'Can you imagine?' Wall of Honor remembers veterans killed in action

Nov. 11—Names can reflect the loss of life in war.

To honor the men and women of seven counties, the Veterans Memorial Museum of Terre Haute late last month placed seven large Plexiglass panels listing 1,133 names of veterans killed in action during World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The clear panels overlap a mural painted last year, by artist Becky Hochhalter, of a soldier paying respects to a fallen soldier. The panel names are from Vigo, Clay, Sullivan, Parke and Vermillion counties in Indiana and from Edgar and Clark counties in Illinois.

"It is all the counties that touch Vigo County. I wanted this to be more regional," said Brian Mundell, who opened the Veterans Memorial Museum 10 years ago on Veterans Day 2012 at 1129 Wabash Ave. The museum is located next to the Superior Kitchen and Bath storefront that Mundell owns and from that business, he supports the museum.

"I have veterans from all over represented in the museum. I thought it would be unique where you can see more than just Vigo County names," he said.

It took a lot of research on the internet, cross checking and referencing names.

"Martha Thiemann helped me tremendously with gathering all the names," Mundell said, adding it took about six months for the names to be checked for spelling and accuracy. "I was trying my hardest not to leave anyone off, because that is definitely not something I want to do. So we were as thorough as we can be, but that doesn't mean there is not a mistake on there somewhere."

"I did my due diligence" to get the list, Mundell said.

Once the list was completed, Mundell finally looked at the total number. "It was freaky because it was 1,133. That is the address of the building that has the mural and list of names on it," he said of the building at 1133 Wabash Ave.

The museum will have an "official dedication" of the list at 11:30 a.m. today (Nov. 11). The list will be known as "The Wall of Honor."

"I don't think people realize the impact. Look at (the former) Gertsmeyer High School," Mundell said, where 68 students were killed in World War II.

"Can you imagine?" he said of the large number of those killed in action from one high school. Terre Haute had four high schools at the time of World War II.

Relatives/friends reflect on those killed in action

David J. Toffolo, 62, never met his uncle Mauro Toffolo, but learned about him through his 92-year-old Aunt Aida Toffolo.

Mauro was a 1943 graduate of Clinton High School in Vermillion County when he was drafted into military service.

Private First Class Mauro Toffolo was 19 when he was killed in action on April 8, 1945, in Varlosen, Germany. He had entered the U.S. Army in September 1943 and after basic training, was sent overseas in June 1944. He was attached to the Company E of 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Division.

Toffolo said he was told his uncle "was intelligent and he was a pretty good artist. They would get posters for the movies in Clinton. Mauro would make artwork for the movies and they would put them up in the theater. He was kind of an intense guy," Toffolo said. "My aunt said he was real passionate and had a lot of friends, but that was not uncommon in those days."

Mauro's parents were Italian immigrants, coming to the United States in 1912. Mauro's father, John, had fought for Italy during World War I, but wanted his family to grow up in America.

"They became true Americans and didn't want anything to do with fascism," David Toffolo said.

Mauro had a brother, Bruno, who was serving in the U.S. Navy, also during Word War II. "They were inseparable, but when my Uncle Mauro got killed, he had problems, mentally, the rest of his life. He never got over it," Toffolo said.

The family has donated several items to the Veterans Memorial Museum, including a Nazi drapery, like a flag, Toffolo said. It was mailed by Mauro back to the family in Clinton, along with several other items.

Toffolo called the museum's Wall of Honor "a great idea. We need to do as much as we can to honor these men...the greatest generation," he said.

Terre Haute resident George A. Leach, now 95, served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army during World War II.

"I have a friend of mine with whose name is on the (museum) wall. It's Joe Thornberry. Him and I were playmates growing up," Leach said.

"Joe and I built balsa wood airplanes," Leach said. "There was a two-story house up the street that one of the boys we chummed around with lived there. We would go down to McMillian's (sporting goods store) and buy a 15-cent Comet airplane and build it. Then we would glue a firecracker on the bottom of it.

"We would work on adding weights until we could get it to glide good. Then we went up to that's boy's bedroom and opened the window. There was a vacant lot out there. We would light the firecracker and then glide the airplane out into the middle (of the empty lot) and blow that airplane apart," Leach said with a chuckle.

"Joe went into the service ahead of me, he was older than me. He had qualified and was flying a single-seat trainer plane and was ready to move into a twin-engine plane, but they pulled him out and said they didn't need pilots, they needed more infantry. They sent him to six weeks infantry training," Leach said.

"He came home on furlough before he went overseas and we went to a drug store and sat at table drinking a milkshake. Joe looked at me and said 'George, I will never come back.' I said, 'Oh don't think like that.' He was right. He was killed in the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium."

Joseph J. Thornberry Jr., died at the age of 19 on Jan. 6, 1945, in the Battle of the Bulge.

The Battle of the Bulge started on Dec. 16, 1944, when German forces launched a surprise attack on Allied forces in the forested Ardennes region in Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. The battle lasted until Jan. 16, 1945, after a counter offense by Allied troops forced a German withdraw.

Thornberry joined the military in February 1944 and had been overseas since Oct. 16, 1944, according to his obituary.

The museum's list of those killed in action holds a special name to Joe McDowell.

He was 8 years old when his oldest brother was killed in the Vietnam War.

Twenty-year-old U.S. Army Cpl. Larry J. McDowell died of wounds from artillery rocket mortar on July 27, 1970, while serving in the Thua Thien province during the Vietnam War.

Larry, the oldest of five children, went to Sacred Hearth School in 12 Points and then to the former Schulte High School in Terre Haute.

"He graduated and was drafted. He left right after high school," said Joe McDowell, the youngest in the family.

"I don't have a whole lot of memories of him, but one of my fondest memories was he had an old Schwinn bicycle and my dad built a wooden seat that he mounted on that bicycle and that was my seat. and my brother Larry always took me on his bicycle with him," said McDowell, now 60.

"My second oldest brother, Jim, he was a little on the ornery side. Larry was just a gentle, kind soul. My brother (Jim) would try to pick on me and Larry would certainly always be there to defend me," McDowell said.

Both Larry and Jim have passed, but Joe's two sisters, Pat and Janice, are still alive.

McDowell vividly remembers when his family received news of Larry. He said it was like being in a movie "where the black car would pull up in front of your house."

"Unfortunately this is kind of a sad memory, I remember that car pulling up and two military guys getting out of the car and come up to the door," he said.

"I am out playing, but I could see it. My dad called me home and at the time Larry had just been wounded," Joe said. "Dad told me Larry was wounded, but within a couple of days, I saw that black car pull back up to my house. They came back to tell mom and dad that Larry had passed away.

"If you have ever seen that in a movie, it is truly the way it is," McDowell said.

Within a week, McDowell would again see the black car in his Terre Haute neighborhood.

"One of my brother's buddies, Mark Houston, who lived a few doors down, in no time, I saw that car pull up to that house," Joe said. "As an 8-year-old boy, I knew what the car was doing at their house and Mark had died too. That is one of the memories that will stay with me forever," McDowell said.

U.S. Army Cpl. Mark J. Houston, 22, was killed in the Quang Ngai providence in Vietnam on June 30, 1971.

McDowell said that while most memories about his oldest brother are sad, he does remember "walking home from (the former) Rankin School one day. When my youngest sister and I got home, Larry was home. I guess on leave. He was sitting in the living room playing the song, Band of Gold (by Freda Payne). That was his favorite song," McDowell said.

"He kept playing that 45 (RPM vinyl record) over and over and over, of course until mom and dad got home," he said.

"I wish I had the opportunity to have more memories. The horrible day of Larry's funeral is just as vivid in my mind for an 8-year-old as it could ever be," McDowell said. "The horrible impact on my mother (Betty), saying 'Ray (his father), I am going to be sick.' It was right at the start, when they were going to open the curtains to the viewing room. Of course the coffin was closed," McDowell said.

McDowell said he later learned that his brother's Army buddy had run out of a bunker to try to save someone, but was killed. "My brother Larry ran out to get (his buddy) and that's when the mortar exploded and wounded Larry that day," Joe said. "I can't image being 20 years old and being over in that foreign country and the horrors of war," adding he was glad his brother had a friend.

Larry McDowell's name is on other listings, both local and national. He is listed on the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. and locally in front of the Vigo County Courthouse.

Joe McDowell said he thinks the new display at Veterans Memorial Museum "is such a great thing. They say don't ever forget and people like Brian (Mundell) won't let us."

Howard Greninger can be reached at 812-231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com. Follow on Twitter @TribStarHoward.