On the hundredth anniversary of Armistice Day, this year, on November 11, the city of Richmond Heights will rededicate five streets named for Richmond Heights men who died in World Ward I, city attorney Kenneth Heinz has reported in council meetings recently.
The streets are Lile, Rupert, Goff, Gray and Winzenburg avenues. At 1 p.m. a commemorative street name, with the veteran’s full name, will be placed under the city’s street sign.
A ceremony at the Mid County Veterans Memorial on the grounds of The Heights will follow at 2 p.m.
See also:
- Richmond Heights Veterans Day ceremony: a resident reports
- Maplewood Veterans Memorial completed
- Veterans visit St. Mary Magdalen School
- On Veterans Day, WWII vet wears Army cap to The Heights
- Buzz cut for a 21-year U.S. Army veteran on Veterans Day
The ceremonies at Rupert, Goff and Gray were moving and well done. Neighbors attended as did Mayor Jim Thomson, Councilmen Rick Vilcek and Reginald Finny, and City Manager Amy Hamilton. It was a lovely tribute to Richmond Heights soldiers who lost their lives in WWI. Mayor Thomson also said that two soldiers (Manuel Johnson and William T.J. Nolan) who lost their lives in the war, but did not have streets named after them would also be honored with plaques.
This is excellent! I’ll have to plan a run around those streets to see the signs. A simple and cost effective way to commemorate individuals who left the relative comfort of the (in this case) Midwest to fight a war in far away places. While my home country of the Netherlands was officially “neutral” in WWI, I’m amazed to see how many families I meet, including my wife’s family, whose grandparents went on to fight in WWII; and helped ending a war that greatly affected my grandparents and that resulted in our freedom. It’s something to think about as Europeans often show such little gratitude for the United States and Americans today. That despite maybe political unwillingness at first, many Americans saw it as their duty to go out and leave their families to do heroic things.