MOUND CITY CEMETERY HOLDS ROLL CALL

MOUND CITY, Ill. -- Veterans of all wars will be honored during a Memorial Day service at Mound City National Cemetery today.

The program, titled "Roll Call," will recognize all veterans from the Civil War through the Vietnam War, said Clayton Bierbaum, a member of the cemetery commission.

The annual service begins at 10 a.m. It is sponsored by the Mound City National Cemetery Preservation Commission Inc.

Several other Memorial Day services are planned this weekend in Southern Illinois. The Veteran of Foreign Wars Carroll P. Foster Post in Anna will conduct a service Monday at 11 a.m. at the post. The Cobden American Legion will conduct three services Monday, at 9 a.m. at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Cobden; at 9:30 a.m. at the Cobden Cemetery; and at 10 a.m. at the Alto Pass Cemetery.

The annual Memorial Day picnic and barbecue will be held at Thebes today and Sunday. A special memorial for a civil war soldier will be held at 2 p.m. Veterans of all wars will be honored during a flag-raising ceremony Sunday at 1 p.m. at the courthouse.

A presentation of colors and firing of the cannons will be presented by the 1244th Transportation Unit, Illinois National Guard; 8th Illinois Volunteer Infantry; POW/MIA Color Guard; Company G; Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War; and Camp 1802, Sons of the Confederate Veterans of the Civil War, and the Maj. Fred DeField Cannon Battery.

Others to be present will be post commanders of the Mounds VFW, McClure American Legion, Cairo VFW, Villa Ridge American Legion, Mounds American Legion, Gold Star Mothers, and various Ladies Auxiliaries.

Jack D. Odom, chairman of the Mound City National Cemetery Preservation Commission, will be the guest speaker at the service.

Tronzo Graham of Meridian High School will present an essay on "What it Means to Have the Mound City National Cemetery in the National Historic Register."

The program this year is in honor of POWs and MIAs, said James Larry, also a member of the cemetery commission.

Miniature flags have been placed on each headstone in the cemetery by Meridian students.

The Mound City National Cemetery, situated at Routes 51 and 37 just west of Mound City, was established as a burial place for those who died at Civil War military hospitals in Mound City and nearby Cairo. The hospitals were established in the two cities in 1861.

The first patients at the Mound City hospital were men wounded in the Battle of Belmont, Mo., in November 1861. Combat at Shiloh and Fort Donelson in 1862 sent more wounded to Mound City, and the death rate began to soar.

The Mound City National Cemetery was among the first cemeteries established during the Civil War.

More than 7,500 veterans and some of their spouses are buried in the cemetery, including veterans from the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War.

The latest burial in the cemetery took place Friday with the interment of Ivery D. "I.D." Williams, of Cairo, who served 18 years in the Army and a number of years in the Air Force.

There are more than 2,600 unknown soldiers in the cemetery.

Burials in the 12-acre cemetery have slowed during the past decade, ranging from 25 to 50 a year.

The cemetery commission is looking into expanding the cemetery with the purchase of adjoining property.