American Legion presents 5th memorial plaque to PHS
Posted April 20, 2026
Thanks to the efforts of Ladewig-Zinkgraf American Legion Post 243 and Sheboygan veteran Kerk Evans, Plymouth High School now has a fifth plaque honoring alumni who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
In November 2023, members of Post 243 presented the school with plaques commemorating four men who attended PHS before they were killed in military action.
Since then, Mr. Evans, a veteran and a member of American Legion Post 83 in Sheboygan, came across an overgrown headstone in Wildwood Cemetery while placing U.S. flags on veterans’ graves. He cleared away the debris to reveal the name of a woman: Lt. Julia Hermina Schmid Barnes, the only woman from Sheboygan County killed in World War II.
Mr. Evans spent considerable time researching her story, and was on hand recently when members of Post 243 added a plaque for Lt. Barnes to the display case in the PHS gym lobby.
The newest plaque reads: Julia “Julie” S. Schmid; Class of 1932; Valedictorian, Girls Chorus, Girls Glee Club, Girls Athletic Association, and Dramatic Club; 2nd Lieutenant Julia Barnes – Army; killed in action 3/4/45; American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Medal, World War II Victory Medal; age 30.
Her plaque joins four others commemorating:
• Loren “Biff” Ertel: Class of 1965; Basketball, Track; Army Specialist Fourth Class; killed in action 10/10/1967; Purple Heart; age 20
• John P. Gannon: Sophomore 1963; Marines Lance Corporal; killed in action 6/27/67; Purple Heart; age 20
• Le Roy “Butch” Thelen: Class of 1968; FFA; Army Sergeant; killed in action 7/9/70; Purple Heart; age 20
• Brian R. Prening: Class of 1998; Track, Football, Wrestling; Marines Corporal; killed in action 11/12/04; Bronze Star, Purple Heart; age 24
A plaque in the center of the display, titled “Plymouth High School Heroes,” reads: “At one time they walked our halls and sat in our classrooms. They were our friends and classmates, now they are our heroes. Alumni who gave the ultimate sacrifice during the Vietnam War and Operation Iraq Freedom.”
About Lt. Julia Barnes
Julia “Julie” Schmid was Plymouth High School’s 1932 valedictorian, and “always ready to smile out loud,” according to the 1932 PHS Quit Qui Oc yearbook. She was involved in Girls’ Chorus, Girls’ Glee Club, Girls’ Athletic Association, and Dramatic Club.
According to her obituary in the May 27, 1948, Sheboygan Press, she graduated from Mission House (now Lakeland University) in 1936, then worked as a high school teacher in Illinois for several years. She completed a course of study at Washington University School of Nursing in 1941 and was commissioned into the U.S. Army Nurse Corps in 1942. She married Lt. A.K. Barnes of Colorado in September 1943.
Julia Barnes was assigned to the 69th general hospital in India in 1944, and was killed in a plane crash on the India-Burma border on March 4, 1945. Her body temporarily was interred in India, but returned to Sheboygan in 1948 for burial in Wildwood Cemetery.
