Woodstock vet on mission to archive all fallen service members from McHenry County from WWI on

Mark Hutson of Woodstock is on a mission to document every military service member from McHenry County who has died in service going back to World War I.

So far, Hutson, who said he started working on a database to document information about each veteran within the last six months, has details about an estimated 280 fallen service members.

He said he uses about 15 different websites to try to gather the information, and he has gotten some lists from the McHenry County Historical Society and Museum.

He’s also gotten leads from unexpected places.

Hutson said he volunteers at the Harvard Historical Society, and a woman had donated a military trunk that had been in an attic and passed down through generations. As it turns out, the trunk belonged to James Baker, an Army Air Corps member from Harvard who was killed in World War II. The Army Air Corps eventually became the Air Force.

Hutson said Baker’s name rang a bell, as he had come across it before but had little other information about him. But among the contents of the trunk were some photo albums, along with Baker’s flight log.

Artifacts such as the contents of the trunk help tell the story, but “you have to connect the dots,” Hutson said.

He said he was surprised at the number of fallen veterans in the county. He’s also working to create a portfolio of each fallen veteran, and is thinking about making an interactive database.

An Army veteran who was a drill instructor at Fort Benning in Georgia, Hutson has embarked on other military-related projects before, and it’s a passion of his.

Hutson also has written a book, “So Costly a Sacrifice,” about the Borgstrom family of Tremonton, Utah. Five sons in the family enlisted, but the Borgstroms were the only four-Gold Star family in World War II, meaning four of their sons died in the line of duty.

Hutson’s wife, Kristine, also has helped him on many of the projects. When the couple makes presentations, Kristine said she works to make sure the displays are touchable and pleasing to the eye. She also works to bridge the gap between younger people and older people.

When they go to shows, present at the library or churches, or do meet-and-greets, Kristine said they try to have small giveaways such as flags.

The couple also has taken in uniforms and trunks, among other memorabilia.

“You don’t want to throw it away,” Kristine said.

Mark also has a passion for service flags and wanted to make one for McHenry County, which led him to start a database. He also wanted a grasp on the county’s Gold Star veterans.

Some of his findings were published in an ad in the Northwest Herald on Thursday, and Mark is hoping to be able to connect with families. He’s doing the database as a public service, but also for the families, and he hopes to be able to fill in missing information for loved ones of Gold Star veterans.

Kristine said the project is in a bit of a time crunch because they’re trying to get the information before it’s lost.

“It’s been one heck of an undertaking,” Mark said.

He encouraged families to reach out to him at serviceflagtradition@gmail.com.