Harold Schwarz

Through coincidence and hard work, a Fort Wayne World War I veteran lying in an unmarked grave finally will get the recognition he has been missing. Scott Mabee was in phlebotomy class at Ivy Tech Community College-Northeast in mid-January when the instructor, Assistant Professor Nicole Procise, happened to ask him what he did for a living. When not taking prerequisite classes for becoming a registered nurse or physical therapist, Mabee told her he works as a quartermaster managing VFW Post 2457 in New Haven. Procise said she knew a World War I veteran, Harold Schwarz, who didn't have a grave marker, and Mabee decided to see what he could do to have one installed. "One of the things I'm looking at is paying respects to the ones who came before us," said Mabee, a Fort Wayne native who retired at the end of 2013 as a cavalry scout with the 3rd Infantry Division after 20 years of active-duty U.S. Army service, including tours of duty in Bosnia and Iraq.

Schwarz, who was born in 1896 in Knightstown, enlisted and went to war with his brother, Clifford, who was born in 1898. Harold served as a mechanic with the Army Air Corps' 37th Aero Squadron, which now is the 37th Bomber Squadron of the U.S. Air Force, Mabee said. Clifford served with the Army's 150th Field Artillery Unit, which bounced around to various battle locations in Europe. Harold's unit was deployed to France. The mechanics started planes by pulling the propeller props down to get the motor turning. During one of those starts, the propeller hit Harold's left arm, shattering bones and sending him to the hospital for treatment. He was discharged from the Army in April 1919. Both brothers survived the war, and Harold came back, married and had a son, Mabee said. Tragically, their son died in 1941 at age 19 from polio. Schwarz's wife died many years later of old age, Mabee said. All three are buried in Sunset Terrace Block 14 at Greenlawn, near Clifford Schwarz and his wife and Harold and Clifford's parents, Mabee said. He suspects Harold Schwarz never had a grave marker because there was no immediate family left to handle his burial arrangements.

Nicole Procise had a special connection to World War I veteran Harold Schwarz of Fort Wayne — he served as a surrogate grandfather as she was growing up. Her maternal grandmother was the only living grandparent she had while growing up, said Procise, an assistant professor at Ivy Tech Community College-Northeast. Her grandmother and Schwarz were neighbors and became close friends. He was invited to all of their family events. "The salt of the earth," Procise said of the man she and her grandmother always called "Schwarz." "He was kind. He liked to make jokes. He was very patient." In the 1970s, he would drive Procise and her grandmother to Glenbrook Square, where they would eat at the MCL Cafeteria then located there. Afterward, they would pick out a jigsaw puzzle at a store and go home and work it. Schwarz also used to set up a croquet game on her grandmother's lawn, and he would take them to city parks, Procise said. When she was age 10 to 13, he moved into older adult apartments a few miles away. "I would ride over on my bike every day and make him a ham sandwich with mustard, pickle on the side, chips or pretzels, and Mason's root beer," she said. And she always cut the sandwich in half diagonally. "He was an everyday part of my life until the day he died," she said. Procise, who was age 18 when Schwarz died, had an "overwhelming" fear of death, so she didn't go if there was a funeral for Schwarz.

The memorial will be unveiled during a ceremony at 11 a.m. May 27 in Greenlawn Memorial Park, 6600 Covington Road.