— Submitted photo. Pictured above is William LaBarr.

Historically, the end of April marks the beginning of “campaign season” for militaries during times of war… not a particularly enlightening subject for a weekly newspaper column (please bear with me).

In our time, in our place, in Our Neighborhood, it follows a similar theme. The grass is being mown, lawns are raked, new seed is sown and out of town fields are being tilled and planted. It resembles, a bit, the activity level of a modern army; having to lay the groundwork for a later harvest of positivity.

It brings to my own mind a personal favorite movie, “Saving Private Ryan,” the story of a World War II Army Ranger team searching for the third son of an Iowa family. His two brothers have already been killed and it’s hoped he is still alive.

It is a great movie; fictional yet based on an event inspired by the “sole survivor” attitude generated in the American military following the death of the Sullivan brothers (from Waterloo) in 1942.

In Our Neighborhood, resides a monument to Charles G LaBarr, who fathered seven children and lived in Webster City in the 1800s. Three of his sons — Charles Jr, Alonzo and William all served, and died — in the Civil War.

They served in different units, perished in different places and are not buried together. The monument honors each of them with an inscription, giving a sense of the connection in the family.

Charles and William enlisted together, both joining the 15th Illinois Infantry in May of 1861, in the early days of the war. William, at age 18, died a few weeks after joining, being struck by lightning days before the regiment deployed to the front.

He was buried near the training area in Illinois. Charles continued on with the 15th Illinois and, the following spring, was mortally wounded in the Battle of Shiloh, the bloodiest day in American history to that point.

It appears he was transported home, as records indicate he died of wounds in Butlerville, Iowa, on July 5, 1862.

Alonzo, the eldest son and married, enlisted after his two brothers had already died. Joining the 7th Wisconsin Infantry, part of the famed Iron Brigade, in February of 1864, he was sent to join his regiment, already in Virginia.

At Laurel Hill, part of the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse, in early May, the armies of Grant and Lee fought what was, perhaps, the most terrible battle of the war. Alonzo was killed on the first day of fighting and his body never recovered from the battlefield.

I’ve spent more than 50 years studying, researching and writing on American military history and families like the LaBarrs and Sullivans are an incredible inspiration. I so look forward to seeing new flags fluttering in Our Neighborhood like flowers blooming, across the street from my own home.