Veteran gets military recognition 44 years after his death
Aberdeen American NewsApr 28, 2017
Her grandfather was
The Spanish-American War was an 1898 conflict during which the
Henegar was 93 at the time of his death in
Those records, Mohr said, were destroyed in a fire.
The fire was in
Mohr's mom,
"I didn't know the extent of how hard she tried until I got all the paperwork," she said.
After her mom died, Mohr found a folder with all of Forrest's research.
"I knew exactly what I had to do," Mohr said.
Even though a significant amount of time had passed, Mohr decided to pick up where her mom left off.
Ultimately, verifying Henegar's military service took a group effort. Mohr, who lives in
Olson was visiting Mohr in
"We kept running into dead ends," Olson said. "I finally asked Cindy if she could send me photos, and from there we were able to find out (Henegar) had medals."
The photos depicted him in uniform wearing two small medals given out for service in the Spanish-American War.
"From those medals we were able to show he was in service," Olson said.
Mohr said that 44 years after the death of her grandfather, his headstone at
The undertaking was a testament to perseverance.
"I just figured don't give up. If you can't find it in one place, look in another," Olson said. "We know now he was a veteran."
Much of the research was handled by Thune's office, he said.
As Americanism officer, Olson said he felt it was part of his job to make sure Henegar was properly recognized.
Walberg said confirming military service or military awards is part of his job, too.
"We do stuff like that all the time in this office," he said.
The age of Henegar's case made it unique, Walberg said, but his role in the process was small. The credit, Walberg said, goes to Thune's
"It's really a neat deal," Walberg said. "These are guys that served in the late 1800s, and here we are 119 years later setting a military marker to commemorate his service to this country. It just goes to show you it's never too late."
Because of the fire in
"We work with all the agencies we can and leave no stone unturned," Vrchota said.
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