Shortly after the above photo was
published in the Pekin Daily Times on November 1, the soldier was
identified by Chuck and Nina Dancey as Chuck's Uncle, Lewis Lohmann, also
known as "Uncle Scoop".
Mr. Lohmann was born on 10 April
1895. He had one sister and six brothers, including Martin and Jack
Lohmann of Pekin. He attended Pekin Community High School where he
was a classmate of Everett Dirksen who would later become minority leader
of the U.S. Senate.
During his
service in World War I, Mr. Lohmann volunteered to string a badly needed
communications line during a bombardment even though he was not expected
to survive the effort. For his valor, he was awarded the
Distinguished Service Cross personally by John J. "Black Jack" Pershing,
Commander in Chief of the American Expeditionary Forces in France.
The Distinguished Service Cross, also
known as the DSC, is our nation's second highest award for valor, second
only to the Medal of Honor. The DSC was created at the request of General
Pershing during the First World War and was signed into law by President
Woodrow Wilson on January 2, 1918. The Distinguished Service Cross
is "awarded to a person who, while serving in any capacity with the Army,
distinguishes himself or herself by extraordinary heroism .... The act or
acts of heroism must have been so notable and have involved risk of life
so extraordinary as to set the individual apart from his or her comrades."
During his service, Mr. Lohmann
suffered from "Trench Mouth" - a painful form of inflammation of the gums.
The term actually originated during World War I, when soldiers spending
extended time in the trenches suffered the effects of stress, exposure and
limited hygienic options prior to the advent of common antibiotics.
Mr. Lohmann would eventually lose all of his teeth as a result of this
condition.
Upon returning to the United States,
Mr. Lohmann attended the University of Minnesota where he would earn a law
degree. Practicing law in Minneapolis, he would eventually be
appointed the county public defender by the Hennepin County District
Judges. In 1945, he ran in the Democratic primary for Mayor of
Minneapolis but was defeated by Hubert H. Humphrey who would later become
Vice President of the United States under Lyndon Johnson and would run
unsuccessfully for U.S. President against Richard Nixon.
He died in Minneapolis on 15 February
1986. He was survived by his wife, Mildred, his son, Paul, and his
daughter, Sally Lohmann Laue - all of Minneapolis.
