Central IL students honor Civil War veteran with proper burial
PONTIAC, Ill. (WCIA) — This week marked a ceremony 105 years in the making.
Private William Clark was a Civil War Union veteran from Pontiac who died in 1919. On Thursday, thanks to a class of students from Pontiac High School and Clark’s great-grandchildren, he was finally given a military burial and a gravestone.
“This is one that’s going to stay with me for the rest of my life,” said the students’ teacher, Paul Ritter.
William Clark was 19 when he enlisted in the Union Army’s 14th Illinois Cavalry as a horse soldier. When he died in 1919 for unknown reasons, his grave was missing a key element.
“We visited gravesites here, never knowing our great-grandfather died nearby,” said Pam Lewis, one of Clark’s three great-grandchildren. “None of our father’s siblings survived. There’s no one to ask why William Clark and his wife, Mary, were buried without headstones.”
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When Paul Ritter’s environmental science class learned of this nearly two years ago, they got to work.
“The reality is these kids did all the work. They’re the real superstars and heroes,” Ritter said. “They did everything from figuring out where it’s at and how to get the tombstone, how to put it in the ground, [to] putting it in the ground, [to] setting up today’s ceremony.”
Students worked with Clark’s great-grandchildren and the federal government to get a gravestone befitting a veteran. It completed Clark’s grave on Wednesday — on his 180th birthday.
“I’ve learned that just a few people can come together and do awesome things,” sophomore student Lauren Russow said. “I mean, this is just a group of high school students, and we’ve come together and put in a tombstone for this man. And it’s just it’s a huge honor to be able to be here.”
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Then Thursday, students set up a military ceremony celebrating his life and righting wrongs.
“Everything just came off unbelievably,” Ritter said, “having the honor guard here, having Taps played, the community members who came out — it couldn’t be more amazing.”
Lewis came out for the ceremony, and is now looking forward to celebrating her great-grandfather for years to come.
“William Clark deserves this honor. And from now on, on Memorial Day and Veterans Day when they put out the flags, he’s going to get one,” she said.
It was a celebration long overdue — and a birthday present not easily forgotten.
“The students did a great job. You know, it’s one of the greatest privileges. But if you really think about the impact, this is something that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life,” Ritter said.
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