DAR Restores Gravestones and Memories at Historic Union Cemetery
Long Lake, MN – Members of the Lake Minnetonka Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) aren’t just restoring the gravestones of Minnesota’s pioneer families and military veterans at historic Union Cemetery. They are restoring memories as well.
The group recently discovered a gravestone at the foot of the Thies family marker. The gravestone was almost completely overgrown with grass and its engraving was made illegible with years of grime. Meticulous edging and careful scrubbing using a biodegradable solution called D/2 revealed the stone belonged to World War II veteran, Kerney J. Thies, Jr. Though still a bit stained, the engraving now clearly reads:
KERNEY J. THIES
MINNESOTA
PFC 20 INF
WORLD WAR II
MARCH 12, 1926 JUNE 17, 1945
“I couldn’t shake my fascination with Kerney’s story,” says the gravestone’s discoverer and DAR member, Gigi Hickey. “I felt like he deserved to be remembered. I began researching his life story and one thing led to another.”
Kerney, Jr. resided in Long Lake and graduated from Wayzata High School with the class of 1944 just as the Allied invasion of Europe began. “Good natured, cheerful, always ready to lend a friendly and helpful hand, Kerney was one of the best liked students in his class,” according to his published obituary courtesy of Western Hennepin County Pioneer Association (WHCPA).
Kerney, Jr. followed his WWI veteran father into military service, enlisting in the United States Army on September 18, 1944, as a member of the 20th Infantry. Following training at Camp Fannin, Texas, he was transferred overseas to New Guinea and then to the Philippines.
The following summer, Mr. and Mrs. Thies received a tragic telegram informing them that their son had been killed in action on June 17, 1945, while on military police duty on the island of Luzon, having “paid the supreme sacrifice for [his] country in the present war.” He was initially buried overseas.
The United States government gave military families the option of returning their loved one’s remains home after the war. In early 1949, Kerney’s body was among 4,504 others returned from cemeteries in New Guinea and the Philippine Islands. He was reburied at Union Cemetery on February 11, 1949.
“We are honored to have discovered and restored Kerney, Jr.’s gravestone and his war story,” says Lake Minnetonka Historic Preservation Chair, Nanci Virgin.
Now in their second summer of work, DAR members have restored 60 Union Cemetery gravestones to date. Approximately 30 more veterans’ gravestones remain in need of edging to rescue the flat markers from overgrown sod. “We remain committed to our restoration work at Union Cemetery to ensure every veteran buried at Union Cemetery is remembered,” says Virgin.
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