{"id":193253,"date":"2025-05-26T13:34:44","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T18:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=193253"},"modified":"2025-05-27T21:03:21","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T02:03:21","slug":"story-of-james-coe-shared-during-memorial-day-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2025\/05\/26\/story-of-james-coe-shared-during-memorial-day-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Story of James Coe shared during service"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The oldest veteran buried at Woodland Cemetery was born on July 4, 1776, and lived a remarkable life. His story was shared during Monday\u2019s American Legion Post 178 Memorial Day program at Woodland Cemetery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post 178 Finance Officer Bill Marshall, who spoke during the ceremony, said he researched James L. Coe, who enlisted well before the Civil War, but had been buried in an unmarked grave for 133 years. Marshall explained that more information was found at the Veteran\u2019s Service Office, including Coe\u2019s war record.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Bill Marshall shares the remarkable details of James L. Coe’s life, which lasted 109 years. Scott Truxell\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cHe enlisted in the War of 1812,\u201d Marshall stated. \u201cBefore that, he served 14 years in the navy and traveled all over the world as a ship\u2019s carpenter. He was actually with Decatur and some of commodores that were chasing the pirates that were raiding our ships.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While in the Great Lakes area, where much of the War of 1812 fighting occurred, he was involved in several battles, was captured at one point and was a prisoner of war. He was eventually part of a prisoner of war exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite all of that, he was able to return, then mustered out of the army in 1815 and moved back to his hometown of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He later learned he was eligible for a plot of land and received a letter from then-President Millard Fillmore that he was granted 150 acres of land in Van Wert County\u2019s Union Township. He later sold the property and purchased a farm in Hoaglin Township and lived his remaining years there. Coe passed away November 19, 1885, at the remarkable age of 109.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI found the newspaper clipping of his burial but for whatever reason, we don\u2019t know what happened that he never had a tombstone,\u201d Marshall explained. \u201cWoodland Cemetery was in a transition point in the late 1800s and I think it\u2019s a possibility this was overlooked because he did not have any family after that time, they were either deceased or moved away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His grave remained unmarked until 2018, when Marshall and others successfully petitioned the governnment to get a gravesite marker for Coe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThis man deserved that, especially with the history that he had so we decided when we were able to get the marker and have it in place, \u2018let\u2019s give this gentleman his proper burial and recognize him for his service,\u2019\u201d Marshall said. \u201cI managed to get re-enactors of the War of 1812 out of Fort Jennings, all period-piece people with the clothing and the weapons \u2013 they came in mass. They brought their cannons, we had our cannons here and we gave this gentleman a send-off that he deserved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful story and it\u2019s still chilling for me to tell that story,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s probably one of the most fullfilling moments that I had that I could honor a veteran and that\u2019s really what this day is about \u2013 it\u2019s about honoring our veterans. It\u2019s a special day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The simple headstone is located in Section 67 of Woodland Cemetery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marshall also thanked the people, including Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and many others, who helped put approximately 2,100 flags on graves at the cemetery for Memorial Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the Monday morning ceremony, the American Legion Riders presented the colors and American Legion Chaplain Mark Rucklos led the opening prayer and the benediction. Post 178 Commander Randy Matthews and Van Wert Mayor Ken Markward shared brief remarks and there was a 21-gun salute, plus the playing of Taps. Afterward, a luncheon was held at Post 178.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor The oldest veteran buried at Woodland Cemetery was born on July 4, 1776, and lived a remarkable life. His story was shared during Monday\u2019s American Legion Post 178 Memorial Day program at Woodland Cemetery.  Post 178 Finance Officer Bill Marshall, who spoke during the ceremony, said he researched James L. Coe, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 03:21:20","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193253"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":193328,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193253\/revisions\/193328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}