WWI plaque rededicated for 10 servicemen from WA
Published: 18 November 2024
By Matthew Nash
via the Peninsula Daily News website
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Clara (Rhodefer) Muma, 5, looks at a memorial honoring her great-great-great uncle Clyde Rhodefer of Sequim in front of Carlsborg Family Church on Nov. 9. The plaque was replaced and added the names of the men from Clallam County who died in World War I. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
Community members gather at Carlsborg Family Church for ceremony
More than 100 years after a monument was placed to honor the “Clallam County boys” who died in World War I, family and community members gathered to rededicate a new plaque to honor their sacrifices.
Anita Reynolds, the great niece of Clyde A. Rhodefer of Sequim, one of the 10 men who died in the war, said after the Nov. 9 ceremony she was “overwhelmed with pride and gratitude.”
She and her family funded a new plaque for the large stone that originally was dedicated in July 1924 at the Carlsborg School, now Carlsborg Family Church, 481 Carlsborg Road, by Toussaint Benoit, a justice of the peace.
Reynolds said the monument is a “lasting testament to remember these men.”
Clyde Rhodefer, a sergeant in the U.S. Army, and Jack Grennan, a private in the U.S. Marine Corps, were the two Sequim servicemen who died during the war.
Their names, along with eight others, are memorialized on the new plaque, including Port Angeles men Walter E. Akeley, private, U.S. Army; Donald Dorr, private, U.S. Army; William G. Grason, private, U.S. Army; Earl Jenkins, seaman, U.S. Navy; John P. Moore, private, U.S. Army, and Jacob Sunde, private, U.S. Army.
Benneville William Bertolet, private, U.S. Army, and Gudstein Borgford, private, U.S. Army, were from Clallam Bay.
The original bronze plaque is now in a military display at Sequim Museum & Arts.
Reynolds said generations of the Rhodefer family were in attendance, including descendants from both Clyde’s brother’s and sister’s side.
She said tracking down other veterans’ family members was difficult, but she believes some of the men may have only been working in the area and didn’t have local family members.
Read the entire article on the Peninsula Daily News website here:
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