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veteran

Free Park Entrance on Veteran’s Day

In honor of the service and sacrifices of veterans, Director of the National Park Service Jon Jarvis has announced that all national park units will waive entrance fees on Veteran’s Day, Wednesday, November 11, 2015, including Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield.

Wilson’s Creek NB has always encouraged our active duty and veteran military personnel to visit the battlefield.  According to Supt Hillmer, “Military staff rides have occurred at the battlefield for decades. They study the topography, the weapons and command decisions on their visits.  Their next deployment is usually overseas to defend our country.”

Active duty military personnel are also encouraged to obtain a free Military Pass to the national parks and public lands.  The pass is available at the Wilson’s Creek visitor center and is valid for one year.  Military personnel must show their military identification to receive the pass.

Civil War Veteran Burial

Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield staff and volunteers will be participating in the internment of a Major Raphael Guido Rombauer on Saturday April 11, at Park Cemetery in Carthage, Missouri. The ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. with graveside service at 1:30 p.m. The public is invited to attend.

“If you have a love of history, especially the Civil War, you need to attend this ceremony, or at least pause at 1:30 p.m., to give honor to this father, husband, and Civil War Soldier, who will finally be laid to rest on Saturday”, according to Supt Hillmer. He continued, “This may be the last Civil War soldier buried in your lifetime.”

A native of Austria-Hungary, Rombauer immigrated to St. Louis, Missouri in the late 1840s. With tensions rising in the spring of 1861, he enlisted in Company A, 1st Missouri Infantry. A ninety-day unit, Rombauer was discharged before that unit’s participation at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek. Rombauer subsequently enlisted in an Illinois artillery unit and ended the war with the rank of major. Following the war, he settled in the Carthage area and became involved in coal mining and railroads. He eventually lived in Kirksville where he died in 1912 at the age of 75. His remains were sent to St. Louis for cremation, where they remained unclaimed for 102 years. His remains were brought to the attention of Elizabeth Young, his great granddaughter who claimed them. Rombauer will be interned in his family’s plot at Park Cemetery with full honors.

“A number of organizations have working together over the past few months to ensure that Major Rombauer’s remains are finally interned with dignity”, remarked Chief Park Ranger John Sutton. “The Carthage Community Band will provide music, the Holmes’ Brigade, a federal Civil War reenactment unit, will escort the remains. The Sons of Union Veterans and the Daughters of Union Veterans, the U.S. Army and the staff of Park Cemetery will all have a role. The National Park Service has been requested to fire an artillery salute, representing his artillery service during the Civil War.” Major Rombauer will be interned almost 150 years to the day after the surrender of Confederate forces at Appomattox, Virginia which essentially ended the Civil War.