St. Ambrose University Veterans Legacy Project Update

St. Ambrose University students are helping to honor the legacy of 300 veterans whose headstones and memorials span the grounds of Rock Island National Cemetery.

Since obtaining grant funding last fall, the University's Veterans Legacy Project committee has identified the 300 honored veterans from among the 25,000 veterans interred at the cemetery. Now, 14 student researchers and others are scouring archives to unearth those veterans' history as an act of honor for their sacrifices.

"Things are really taking off. As more people learn about the project, people from all over have been reaching out to help. People within the SAU community, the Quad Cities and regional communities have shared so many amazing stories of their loved ones who are interred there," said Natalie Woodhurst '16, SAU Coordinator for Veterans Recruitment and Services. 

Skylar Bowrey '23, one of the student researchers, has delved into a fact-finding mission of female veterans on the list.

"I wanted to take a deep dive into women's military effort. They contributed so much." 

So far, Bowrey has found it easier to uncover information about these women's lives before and after their time enlisted but not much about their actual military service.

"For one female veteran I was researching, I had her name but had to go through her husband's and son's records to learn anything more about her. Women were just not well-documented," said Bowrey, noting the wartime records of enlisted women often were sparse, or even scarce.

The project's end result will be the creation of a K-12 curriculum kit with cards containing the biographical information for each veteran and the building of a multi-search website to expand public availability.
"As these results come in, we are simultaneously building the website. We are really in the thick of it right now," said Woodhurst.