By GEORGE ROGERS
of The Gazette
An old military ceremony was re-enacted Saturday, May 19, to honor a war hero buried in Stevens Point's Forest Cemetery more than a century ago.
Old Abe Camp No. 5, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, performed the Grand Army of the Republic's burial ritual for Charles W. Dolloff. He earned the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest honor for heroism, at Petersburg, Va., in the closing days of the Civil War, as the Union army prepared to take Richmond.
Dolloff, living in Vermont when he enlisted, came to Stevens Point after the war and was fatally injured in a bridge construction accident in 1884. No mention was made in his obituary of the Medal of Honor, or even of the fact that he was a Civil War veteran.
A living Medal of Honor winner, Einar Ingman of Irma, was on hand for the ceremony. He earned it in the Korean War, leading an assault on a strongly fortified ridge, knocking out enemy machine gun positions despite serious wounds, and causing the foe to beat a disorganized retreat.
The men performing the burial ritual wore Union Army blue, and onlookers included women dressed in Civil War-era clothing.
Two Dolloff great-great-grandnephews, Bradley Hooper of Chicago and David Hooper of Lewisberry, Pa., attended and were presented with American flags. Dolloff's name is spelled "Dollefe" on his tombstone, an error for which the Hoopers could offer no ready explanation. It is spelled correctly on a new bronze grave marker, which identifies him as a Medal of Honor winner.
Speaking at the service was Einar Ingman's son, Jimmy, of Tomahawk, who graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point one day after the cemetery ceremony. He noted that most Medal of Honor winners died in the line of duty. It's time, he said, to begin recognizing the nation's heroes, rather than television stars.
Randy Novak of Oshkosh, commander of Old Abe Camp, conducted the ritual, along with Alan Petit of New London, the camp's chaplain.
Fred Murphy of Cudahy, state commander of the Sons of Union Veterans, paid tribute to Don Strube of Stevens Point, patriotic instructor of Old Abe Camp, for the role he played in arranging the event. Strube went all the way to the White House to get Dolloff's bronze military grave marker. "It is my personal opinion," said Murphy, "that somewhere, somehow Sgt. Dolloff and his comrades from the Civil War know what is happening today."
Wreaths, a rose and a flag were laid at the grave, a three-volley salute was fired by members of Old Abe Camp, and Taps were played. Among the participants were members of the UW-Stevens Point ROTC honor guard.
The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War is an organization made up of descendants of Union veterans and those who share their goals. Old Abe Camp meets in Omro, but Strube wants to organize a camp here.
Like most communities in the northern states, Stevens Point had a Grand Army of the Republic unit after the Civil War. Known as Post No. 156, it dwindled away as its members died. Numerous Civil War veterans' graves are in Forest Cemetery, and section is known as the GAR block because so many Union soldiers are buried there.