Neenah's Oak Hill Cemetery will get monument for soldiers who served after Vietnam War

NEENAH — The city has two official war monuments in the veterans section of Oak Hill Cemetery .

The front of the first monument is dedicated to soldiers killed in action during the Civil War and the Spanish-American War.

The back is dedicated to servicemen killed in action during World War I.

The front of the second monument is dedicated to those killed in action during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The back is blank.

That's where it ends. There is no monument for soldiers who served in the Persian Gulf War or the Global War on Terrorism.

Fox Crossing resident Jill Fritsch has made it her mission to change that.

Her late husband, retired U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Fritsch , served 20 years in the military before retiring in 2021. He died in 2023, she said, "from brain cancer related to the burn pits in Afghanistan ," where he served during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Before his death, he remarked that Oak Hill Cemetery had no monument to honor soldiers who fought in the most recent wars.

"My purpose is just to get a monument out there, because it's the right thing to do, in memory of my husband, who noticed it," Fritsch told The Post-Crescent. "He now is buried out there."

Fritsch secured permission from the Neenah Parks and Recreation Commission to add a tablet-style monument to the cemetery, and the commission approved the wording.

The black granite monument will say, "Honoring All Who Served." It will list the Persian Gulf War, including Operation Desert Storm and Operation Desert Shield, and the Global War on Terrorism, including Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Freedom's Sentinel and Operation Enduring Sentinel, Afghanistan; Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn, Iraq; and Operation Inherent Resolve, Islamic State.

Fritsch ordered the monument from Twin City Monument Works. After it is etched, it will be placed in the cemetery in time for the 9/11 anniversary or for Veterans Day.

But that's only half of the story.

As part of its approval, the parks commission determined that no individual names will be placed on the monument and that if residents of Neenah, Menasha, Fox Crossing or the town of Neenah were killed in action since the Vietnam War, their name, rank and conflict in which they fought could be placed on a plaque on the back of the World War II-Korean-Vietnam monument upon request.

Neenah Parks and Recreation Director Mike Kading said the back side of the new monument would remain open for any future conflicts.

Fritsch asked the parks commission to reconsider. She wanted the new monument to say, "Donated by service members, friends and family in memory of SFC Daniel Fritsch."

City staff recommended the commission deny her request, noting it was determined that only the names of people who were killed in action shall be listed on war monuments.

Kading said a war memorial is "much more sacred" than a park bench, for example, that might bear the name of a donor. He said the existing monuments were erected by the four communities or by veterans organizations and never by an individual.

Complicating the matter was the fundraising for the monument, which Fritsch said will cost $10,800.

Fritsch said when she started the project, she had the money to pay for it. As the project dragged on, that was no longer the case, so she started accepting donations, including a $3,000 gift from the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association, Chapter 45-3, of Wrightstown.

That raised the question of whether all donors should be recognized, rather than just the Fritsch family and friends.

"Did they donate on behalf of Dan (Fritsch), or did they donate on behalf of the fact that this community has people who served in these various conflicts?" commission president Peter Kelly asked.

In the end, the parks commission denied Fritsch's request to include her husband's name on the monument. Instead, the commission voted unanimously to have the monument say, "Donated by family and friends of those who served."

"Not what I had hoped for," Fritsch said afterward. "It was because of one soldier that served that this got done."

Kading said the city will provide the land and concrete pad for the monument. Still to be decided is whether a QR code will be added to the monument. The QR code would link to a city website listing all of the donors and giving special recognition to Jill and Daniel Fritsch for setting the project in motion.

Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com . Follow him on Twitter at @DukeBehnke .

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Neenah's Oak Hill Cemetery will get monument for soldiers who served after Vietnam War