of a veteran interred in Olathe Memorial Cemetery whose grave is not marked to notify us at olathevetsmemorial@prodigy.net with any information you may have.
-submitted
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