(Left) From the afternoon of Saturday July 23, 1921 until 10 a.m. the next day, thousands of residents filed by the closed casket of Henry Ostendorf that was guarded by soldiers, sailors and Marines at the Madison County Courthouse. He was the first soldier from Madison County to die in World War I. (Photo courtesy of the Madison County Historical Society.) Right: The mystery statue at Ostendorf 's grave site.

World War I Mystery at Maryville, IL Cemetery 

By Madison Menz
Staff Writer

In the small town of Maryville, Illinois, a part of Madison County, with a population of less than 8,000 lies the remarkable story of one First World War veteran and a mysterious statue representing his bravery and sacrifice he made. Why is the figure mysterious?

Well, it all starts at the Buck Road Cemetery where a Private Henry N. Ostendorf of the 33rd Illinois Division is buried. Private Henry N. Ostendorf was born in 1894 in Madison County and died at the young age of 24 in France on August 7, 1918, after being struck in the head by a piece of shrapnel.

Ostendorf was the first from Madison County to perish in the Great War, buried initially along the Somme River though exhumed three years later to be returned and given a proper funeral which occurred on July 24th, 1921.

Shortly after Ostendorf was buried at the Buck Road Cemetery a statue of the brave private emerged overnight, no one knows who commissioned the statue or placed the figure there. It has been a mystery for the town that not even the Madison County Historical Society can figure out.

The Kovarik family has been in charge and caretakers of the cemetery for over 60 years is one of the founding families of Maryville that is made up from an immigrant community from Czechoslovakia in the late 19th century. Buck Road Cemetery was once a Czech Catholic Cemetery but still holds its roots in its Czech heritage. Michael Kovarik, the third person in the Kovarik family to be the head caretaker of the cemetery, has no clue who has put the statue in the grave.

This soldier statue represents the importance the Kovariks have for the over 200 veterans, some ten plus veterans of the Great War, that are buried in the graveyard mean to the family, Michael a veteran himself of the Vietnam War and his son and successor Kyle a veteran of the Gulf War.

Having an event every Veterans Day and Memorial Day to honor and remember those that had served this country bravely including Private Henry Ostendorf who’s, statue reminds the people of Maryville, Illinois of the sacrifices of the brave veterans that have served the country with honor.

Madison Menz is a Fall 2018 Intern with the U.S. World War One Centennial Commission.

Read more about the mystery on the Belleville News-Democrat newspaper web site here:

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