Arlington Heights ceremony honors community's earliest fallen soldiers
The Civil War-era tune “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again” preceded Arlington Heights' Memorial Day ceremony at which U.S. Army Pvt. John Sieburg was added to the list of the village's fallen 160 years after being fatally shot.
During the 16 decades in between, Sieburg's name and sacrifice had largely been lost to history but were recently rediscovered by the genealogical research of his sister Caroline's great-granddaughter Nadine Lussman.
Though living in Switzerland for many years, she was assisted by the concurrent research of her Iowa-based cousin Jeff Lussman, whom she met in person for the first time during her visit to Arlington Heights for the ceremony.
Their efforts didn't unearth any photographs or pinpoint their relative's unmarked grave, but they did find the documents able to turn the “unknown Sieburg” they'd known of at the start into the 5-foot, 4-inch, hazel-eyed, auburn-haired John Sieburg — including the circumstances of his service, wounding and death at age 20 in Virginia.
Nadine said that rediscovery and ability to give him back his name were big enough, but to see how he was welcomed back by his hometown Monday was the icing on the cake. His recognition in Arlington Heights' Memorial Park is as good as any burial site in terms of a place where his family and community can honor him, she added.
“I had no expectation that this was going to be the culmination of the research I did,” Nadine said. “It was very moving. I feel that this is our ancestral home. There's a lot of Sieburg history here.”
Among the distant relatives Nadine and her own family met at the ceremony were identical twins Linda and Nancy Hoffman, who moved to Arlington Heights after growing up in Chicago. And then there was Linda Lussman Warner, who spent most of her life in Arlington Heights before moving to Valparaiso, Indiana, relatively recently.
All learned of the recent discoveries in the Daily Herald and made a point to meet Nadine at the ceremony.
“It's wonderful!” Linda Hoffman said.
Because the names of Arlington Heights' 59 fallen soldiers are read in the chronological order of the conflicts they served in, Sieburg's was the first — joining only two others from the Civil War.
Each time one of those names was read, a bell was tolled by Mikayla Stack, the daughter of the most recent Arlington Heights resident to make that ultimate sacrifice. Mikayla was only a year old when her father, James Bray Stack, was killed in action in Afghanistan in November 2010.
Mikayla's mother, Katie Stack, spoke during the ceremony about the sacrifices entire families make during war. She asked the audience to recognize Gold Star families and teach their own children the true meaning of Memorial Day.
Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes said his village's large Memorial Day parade and ceremony are products of a community that has historically honored its men and women who serve, particularly those who gave all.
“I like to call us the largest small town in America,” Hayes said. “I'm just very proud of our community on days like today.”