Moniteau County is proud of its veterans - and all the citizens who also sacrificed, endured and prayed during the times when everyone were called to the service of our beloved country. In 1775 George Washington said, "When we assumed the soldier, we did not lay aside the citizen." Here are stories of eight Moniteau County veterans.
First Lieut. Adolpha Meyer was an army nurse who had served 124 months in the Philippines and was taken prisoner along with 56 other nurses May 6, 1942 at Corregidor. To survive the constant attacks by the Japanese army she dug a shelter with a spoon and pan. The Americans dyed their skin with tannic acid to help blend in with the Filipinos. The army ate their horses and finally had only parched corn live on. When the American forces surrendered they were imprisoned for three months in their tunnel until they were transported to a prisoner of war camp in Santa Tomas where they struggled to live for three years. When the American forces liberated them the Japanese counter-attacked and thirty-five newly released prisoners were killed. After the war First Lieut. Adolpha Meyer remained in the army as a nurse and never received any rank promotion. Miss Adolpha Meyer, born in Moniteau County, is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
We remember the reluctant hero born in Moniteau County who won our nation's highest military award for bravery, the Congressional Medal of Honor. Joseph Epps was born near Jamestown in 1870. He moved to Oklahoma and when the Spanish American War broke out he volunteered to serve just as his father had during the Civil War and his grandfather did during the Revolutionary War. He became a private in Company B, 33rd U.S. Volunteer Infantry and was sent to the Philippines to help subdue the Filipinos who were rebelling against the American occupation. On Dec. 4, 1900, in the small village of Vigan the U.S. Army outpost was pinned down by Filipino sharpshooters. Joseph Epps charged the church yard and leaped upon the churchyard wall and ordered the insurrectos to drop their weapons and 21 rifles clattered to the ground. The battle of Vigan was over. The government searched for Epps to award him the nation's highest award for bravery in the face of hostile forces but Epps avoided the award. "I didn't want all the fuss." For 24 years the government searched for our hero. When Joseph Epps learned that the award included a $10 bonus he accepted the award. In 1926 everyone in Muskogee, Oklahoma turned out for the ceremony and a big parade that Joseph dreaded. The bands played, flags flew and his old comrades marched. Joseph Epps was awarded two Congressional Medals of Honor. One was the original design that was in effect 24 years earlier when he earned it and the other was the newly designed medal. After the ceremony Epps dropped into obscurity. We know little else except that our reluctant hero wanted to start a chicken ranch and the $10 bonus would help. Joseph Epps, 80, died in Stockton California and is buried in Muskogee, Oklahoma, Greenhill Cemetery.
William Agustus Renkin was a sergeant in the U.S. Army during the Civil War. After a battle he found a boyhood friend among the Confederate prisoners. Knowing that life in a prison camp was terrible he found a Union solder's uniform for his friend to wear and assigned him to guard a wagon. Both men survived the war. Renkin was promoted to the rank of Captain.
John Paegelow was born in Berlin, Germany in 1870. He served in the German Army where he was awarded the Iron Cross. It was the first of many military awards to follow. Paegelow immigrated to the United States in 1888 and eventually enlisted in the U.S. Army 16th Infantry in 1897. When the Spanish American War broke out he was sent to Cuba and received a serious chest wound at San Juan Hill. He was commissioned a First Lieutenant in 1901 and saw action in the Philippines and was promoted to Captain. While there he met and married Elia Wood (founder of Wood Place Library) from California, Missouri. In 1917 he entered the newly formed Air Service and became to 97th person to receive a balloon pilot's certification. And was sent to France to command Army balloon units plus six French units. He was now a Lt. Colonel. He became an intimate friend with General John Pershing. After WWI he became the commander of the nation's largest military balloon facility at Scott Air Base near St. Louis. While there he flew the TC-3 airship over California, Missouri and landed it several times at the fairgrounds. He also landed it at Boonville for the dedication of the new bridge over the Missouri River. When Colonel Paegelow retired he had received the Purple Heart, French Legion of Honor, Army Distinguished Service Medal and the French Croix de Guerre. He moved to his wife's home in California and became active in community endeavors especially the Volunteer Fire Department and Boy Scouts. He and his wife Elia are buried in the California Cemetery. An accurate scale model of his TC-3 airship in in the Moniteau County Historical Society museum and a display is in the Wood Place Library.
Sixteen year old John Jobe, California, enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1916 and served on the Mexican border where he was wounded. He was in the American Expeditionary Forces in WWI and arrived in France with General Pershing's army in 1918. He was in his fourth major battle and was his company's First Sergeant and fighting at Verdun. He remained alone protecting his fallen captain when he was killed September 5, 1918 by intense enemy fire. John W. Jobe was buried on the battlefield and then re-buried at Fismes, France and then reburied at Crown Hill Cemetery, now part of California Cemetery. He was considered the first Moniteau County veteran to die in WWI and the California American Legion Post #17 was named in his honor. However, recently James Albin, Chairman of the historical society genealogy library, found that Uel Walser, who lived north of California, was killed overseas Aug. 29, 1918, seven days before John Jobe, and given a military burial by the American Legion post. Uel Walser was shot four times in a battle with German forces near Cambria, France. He was 25 years old. He is buried in the old Crown Hill Cemetery as is John Jobe.
John Kirschman, born north of Jamestown was nineteen years old when he enlisted in the Union Army. He was the last surviving Civil War veteran in Moniteau County. He was 92 years old when he fell down his cellar steps in Jamestown and died March1, 1937.
Joseph N.H. Hooper joined the Confederate Army and was promptly captured and held as a prisoner of war at Fort McHenry. After he was released he served with a cavalry regiment of the 19th Kansas Volunteers and was promoted to 2nd Lieut. He was attached to the U.S. 7th Cavalry under General George Armstrong Custer. During a campaign against the hostile Indians, Hooper was wounded by a tomahawk. Joseph Hooper gave up the military life and came to Moniteau County and was the successful founder of Hooper Institute in Clarksburg.
Sergeant Michael Madden, from Ireland, was a survivor of the 1876 Battle of the Little Big Horn, "Custer's Last Stand." He was at the Reno-Benteen Defense Site where they were surrounded and pinned down by constant attacks from the hostiles. After several days in the June sun water became critical. Madden and other volunteers went on extremely hazardous missions to crawl down a ravine to get water from the Little Big Horn River. Madden was shot in his right leg and crawled back to safety where his leg was amputated without any antiseptic or anesthesia. He was given a cup of whiskey and survived. "Doctor, give me another one of thim (sic) and you kin cut off me other leg!" Sixteen water carriers were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Sergeant Madden was not awarded. After his discharge much of Madden's life is unknown until he showed up working at the F. Markworth and Co. in California as a saddle and harness maker. He was an alcoholic and died penniless Dec. 18, 1883. He was buried in California City Cemetery in Potter's Field. In 2011 James Albin, Genealogy Chairman, Moniteau County Historical Society was notified about this unknown burial and made arrangements to have an official U.S. military grave marker placed in this cemetery. On Veterans Day in 2011, at a public ceremony that included military reenactors of the Indian Wars, Sergeant Maddens monument was dedicated and quietly marked with a cup of whiskey. Although Madden's mortal remains, minus his right leg is unknown, Sergeant Michael Madden's existence and service is now recognized.
From the ritual of the Veterans of Foreign Wars: "On this day, forever consecrated to our heroic dead, we are assembled once again to express sincere reverence. This grave represents the resting places of many departed comrades who served in all wars. Wherever the body of a comrade lies, there the ground is hallowed. Our presence here is in solemn commemoration of all these men - an expression of our tribute to their devotion to duty, to their courage and patriotism. By their services on land, on sea and in the air they have made us all debtors - for the flag of our nation still flies over a land of free people."
Information for this article was taken from the History of Moniteau County, Volume Two, 2000, which contains over 242 veteran histories. The historical society genealogy library can help find veteran histories.