Morris resident uncovers the story behind WWI memorial at Immaculate Conception Church

Not long ago, a memorial to four Gold Star World War I veterans was hidden, covered up by unkempt landscaping at the base of the flagpole in the prayer garden at Immaculate Conception Church, 516 E. Jackson St., in Morris.

Thanks to the work of Rick Martino and members of the parish, that memorial is now open for everyone to see. Martino isn’t a veteran, so it’s his way of thanking four veterans who went forgotten until just a couple of years ago: Frank Morrissey, Gerald Gross, William Graves and Leo Ostrowski, whose name is spelled “Offstrowski” on the memorial plaque.

The flagpole’s base was covered in 1991, and it was starting to come loose, Martino said, so he and others chipped off the side and put in new screws before building a wire mesh around the base.

“They weren’t taking care of it,” he said. “The bush grew over the top, and I looked at it and I couldn’t even read the top word. I saw that it was a tribute. After I read that, you know – it says it’s a tribute to these four men in loving memory from Immaculate Conception Parish of these boys who gave their all for God and country, and it lists four people. I was asking around to see if anyone knew what war they died in.”

That led Martino to Kim DesLauriers, the school’s former principal, who found two of them in the cemetery. One died in 1917 and the other in 1918, which helped Martino narrow down the dates. It also helped him narrow down that the flagpole was put up some time around 1920, although there’s no official date that he can find.

Morrissey, Gross, Graves and Ostrowski were memorialized in a book by Carter Corsello and Jeff Poundstone called “World War I Gold Star Veterans of Grundy County, Illinois,” featured by The Morris Herald in our 2023 Thank You, Veterans series.

Graves was in the Navy, according to Poundstone and Corsello’s book. He died of a heart attack while home on furlough, having been on the destroyer the USS Jacob Jones when it was sunk by a submarine. Gross was in the Army and died Feb. 4, 1918, of the Spanish flu in New York before he could be deployed to Europe. Morrissey died similarly Oct. 24, 1918, at a base hospital in Nazaire, France, days after landing.

Ostrowski was killed in action, and Corsello and Poundstone said the only connection to Morris they can find is on this plaque at Immaculate Conception.

“Our best guess is that he was a personal friend of John Jackimowicz of Morris,” according to the book. “Both John and Leo were from the same town/region in present-day Lithuania before immigrating to America. John would serve and eventually was the commander of the Morris American Legion Post 294 in 1936.”

Martino said the plan right now is to mount a new plaque on the flagpole explaining its significance. The inscription will read: “Immaculate Conception School was founded in 1890, and this flagpole was constructed nearby circa 1920. The stars and stripes flying high above the prayer garden is a remembrance of our Gold Star veterans of the Great War (WWI).”