As Memorial Day approaches, communities across America prepare to honor the men and women who gave their lives to the nation in military service. In Downers Grove, one meaningful place to pause and reflect is a monument located on Maple Avenue in Memorial Park beside the Maple Grove Forest Preserve.
There, a simple rock memorial honors 43 Downers Grove men who never returned home after serving their country during World War II. Their names, permanently engraved on the plaque, stand as a reminder of the tremendous sacrifices made by local families and the profound human cost of war. Each engraved name belonged to a son, brother, father, husband, friend, or neighbor whose life ended in service to their country. Not all those from Downers Grove who died in World War II are named there. We also remember them.
On your next visit to Memorial Park, take a moment to stop at the monument and read the plaque. In doing so, you honor not only the 43 Downers Grove men memorialized there but all those who have given their lives in service for their country.
Listed here are the names of the men engraved on the Memorial Park plaque:
Harold J. Andres
Harry W. Beggs
Edward A. Bruce
Clifford R. Campbell
Carl W. Eichorst (Eickhorst)
James Forst
Elmer E. Fox
Harold W. Frazer (Fraser)
Raymond H. Gansberg
Allen A. Gregory
Richard P. Grotefeld
Arthur L. Haase
Justin Hamilton
John A. Harkness
Richard S. Henderson
Burton Huntley
Joseph P. Johnson
Arthur L. Johnston
Robert L. Jones
John W. Lesniak
Frederick F. Lester
Edward D. Lloyd
Jack Lyon
Theodore Malacha
Richard W. Mansfield
Stewart A. Millsap, Jr.
Vincent Mondello
Kenneth H. Pearson
Donald Reed
Russell Reid
Richard A. Rolt
Edward W. Ruff
Frances W. Schrank
Ernest Sterka
Robert D. Stull
William C. Swartz
Arthur C. Toft
Richard D. Vorel
George P. Warner
Lester C. Weber
Bernard A. Weier
Karl E. Wetzl