Spouse receives footstone for late veteran after 32 years

Fr. Ignazio Medina, at right, says a prayer as he sprinkles holy water on the newly installed footstone for Army veteran Leon Hoelscher. Hoelscher's widow, Elizabeth Hoelscher-Siebeneck, third from left, has worked for years to get him the brass marker at his grave, and Thursday, it finally happened. Standing with Hoelscher-Siebeneck are her children, from left, Sarah Struemph, Mike Hoelscher and Rebecca Hoelscher.
Fr. Ignazio Medina, at right, says a prayer as he sprinkles holy water on the newly installed footstone for Army veteran Leon Hoelscher. Hoelscher's widow, Elizabeth Hoelscher-Siebeneck, third from left, has worked for years to get him the brass marker at his grave, and Thursday, it finally happened. Standing with Hoelscher-Siebeneck are her children, from left, Sarah Struemph, Mike Hoelscher and Rebecca Hoelscher.

A crowd gathered around a headstone at St. Stanislaus Cemetery in Wardsville on Thursday as the church bell tolled, the bang of the 21-gun salute echoing across the cemetery. A silence fell as the honor guard played "Taps."

After 32 years, Wardsville resident Elizabeth Hoelscher-Siebeneck was able to see a military footstone placed on her late husband's grave.

U.S. Army veteran Leon Hoelscher died suddenly June 24, 1985, leaving behind his wife and three children - Michael Hoelscher, Rebecca Hoelscher and Sarah Struemph. After his death, Hoelscher-Siebeneck applied to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for a military marker for her late husband's grave but was told he would not receive one because she had already purchased a headstone, making him ineligible for the military footstone.

The VA can furnish a government headstone or marker for veterans who died on or after Nov. 1, 1990, and whose graves have privately purchased headstones, according to the VA National Cemetery Administration website. However, eligible veterans who died before Nov. 1, 1990, could not receive a furnished government headstone or marker, by law, if they were buried in private cemeteries and their graves were marked.

"Dad deserved this just like the next veteran, so there's no reason he shouldn't have gotten it," Rebecca Hoelscher said.

Since then, Hoelscher-Siebeneck worked relentlessly to get a footstone for her late husband. She wrote to Missouri lawmakers and the VA several times with no success.

"It's not that I couldn't afford or buy the footstone, but the government should have given him the honor," she said. "It's just been a long time, and he deserves it."

It wasn't until Jim Rosenberg, state director for the American Legion Riders and assistant director for the local chapter in Jefferson City, heard about Hoelscher-Siebeneck's story and decided to help. Rosenberg passed on her story, and eventually the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States were able to purchase a footstone.

Leon Hoelscher joined the U.S. Army in August 1966. After attending basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, he was transfered to the 339th Engineer Battalion at Fort Lewis, Washington. He was transferred temporarily to Thule Air Base in Greenland in March 1967, and he and other soldiers were given drugs by military researchers to test which substances affected them in higher altitudes while he was at the base, Hoelscher-Siebeneck said.

Leon Hoelscher later returned to Fort Lewis and was discharged in August 1968. After being discharged, he went on to work as a plumber.

"Now he has a military foot marker, and everybody will know that he is a veteran. And he'll get his flag on Veteran's Day, Fourth of July. Before, he didn't get that recognition," Hoelscher-Siebeneck said.

After "Taps," the crowd was smiling and passed around hugs. Rebecca Hoelscher said this wasn't a time to mourn; it was a time to celebrate.