Have you seen it? Bronze ornament stolen from soldier’s grave

Lew Snodgrass alternated between anger and grief when he discovered the theft.

How could someone be so disrespectful?

During a recent visit to Glendale Cemetery in Akron, he was shocked to find that someone had stolen a bronze decoration from the grave of Army Pvt. Theodore W. Miller, a member of Teddy Roosevelt’s famed Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War in 1898.

The 23-year-old soldier was mortally wounded while charging San Juan Hill in Cuba, the only Akron man to be killed in the four-month war. The son of a prominent family, Miller was the brother-in-law of inventor Thomas A. Edison.

Snodgrass, 68, a member of Summit County Historical Society, Cuyahoga Falls Historical Society and Summit County World War II, Korean and Vietnam Roundtable, felt competing emotions when he made the discovery.

“Frankly, I was pissed and heartbroken,” he said.

Now he’s doing everything he can to recover the artifact, contacting cemetery officials, Akron police, major recyclers, antique dealers, local historians, area veterans and media outlets, among others.

“I’ve been trying to keep the momentum going on finding this,” Snodgrass said.

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Snodgrass retired from teaching at Firestone Community Learning Center in 2019 and continues to work as a substitute in Cuyahoga Falls. Northeast Ohio radio listeners might better know him as Lew Roberts, a disc jockey who has worked at WKDD, WONE, WDOK and WQRC.

For roughly a decade, Snodgrass has tended to the grave in Section 22 at Glendale. He stumbled across it about 2012 or 2013 while visiting the final resting place of Barberton founder O.C. Barber.

“I started walking around there and saw it: ‘Wow, this guy was a Rough Rider,’ ” he said. “Moreover, he’s not just a Rough Rider. He got taken out on San Juan Hill.”

Overgrown with grass, the oval, granite marker was covered in crud. Its bronze decoration had turned green with age. Snodgrass decided to do something.

“Every Memorial Day, I go out there,” he said. “I take a brush, a bucket, some water, some Windex. I take my weed wacker. And I clean that gravesite up. I take my little shovel and I pull back the soil to where you can read the entire epitaph on the back and front of the stone.”

Snodgrass said he tries to “make it look like a million bucks.” As a finishing touch, he sticks American flags in the ground to honor the U.S. soldier.

‘Fortunate Son’ went to war

Theodore Westwood Miller was the youngest son of Akron industrialist Lewis Miller and his wife, Mary. He was born Jan. 30, 1875, in Oak Place, the family mansion that stands near Glendale on a bluff overlooking Akron’s Innerbelt.

“He’s quite a colorful individual,” Snodgrass said.

The Millers raised 11 children in the home, which later served as the backdrop when Theodore’s sister Mina married inventor Thomas Edison on Feb. 24, 1886.

Miller attended Perkins grade school and Akron High School. In 1893, he left for Yale, where he played football, joined the rowing team and sang in the men’s choir. After graduation in 1897, he entered New York Law School.

He was on his way to becoming a lawyer when the U.S. warship Maine exploded Feb. 15, 1898, in Havana Harbor off Cuba, killing 265 sailors. Many Americans believed that a Spanish mine was to blame.

“Remember the Maine!” became a battle cry.

The United States declared war April 25, 1898, with government leaders vowing to liberate Cuba from Spanish rule. Akron sent 278 soldiers to war.

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Miller joined the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, better known as the Rough Riders, a regiment led by Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt. Miller’s Yale buddy David Goodrich, a son of B.F. Goodrich, had already enlisted.

Snodgrass said it reminds him of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Vietnam-era song “Fortunate Son,” whose 1969 lyrics include: “It ain’t me, it ain’t me. I ain’t no millionaire’s son. It ain’t me, it ain’t me. I ain’t no fortunate one.”

“Well, this guy was a fortunate son, and he decided to go off and serve his country anyhow, despite being wealthy and privileged,” Snodgrass said.

On June 15, Miller left for Cuba in a 50-ship convoy. He was mortally wounded in the Battle of San Juan Hill as U.S. troops charged a Spanish fort July 1. He died a week later at a Red Cross shelter, one of 385 Americans killed in the war.

Roosevelt mourned the death of the “gallant young fellow from Yale.”

In a letter to a colleague, he wrote: “Pray tell the members of his family for me, how sincere my sympathy with them is and how much I appreciate the quiet heroism of Theodore Miller — one of the best men in a regiment full of good men.”

The Spanish surrendered Aug. 12 and signed a peace treaty Dec. 12.

The next year, Yale classmates paid tribute to Miller by building a memorial gate that still stands today on the campus in New Haven, Connecticut.

Snodgrass contacted the Yale Alumni Association to notify officials of the theft.

Missing ornament described

The missing bronze ornament is a large replica of a two-piece medal that Roosevelt awarded to troops.

It bears the insignia “1st. U.S. VOL. CAV” and features a winged emblem with crossed swords and the number 98 on a diamond. It’s linked by a short chain to a medallion listing the battles of Las Guasimas, San Juan and Santiago. The center of the medallion has a square-edged, five-pointed star with “RR,” short for “Rough Riders,” in cursive letters.

The thief either cut or pried the bronze from the granite monument, leaving behind holes in the surface.

Have you seen it?

People with information about the theft can call Akron police at 330-375-2490 or 330-375-2Tip; call Summit County Crime Stoppers at 330-434-COPS; or text TIPSCO with tips to 274637. Tipsters can remain anonymous.

“The Glendale Cemetery staff and Board are disappointed by the theft of the memorial honoring the military service of Theodore Miller,” said Steven R. Kaut, chief operating officer, in a prepared statement. “Graves and memorial markers are to be shown honor and reverence deserving of those who rest not only at Glendale, but all cemeteries.  The desecration of any grave is unacceptable, and particularly of those who have honorably served and paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

“We thank Mr. Snodgrass for bringing this to our attention and will continue to work with him and the authorities to find this irreplaceable memorial. We are hopeful the attention this has received through the news and social media will help return the memorial to its proper place. In the unfortunate event it is not returned, we will work to ensure an appropriate new memorial will be installed to commemorate the life and sacrifice of Theodore Miller.”

Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com

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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Have you seen it? Bronze ornament taken from soldier’s grave