Ferncliff Cemetery places marker to honor WWII veteran interred at Arlington

Ward’s remains were identified in 2021 by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Ferncliff wanted to honor his sacrifice and connection to Clark County and was issued a bronze cenotaph or marker, executive director Shelley Baker said. The veteran was a stop on both historical and veteran tours.

The family decided to have Ward interred at Arlington National Cemetery, but according to the Office of Army Cemeteries, if an individual is memorialized by a government-issued marker, they cannot be interred at Arlington until that marker has been removed. The government will issue one marker per person, Baker said.

“I think it was a double hit because of the significance of his attachment or connection here to Clark County, being the first man to die in World War II from Clark County, but also how Ferncliff is so dedicated to our veterans section and just what that represents,” Baker said. “A lot of the things we do here at Ferncliff do kind of surround veterans.”

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Baker said that when someone is buried or memorialized at Ferncliff, there is a feeling of “permanence” or that they will be taken care of “in perpetuity.” In removing Ward’s marker, that sense was gone, although the staff was happy he was interred in the place his family wanted.

“It’s a sense of loss more than once: You have the loss of losing the person, and then you have the loss when you have to take the marker up,” Baker said. “We were consoled by knowing that he’s going to rest among his other fellow comrades in a place of profound national reverence, is how I think of Arlington.”

The loss was felt by more than Ferncliff staff; Baker said the week after the cemetery removed Ward’s cenotaph, two community members came in requesting maps to go see it.

Baker said Ferncliff wanted to continue honoring Ward’s legacy, and the best way to do that was to purchase its own bronze marker to replace the one it removed, which it gave to his family.

After World War II, 394 men had been buried as unknowns from the ship. Since 2003, at least 362 of those have been identified.

Ward was born in Springfield on Sept. 10, 1921. He graduated in 1939 from Springfield High School, enlisting in the Navy at Cincinnati, on Nov. 25, 1940. After basic training he reported to the battleship USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor.