Marsh family memorializes brave Wisconsinites killed in action

WABENO – With the war in Afghanistan already underway, the Iraq War began with an invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

While Jon and Kathleen Marsh shared that they did not support the decision made by the Bush Administration to invade Iraq, they unconditionally supported the men and women of the U.S. military called upon to do the fighting.

Reports of casualties appeared in the media, as Kathleen knew they would. She was heartbroken over each; she knew every single one had family, friends, schoolmates, co-workers, military comrades and a life. Fearing that these precious dead would be quickly forgotten, she asked Jon to help her make sure that did not happen.

They searched for ways to accomplish their goal, deciding to establish Marsh Memorial Island on a tiny island they own in the Townsend Flowage.

At first, the goal was to honor every soldier, sailor, marine and airman killed in action (KIA) in Afghanistan and Iraq. But as the KIAs quickly mounted, they knew it was impossible and decided to honor those who had deep ties to Wisconsin.

Each KIA was to be memorialized with a cross that included their name and hometown. The Marshes’ friend and handyman Bruce Beno made the crosses from composite lumber; Kathleen ordered nameplates from a business in Antigo. Jon put the nameplates on the crosses and helped to place them in the Memorial.

Beno and Jon cleared an area of the island that was enclosed with a white picket fence. Standing guard was a four-foot-tall white cross memorializing Jon’s uncle, Lester Marsh, an Army Sergeant killed in action in New Guinea in 1943.

Jon and a friend, Wayne Deja, installed a large aluminum flagpole. The flag was lit and could be seen from all around the southern part of the Flowage.

Word spread, and families and friends of those honored came to visit. The Marshes took dozens of loved ones out on their pontoon boat to visit the memorial. Kayakers, jet skiers and boaters stopped to pay tribute to the fallen.

As the wars dragged on, more and more crosses were needed. Each occasion was marked by a new cross and a new nameplate to honor the tragic loss that occurred. The Marshes were more determined than ever to preserve the memory of these fallen military.

The couple tended to the memorial for over a decade until it all proved too much for them. They wondered what would happen when they could no longer keep it up.

From out of nowhere, the solution came when two Boy Scouts approached the local American Legion looking for a project to earn their Eagle Badges. The project they chose was to move the memorial from the Townsend Flowage to the Legion Memorial Park in Wabeno.

Of those honored, the only one Kathleen knew was Jesse Thiry, a Marine corporal from Casco killed in 2004 in Anbar Province. Jesse, whose mother lives in Townsend, worked one summer at Mike’s Supermarket. Kathleen would walk to Mike’s every morning to get her newspaper.

One day, she and Jesse struck up a conversation. She smiles when she recalls how his face would light up as he shared his dream of being a Marine. At the time, neither one of them could foresee that they would be linked forever by Kathleen’s determination that his life and the lives of all honored there would never be forgotten.