Green’s Prairie Cemetery Memorial Day Program – May 25, 2015
By Kim Tschudy
A disturbing phone call in early April told of vandalism at the Green’s Prairie Cemetery,
just north of Postville. The caller related that one of the members of the Green’s Prairie
Cemetery Assn. had stopped at the cemetery for an early spring check.
What he found was disturbing…very disturbing. Sometime in the pervious, week vandals
had gone to the tiny cemetery and tipped and broke a number of headstones that dated to
the mid to late 1800’s. The vandalism was a senseless act of ignorance that can have no
explanation. And tragically, those responsible for this act will probably go uncaught.
The timing was of particular interest. This act occurred at just about the same date as the
150th anniversary of the surrender of General Robert E. Lee and his Confederate Army.
How, one has to ask, can anyone justify the desecration of the graves of our forefathers
who fought and, so often died, in successfully saving the Union we hold so sacred. These
men, Elisa Gorham, Rosel Crowel, John W. Stewart, George B. Thomas, Amos Conkey
and John Westcott, who died just two years after the end of the Civil War, deserved
better, much better.
Since that time in early April, much has happened at this small country cemetery which
once held the remains of Josiah LaFollette, father of Fighting Bob LaFollette, Marion
LaFollette, age 2 years, 10 months, son of Josiah and Mary, Robert W. LaFollette, age 8
months, 27 days, son of Henry and Susan LaFollette.
The Greens Prairie Cemetery Assn. in conjunction with the Green County Prairie
Enthusiasts did a prescribed prairie burn on April 26th. This burning was done to
reinvigorate this year’s new growth of the prairie. In the days before white settlement
both wild fires set off by lightening strikes, and intentionally, by the Winnebago people
who walked this land for centuries before the white settlers arrived. These burns were
done to get rid of woody invasive species which keep the prairies verdant and healthy.
Green’s Prairie Cemetery is the sole remaining remnant of original prairie which once
covered over 5000 acres in the Town of York. Walking the prairie this past Sunday an
overpowering feeling began growing deep inside. The prairie that just three weeks ago
was blackened by the prescribed burn was, today, alive with green prairie plants, rapidly
growing from their recent spring tonic of fire.
At the grave of one of the Civil War veterans three tiny flowers were in full bloom,
yellow star grass, blue violet wood sorrel, and blue eyed grass. Nearby, the compass plant
so beautifully written about in Aldo Leopold’s, Sand County Almanac, will, in August,
stand six feet tall as its beautiful yellow flowers burst forth, adding much to the beauty of
the approaching fall.
Today’s walk through Green’s Prairie told a bit more of the story. Five of the stones that
had been tipped or damaged have been up righted and re-set and once again grace the
cemetery with the dignity with which the deceased so deserve.
The work of resetting and repairing the stones was the work of Pechmann Memorials in
Madison. The business was started by current president Gerry Pechmann’s father, Kurt,
who was a stone cutter in pre-war Germany. Drafted into the German army, Kurt served
several tours of duty in Russia and was captured in Italy, where his outfit served as
machine gunners on the Gustav Line. Kurt summed up his service in three words, “war is
hell!”
As a German POW in the U.S., he spend much of his POW time in camps in Illinois and
Wisconsin, and because of his excellent treatment especially in Wisconsin, Gerry said his
dad gained 60 pounds in the U.S.
Kurt Pechmann, and now Gerry, in an effort to repay America have donated countless
hours of labor and highly discounted material for many veterans’ memorials in Wisconsin
and surrounding states. “It is because of how Kurt Pechmann was treated by his captors,
the soldiers and citizens of the United States, that he dedicated his life to honoring
America’s heroes.”
Pechmann’s Memorials will be returning soon to re-install a broken monument from
Green’s Prairie which is the largest and most ornate of the stones in this wonderful
country cemetery which is a living natural and human history museum.
At 1 PM on Memorial Day the Green’s Prairie Cemetery Assn. will be hosting their
annual Memorial Day program, which features a reading of the roll call of all veterans
buried at Green’s Prairie, several brief talks about the history of the people buried there
as well as the history of the cemetery and prairie. The public is invited and encouraged to
attend this Memorial Day Commemoration.