100 years later, Belleville hero gets his due | Di Ionno

For 58 years, the body of a New Jersey World War I Medal of Honor recipient lay in an unmarked grave.

For 100 years, Fred Stockham's heroism went unacknowledged in the town he called home when he went off to fight in Europe.

That changed just eight weeks ago, when the Belleville Historical Society learned of Stockham's heroism in the mustard gas killing fields of Belleau Wood in France.

Not that Fred Stockham was forgotten. His name was etched on the Belleville World War I memorial as one of the 13 men from that town killed in action - but there was no special mention of his extreme heroism.

It was Tim Daudelin, the commandant of the Marine Corps League of Saddle River, who notified the historical society that the town had a second Medal of Honor recipient on its war memorial roles.

"Tim is an encyclopedia of New Jersey Medal of Honor recipients," said Michael Perrone, the historical society's president. "Once he told us, we knew we had to do something."

On Saturday, the historical society unveiled a monument honoring Stockham at St. Peter's Church, on the 100th anniversary of his death.

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The other Belleville Medal of Honor recipient was Henry Svehla who, at the age of 19, smothered a grenade with his body in Pyongony, Korea, to protect his comrades. Prior to that, he had been hit by mortar fire but refused medical treatment to continue fighting an uphill and outnumbered battle against Chinese forces.

Svehla was posthumously awarded the medal by President Barack Obama in a White House ceremony on May 2, 2011. That was the day after Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, and great attention was paid to military heroics, past and present.

Fred Stockham's heroism and Medal of Honor, went nearly unnoticed in Belleville.

"He had no family, he was an orphan," said Perrone, a mason who built the monument, which was engraved by Val Hadshinow. It displays a detailed etching made by Hadshinow off the only known black-and-white photo of Stockham, and the Medal of Honor symbol in gold relief.

"We just didn't want him to be forgotten any longer," Perrone said.

Stockham joined the Marine Corps in 1903, serving in China and the Philippines. When he re-enlisted in 1912, he gave his occupation as a fireman, and it is believed he worked for the Belleville department, which had a station four blocks from his house across from St. Peter's Church.

"He was a little guy, no more than 5-foot-5," Perrone said. "Just an ordinary guy, really."

When World War I broke out, Stockham was a veteran leader, and a combat veteran from Marine involvement in Nicaragua. On the day he died, he was a 37-year-old gunnery sergeant, surrounded by boys in their teens.

"He died sacrificing his life for a 19-year-old kid," said Perrone.

The battle of Belleau Wood was one of the bloodiest of World War I, and the German use of mustard gas was one of the great war atrocities of all time.

To understand what happened to Stockham that day, Perrone found a U.S. Marine Corps-issued gas mask on eBay.

"This was really a cumbersome, impractical set-up," he said, showing how a yellow charcoal canister was linked to the mask by a canvas hose.

"The German design had the charcoal canister connected to the mask," Perrone said, handling the Marine contraption. "How can you go into battle with this?"

With shells exploding and the battlefield covered with the oily residue of gas, Stockham began to remove his wounded men. As he carried a 19-year-old Marine named Barak Mattingly, they were hit by mortar fire and Mattingly's gas mask was destroyed.

Stockham removed his - a certain death sentence - and placed it over the young man's mouth and nose and carried him to safety. He returned to the field to evacuate more men without a mask, but eventually collapsed. He died nine days later.

"They called it the 'Agony of the Damned,' " Perrone said. "It was an agonizing death. You were basically burned alive from the inside out."

In recommending Stockham for the Medal of Honor, his company commander 2d Lt. Clifton Cates wrote, "No man has ever displayed greater heroism or courage and showed more utter contempt of personal danger. His bravery was an inspiration to his men, and his actions undoubtedly saved the lives of many of his wounded comrades."

Somehow, though, the recommendation got lost and it wasn't until 20 years later that Stockham was honored.

As Cates rose through the ranks, and eventually became Commandant of the Marine Corps after World War II, he realized the recommendation never went through. In the late 1930s, he pushed President Franklin Roosevelt to award Stockham the Medal of Honor, supported by Mattingly, who became a prominent Republican in his home state of Missouri. It was awarded on Dec. 21, 1939.

Also lost was the location of Stockham's remains. He was buried two years after his death in Hollywood Cemetery in Union in the plot of Sophie Heinz, the woman who raised him. The grave was unmarked until 1979, when Union County veterans tracked down the cemetery records and placed a marker there.

"It's interesting how many people wanted to bring honor to this man," Perrone said. "His heroism was never really forgotten. We just didn't know the Belleville connection until eight weeks ago."

True enough. Stockham has had two Navy ships named after him, a World War II destroyer, and a container ship still in service today.

"That's pretty impressive in itself," Perrone said.

And now, his local legend has been restored. The Marine Corps League arrived at St. Peter's Church on Saturday with a full squad and bagpipes. Marine Corps flags still hang through downtown of Belleville this week. The dirt around the polished granite marker at the church remains freshly turned, and the stone tells the story of the extraordinary heroism of an ordinary man.

Mark Di Ionno may be reached at mdiionno@starledger.com. Follow The Star-Ledger on Twitter @StarLedger and find us on Facebook.

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