‘A DAY OF TRIBUTE’

At Doughboy monument, Hobart gives holiday salute

Memorial Day in front of the city of Hobart’s Doughboy memorial brought up some painful memories for 94-year-old Korean War Vet Perry Bonner.

They weren’t of war or conflict itself but are war adjacent: Bonner was a young man when he saw the car accident in which five soldiers home from World War II hit a bus while speeding down Main Street. It happened almost in front of where the city’s beloved Doughboy monument now stands, he recalled.

“I was driving a milk truck, and the car must’ve come over the hill at 100 miles when it crashed into a bus,” Bonner said solemnly. “I remember one of the men killed was a twin.”

“They survived the war, and then that happened,” his son, Kyle Bonner, of Hobart, said.

Marine Corps League Trustee Ron Jackson, who emceed the city’s annual Memorial Day ceremony, explained to the small crowd surrounding the Doughboy about the big brass bell he brought with him. Many probably had seen several men out there with it on Fridays, especially when the country was in conflict.

They — members of the Marine Corps League — were out there every Friday reading the names of fallen soldiers for the week, Jackson said, and would ring the bell after each name in tribute The need for them to be out there has thankfully lessened in recent years, but that hasn’t stopped them from gathering still.

“We’ve done this for the last 15 years. We’ve been here in the rain and the heat in the summer, the wind, the cold and the snow in the winter,” Jackson said. “We’ve been out here on Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day; whatever fell on that day was not important to us until we did our prayer service to honor the

veterans that had fallen.

“We are still losing veterans every month, so we have now decided that we’re going to hold this service at the end of each quarter, and we would be honored to have you join us.”

In his last Memorial Day address to Hobart, Mayor Brian Snedecor encouraged residents to listen to and continue to share stories of veterans to ensure their memories live on.

“Hobart, I ask you to do your best to live up to the beliefs of duty, integrity, ethics, honor, courage and loyalty our service

members lived for,” Snedecor said. “Let’s do as much as possible to honor them in our daily lives.”

Annissa Keleman, one of Perry Bonner’s 11 children, said she and her siblings still in the area always bring their dad to the Memorial Day ceremony, but now, they make it more of a group effort. Keleman and

Kyle Bonner read the names on the Doughboy plaque to Perry Bonner, who doesn’t see well anymore.

“It’s really important for him to be here today, and it’s important for us to be with him,” she said.

ANDY LAVALLEY/POST-TRIBUNE PHOTOS U.S. Navy veterans and members of American Legion Post 260 Chuck Coppess, left, and Bruce Thorn salute as the colors are posted at the start of the city of Portage Memorial Day Service at Founders Square on Monday. Coppess served from 1959 to 1961, while Thorn served from 1966 to 1970.

MICHELLE L. QUINN/POST-TRIBUNE PHOTOS Hobart High School’s Wolfgang choral group sings the national anthem as Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5365 Commander Gregg Burke, left, and Marine Corps League Trustee Ron Jackson stand at attention during Hobart’s Memorial Day ceremony.

Korean War vet Perry Bonner, 94 center, talks with two of his 11 children — Annissa Keleman, left, of Portage, and Kyle Bonner, of Hobart — about the names he recognized on Hobart’s Doughboy memorial during Merrillville’s Memorial Day program.

Hobart Mayor Brian Snedecor is ambushed by granddaughters Lily, left, and Penny during the city’s Memorial Day ceremony on Monday.