‘He should be known’: The unknown soldier died in 1930. A ceremony was held last week in Wausau to honor him.

WAUSAU – The man died by suicide more than 90 years ago, leaving behind a note that identified him as a World War I veteran. It's a mystery that has lasted through the decades.

Wausau-area veterans groups in late fall of 1930 laid the man to rest, providing a service with military rites at the man's burial in "potter's field," in the southeast corner of Pine Grove Cemetery in Wausau. The term potter's field is a traditional name of an area of a cemetery used for the burials of unknown, unclaimed or impoverished people. The groups also arranged for a simple red granite marker for the man, with the words "The Unknown Soldier, Buried by Post No. 388 V.F.W. and Post No. 10 A.L."

On Wednesday, five days before Memorial Day, a group of about 10 people, including a handful of women who are part of the Wausau-area Daughters of the American Revolution organization, gathered in a steady, chilly rain to pay their respects to the man. They mourned his lonely and sorrowful death. And they honored his service.

And together they vowed to continue to look over the gravesite and meet to remember the man and his service in the years to come. The gathering came to be thanks largely to the interest and work of two of the DAR members, Carol Berens and Jane Johnson.

Berens discovered the existence of the unknown soldier's gravesite after injuring her foot.

"I fractured my foot in three places, and I couldn't walk for three months," Berens said. While she was laid up, she spent a lot of her time reading about Wausau's past on Newspapers.com, which contains digital archives of newspapers across the country, including old copies of the Wausau Daily Herald.

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She found a few stories about the man. The first one ran on Sept. 24, 1930, and outlined how a passing motorist found the deceased man while driving along the old Highway 51, and detailed the efforts local authorities were taking to identify him.

The story listed the few identifying features of the man, including how he was tattooed with the initials "P.R." in two places, on his left hand and arm. He had a tattoo of a girl's head on one arm and a sailing vessel on the other. The man had light brown hair and a beard, wore a blue work shirt and a dark blue suit, had a black-and-white checkered tie and 8-inch high work boots.

In a note written in a small book with a pencil, the man said he did not wish his friends to know of his death. Authorities believed he was not married, and the man did not mention any relatives or family members.

Another story described how the man was buried with full military rites.

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Berens shared the stories with her friends in the DAR. The details resonated with Jane Johnson, a fellow member. Johnson started thinking and planning. She spent a day at Pine Grove Cemetery in an attempt to find the grave, and did so after a woman who was walking in the area showed her the site. Cemetery officials weren't aware of the grave.

The group provided a touching tribute. They played recordings of taps and "The Star-Spangled Banner." They placed a wreath in front of the marker, and planted small flags alongside it. They read poems and other written remarks, and prayed over the grave together.

"We thought this was something we could do as a service," Johnson said. "I thought, 'He should be known. Something should be done for everybody."

Contact Keith Uhlig at 715-845-0651 or kuhlig@gannett.com. Follow him at @UhligK on Twitter and Instagram or on Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Wausau Daily Herald: Wausau's unknown soldier buried in Pine Grove Cemetery honored