On Memorial Day, we pause to remember the brave men and women who gave their lives in service to our country. For most, remembrance may take the form of a flag placed on a grave, a moment of silence, or a family story passed down. But for many veterans who died in poverty or without family, especially those buried at the Milwaukee County Almshouse and Poor Farm Cemetery, their sacrifices have long gone unrecognized—until now.
At the Descendant Community, our researchers are devoted to restoring dignity to those veterans whose names and stories were nearly lost to history. These men answered the call of duty but were later buried without honor, often in unmarked graves at a county institution that served society’s most vulnerable.
Our team spends countless hours poring over ledgers, state and federal census sheets, and various military records. We comb through church registries, city directories, and death and birth certificates—each name a puzzle piece leading us closer to resurrecting the legacy of a forgotten soldier.
In 2023, we proudly honored six such men—William B. Craig, August Behrens, Charles H. Bender, G. Friedrich Bartsch, and William Herman Benz, all Civil War veterans, and Fred D. Carlos, a veteran of the Spanish-American War. Each now has a military headstone bearing his name and service—a simple yet profound act of remembrance, long overdue. They join Hermann Borghardt, a Civil War veteran whose headstone was installed in 2008.
In 2024, we created virtual memorials, honoring an additional three veterans who do not yet have headstones—Charles Bummert, Gottlieb Flügge, and Albert Melms, all Civil War veterans.
But this is just the beginning. For each identified serviceman, we do more than confirm a record of duty—we try to rebuild a life. We trace family trees, hoping to find living descendants and offer them the gift of connection. More than once, these discoveries have brought tears to our eyes and to those who never knew they were linked to a piece of this country’s history.
Join Us
This Memorial Day, we ask you to do more than remember. We ask you to reflect. To recognize that some heroes died in obscurity, and to support efforts that restore their names, their dignity, and their stories.
Join us. Honor them. Help us continue the work.
Whether through volunteering, donating or simply sharing this mission, your support makes a difference. Donations help us access genealogical databases and purchase pension files—resources vital to documenting service and applying for Veterans Administration headstones. These are the tools that help bring long-forgotten soldiers back into the light of memory.
Let us remember them not only in death, but in the way we live, the way we serve others, and the way we choose to tell the full story of our nation’s past.
