For the past seven years, the East Liberty Memorial Day Celebration hasn’t been complete without the recognition of a hometown hero, a local figure who helped shape American history through their military service.
This year, the honor is shared between four men from East Liberty, who served in volunteer infantry and cavalry units in the Spanish American War: Aaron S. Fitzpatrick, William T. Sharp, Charles A. Meddles and Ivan J. Humphreys.
Their legacy and history will be shared during the East Liberty Memorial Day ceremony at 10 a.m. Monday at the East Liberty Cemetery. Previously, this award has highlighted a variety of local military heroes, including Clara Goldsmith, a U.S Army Nurse during World War I; a personal secretary to General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing during World War I; a survivor of the Bataan Death March; a corporal who served in World War II’s Battle of the Bulge; and last year’s honoree, Civil War veteran William Humphreys.
East Liberty resident Jeff Hall and his son, attorney Tyler J. Hall, have researched the lives of these individuals and the circumstances that precipitated the short-lived Spanish American War, which lasted only three months and resulted in an overwhelming U.S. victory. Tyler will present their detailed research in a speech at Monday’s ceremony.
The last third of the 1800s saw the Cuban people desperately trying to rid themselves of the yoke of their colonizer — The Kingdom of Spain, Tyler said.
“Reaching an international fever pitch in the 1890s, many in the United States fervently objected to Spain’s treatment of the people of Cuba.The Spanish government in Cuba forced suspected revolutionaries into prison camps, among other brutal tactics.
“No group of Americans was more aghast of the situation in Cuba than the American media elite. William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, powerful and opposing New York publishers, ran blaring headlines and frenzied news articles containing a hyperbolic reporting style known as ‘yellow journalism.’”
Becoming increasingly concerned for American citizens’ safety in Cuba, Ohio’s own U.S. President William McKinley dispatched the armored cruiser USS Maine to Havana in January 1898 to send a clear message to Spain regarding the Cuban situation.
A month later, an explosion of questionable origin occurred on the Maine, killing more than 260 of her crew. Some claimed it was an underwater mine; others said it was simply an accident.
Regardless of the cause, the U.S. press was adamant that the nefarious Spain was behind the attack and that its violent antics had gone on long enough. On April 21, 1898, the United States declared war on Spain.
One who needed no convincing to join the war was then Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt. Upon the declaration of war, Roosevelt promptly resigned his post and, along with Army Colonel Leonard Wood, assembled the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, or the “Rough Riders” as they became known.
Roosevelt would go on to win the Congressional Medal of Honor and, after he was assassinated, succeed McKinley as the 26th President of the United States.
Ohio had a few volunteer infantry and cavalry units that joined the war effort. The four men from East Liberty apparently served in some of these groups.
The Ohio units seemingly never deployed to Cuba or any of the other areas that were part of the Spanish American War, like Puerto Rico, the Philippines or Guam.
“The war simply ended too quickly for our East Liberty guys to become involved,” Tyler explained. “I wish I had additional information about these four, but the truth is, we could not find out much on them.”
Of those four who served, Fitzpatrick Sharp, and Meddles are buried in the East Liberty Cemetery, where there are markers near their graves indicating their service in the Spanish American War.
It is believed Humphreys moved down the road to Union County upon his return and is buried there.
“We have found some references to their service in military records, but beyond that, we don’t know these men,” Tyler said. “In situations like this, our usual course is to rely on records or word-of-mouth stories around the community, but even those were sparse. The Spanish American War, because of its briefness, is short on written accounts.
“Certainly, we hear their last names and know that those names are recognizable in this community, but given that their brief service occurred before the turn of the 20th century, it is hardly surprising that finding folks that knew these men are hard to come by.”
The information the father and son pair came across provided some background about these service members, but little else, they said. For example, it is known that Aaron Fitzpatrick was a first-generation US citizen whose parents immigrated from Ireland.
“Beyond that, we have been left grasping for details. We do not even know for sure what military regiment each of them served in,” Tyler said. “This somewhat fruitless effort has forced the acknowledgment of a hard truth: the pertinent details of these four East Liberty boys’ lives and service may be lost.
“Truly, the memories of those whom we know have served are not found in books or records.
“No friends, the real recollections of military service are treasured and passed down from generation to generation. Around dinner tables and on front porches. At family reunions and outside the grocery store. And all that is something we are sorely missing in our country today.”
Tyler encouraged area residents to hold onto traditions and their freedom, and to find ways to come together, especially in the recent times marked by division and distress.
He concluded his speech reflecting on Ronald Reagan’s words in his Inaugural Address after being elected governor of California, “Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance, it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.”