Bio: McIlhattan, Vernald - Spencer area World War II Casualty

Transcriber: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Metzger, McIlhattan, Oates, Parrette, Pickett

Source: Spencer Centennial Book (1874 – 1974)

That summer Saturday of July 28, 1945, would have been no different than any other Saturday in a thriving busy rural town had it not been for a telegram delivered by depot agent Herman Metzger to Foster Mcllhattan, a member of the Graves Mercantile Co., at his place of business. The telegram began with the conventional words, "We regret to inform you" and went on to tell him of the death of his only son, Capt. Vernald Graves Mcllhattan, on board a Japanese vessel enroute from the Philippines to a prison in Japan.
Capt. Mcllhattan became a member of the ROTC while a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, from which he graduated. Following Pearl Harbor, he was ordered to the Philippines where he was later imprisoned by the Japanese. He suffered chest wounds during a bombing of the first ship on which he had been' placed, was transferred to another vessel where he died of wounds aggravated by unsanitary conditions and malnutrition just two days before reaching Japan, January 28, 1945. He was buried at sea.

That Saturday evening there was the usual number of country folk who had come to town to do their weekly shopping and the usual number of villagers who had gone down town to do some last minute shopping, as no stores were open on Sunday. Anyone stepping from his car to the street could sense an unusual atmosphere of quietness, intermingled with sadness and reverence. There were no hand waving or cheery greetings being called across the street, no lively conversation and loud guffaws on the street corners; the tones were subdued and the laughter absent. In the various stores to which one went to make purchases, the greetings were kind and courteous, the service efficient, but no one lingered to pass the time of day. The long awaited, yet dreaded, word had come, confirming everyone's worst fears. Methodically shoppers loaded their purchases into their cars and left a quieted shopping center. Another son had given his "last full measure of devotion" in another World War.

Later in the fall there would be a Service of Commemoration in the Municipal Hall conducted by the Rev. Arthur Oates of the Presbyterian Church of Marshfield speaking words of comfort and encouragement from the last half of John 5:4 "and this is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith." There would be a male choir of eight men from his church singing, "The City Foursquare." There would be a moving and eloquent tribute written and read by Commander R. L. Parrette of the Lee F. Pickett American Legion Post. There would be a presentation by the Post Chaplain of a United States flag to the widow with all due form and ceremony, a widow who had already received the Purple Heart from the War Department, a citation from the President of the United States, and an honor certificate from the University of Wisconsin, but his finest tribute would remain the stillness of his home town one summer Saturday evening.