A handful of family members were joined by a couple hundred Shawano residents Aug. 9 as they all paid their respects and said goodbye to a soldier killed at the start of World War II.
Shawano’s Herbert E. McLaughlin, 31, was killed at Pearl Harbor. His remains were not identified until December 2024.
He was buried with full military honors in the veterans circle near the chapel at Woodlawn Cemetery. Dean Seher, McLaughlin’s next of kin, said McLaughlin’s mother, Mary, always wanted to be buried next to him. Today, they are just a few hundred feet apart.
Mary McLaughlin wrote countless letters asking officials to identify her son, so he could be brought home. She died in 1957, never getting that final closure.
Prior to the funeral, Seher stood at her grave.
“Look, Mary,” he said. “Herbert is going to be right over there. You’ll be with him again.”
McLaughlin’s body was brought into the cemetery on a horse-drawn cassion, followed by a riderless horse. The horse carried an empty saddle with boots reversed in the stirrups. This symbolizes that the fallen individual will never ride again and represents a final farewell.
As the gathering stood silent, the riderless horse neighed loudly as it walked into the cemetery — the only sound heard in addition to the veterans’ and Reserve members’ shoes as they marched on the pavement.
Dozens of Shawano veterans were joined by members of the Rolling Thunder, the motorcycle group that provided an escort for McLaughlin from Milwaukee to Shawano. A few veterans also volunteered to stand guard by the casket during the few days it was at Swedberg Funeral Home.
Members of the 432nd Civil Affairs Battalion served as pallbearers. One soldier also provided the eulogy. Capt. Garrett Johnson and Chief Warrant Officer Kenneth Fabis presented flags to family members.
Seher was accompanied by his wife, Kimberley, and daughter, Veronica. They were also joined by Dan Steckbauer, the significant other of Susan Swinick — Seher’s cousin. It was Swinick’s DNA that was used to identify McLaughlin’s remains.
“In 1947, when they first exhumed the unknowns killed at Pearl Harbor, they thought they had identified Herbert,” Seher said. “The dental records didn’t match. Apparently, he had some work done that wasn’t in the records, so he remained an unknown.”
A 21-gun salute was provided by an honor guard, and taps was played at the end of the graveside service.
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
