Memorial Day event at Antioch’s Hillside Cemetery honors brothers in war

ANTIOCH – There’s a story behind each of the several hundred soldiers buried at Antioch’s Hillside Cemetery – more soldiers than any other area cemetery.

In an effort to honor them all, as well as the service and sacrifice of military personnel throughout the country, two brothers were remembered on Memorial Day.

Cpl. Allen Hanke and Pfc. Leslie Hanke served at the same time during World War II and are buried near each other at the cemetery.

Both were Antioch natives. Allen Hanke was killed in action. Leslie Hanke was wounded.

Still living nearby in Trevor, Wisconsin, their family members were the guests of honor at a Memorial Day ceremony hosted by Antioch American Legion Post 748 and Antioch VFW Post 4551 at Hillside Cemetery. The event was one of many hosted throughout Lake County to honor the fallen.

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Candace H. Johnson-for Shaw Media Roses were placed on the grave of CPL Allen D. Hanke, who served during World War II and was killed in action on September 21st, 1944 at age 32, during the Antioch Memorial Day Ceremony at Hillside Cemetery in Antioch. Hanke's brother, PFC Leslie A. Hanke, also served during WWII and both were honored during the ceremony. The Hanke brothers are buried close to one another at the cemetery. (5/30/22) (Candace H.Johnson)

Retired U.S. Army Col. Paul Hettich, a member of both Antioch’s American Legion and VFW, facilitated Monday’s observance in Antioch for the second year in a row. He brought back the ceremony last year after at least a seven-year hiatus without a Memorial Day event.

The 2021 ceremony included the dedication of a restored monument for Capt. Leverett H. Barnes, a soldier in the War of 1812. Barnes’ headstone had fallen and been partly buried by dirt and grass through the years. Its restoration evolved into a community effort and the inspiration behind bringing back Antioch’s Memorial Day ceremony.

“Our goal is to make it better every single year,” said Hettich, a combat veteran. “To have the opportunity to come back to my hometown and work with the community and other organizations to make this happen is just an honor and privilege.”

This year, he also had the help of his 12-year-old son, Joseph, who discovered the Hanke brothers and tracked down their family while working on a Boy Scout merit badge.

“I give him all the credit in the world for this,” Hettich said. “If it wasn’t for him, we probably would not have stumbled on it. … It all just kind of fell into place.”

Hettich served three tours in Iraq at the same time as his brother, Phillip Hettich, a chief warrant officer 4, and both were fortunate to come home. Because of this, honoring two brothers who served together during World War II took on added meaning for him.

“No one knows what it’s like to be a brother in war except those who’ve already done it,” he said.

Using ancestry research tools online, Joseph found Judy Gossman of Trevor, Wisconsin, a niece of the Hanke brothers. And it turns out Grossman’s son, Rick, went to St. Peter Grade School and Antioch Community High School with Paul Hettich.

With the help of the Gossman family, they recovered old letters written by Allen Hanke to his mother.

Judy Gossman, among at least four or five generations of her family to attend Antioch High School, remembers seeing her uncle’s name on a plaque at the high school honoring those killed in the military.

She has a vague memory as a young child of visiting him with her mother before he left overseas. Cpl. Allen Hanke was the first body returned to Antioch, Hettich said, and the VFW and American Legion both honored him at that time, as they did on Memorial Day.

Gossman doesn’t remember her other uncle, Leslie, who lived in Antioch his entire life after the war, talking about the war.

“He was badly wounded. He walked with a bad limp the rest of his life, but he didn’t let it stop him from doing anything,” Gossman said.

Leslie Hanke took care of his mother until her death and was the uncle who always bought items from her children as part of school fundraisers and gave them candy on Halloween, she said.

“Any family get-together he was out playing ball with the kids and he was just always there in the family,” she said.

“Our generations are kind of far removed from that,” she said of World War II, but to be part of the village’s Memorial Day ceremony – escorted by police to the event – meant a lot to the family.

“It definitely is an honor for the family,” she said.