{"id":34282,"date":"2023-11-05T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=34282"},"modified":"2023-11-07T21:11:09","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T21:11:09","slug":"kentucky-honor-guard-helps-recognize-medal-of-honor-recipient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=34282","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky Honor Guard Helps Recognize Medal of Honor Recipient"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n SSoldiers with the Kentucky National Guard\u2019s Honor Guard stand ready for the 21-gun salute during the ceremony of a Medal of Honor recipient who was buried at Highland Cemetery in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, Nov. 4, 2023. U.S. Army Sgt. John F. Rowalt of Bellville, Ohio, served during the Indian Wars and was in a grave that had gone unmarked and almost forgotten for 148 years. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. 1st Class Benjamin Crane)
\n (Photo Credit: Sgt. 1st Class Benjamin Crane)<\/span>
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FORT MITCHELL, Ky. \u2013 Honor Guard Soldiers from the Kentucky National Guard on Nov. 4 helped honor a Medal of Honor recipient whose grave had gone unmarked and almost forgotten for 148 years.<\/p>\n

U.S. Army Sgt. John F. Rowalt of Bellville, Ohio, served during the American Indian War before contracting smallpox and dying at the age of 28 in Cincinnati. He was buried at the nearby Highland Cemetery in Kentucky.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely something special for us,\u201d said Army Sgt. Scott Zelensky, northern Kentucky area coordinator for the Honor Guard. \u201cIt\u2019s not something we get to do every day, especially for a Medal of Honor recipient, but at the end of the day, we do the same job as normal. We provide the same honors to that veteran.\u201d<\/p>\n

Representing Rowalt\u2019s family was his great-niece, Fran Dankovic of Lexington, Ohio.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is awesome,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m so grateful to everyone who helped put this together and to the ones that showed up. I was nervous yesterday thinking about it, but being here today has been great.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the ceremony, Capt. Mitchell Hagen with the KYNG Honor Guard presented Dankovic with a folded flag in honor of her late great-uncle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m at a loss for words,\u201d she said after the ceremony. \u201cThis was a lot more than I expected. I\u2019m just so honored by all this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Kentucky Air National Guardsman Rob Schultz and journalist Carl Hunner with the Richland Source led this \u201clabor of love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their research and hard work paid off, as they were able to provide a headstone for Rowalt.<\/p>\n

According to Hunnell, Rowalt was 19 years old when he earned the Medal of Honor. As a private serving in Company L with the 8th United States Cavalry Regiment, his unit got into a fight at Lynx Creek in the Arizona Territory during the Apache Wars Oct. 14, 1869. It was during that battle that Rowalt distinguished himself, earning the Medal of Honor for \u201cgallantry and action with Indians,\u201d according to the citation.<\/p>\n

Rowalt was discharged from the Army May 11, 1873, in Fort Union, New Mexico, as a sergeant. He returned to Cincinnati to live with his brother but contracted smallpox, for which there was no cure. He died and was buried at Highland Cemetery. The grave was unmarked for the past 148 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will never again be unmarked,\u201d said Hunnell, as he spoke to those in attendance. \u201cA hero has his recognition.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more National Guard news<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SSoldiers with the Kentucky National Guard\u2019s Honor Guard stand ready for the 21-gun salute during the ceremony of a Medal of Honor recipient who was buried at Highland Cemetery in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, Nov. 4, 2023. U.S. Army Sgt. John F. Rowalt of Bellville, Ohio, served during the Indian Wars and was in a grave […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34284,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34282"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34285,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34282\/revisions\/34285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}