18						      Monday, March 30, 1998 Chicago Sun-Times

Dedicated vets,
generous donors
create memorial

By CHUCK MCWHINNIE
STAFF REIIORTER

John Hossana, a World War II veteran, proved you're never too old to think big, even when you're 83. But just when his dream--a monument dedicated to American war veterans of Assyrian descent--was about to come true, he died on Oct. 18,
two weeks before it was set in Elmwood Cemetery, River Grove. He was 87.

Today the three-piece monument, made of granite from Vermont, bears the names of 561 Assyrian-American veterans, front
and back. Another 85 names are to be inscribed.

Hosanna, who lived in Morton Grove, got the idea in 1994. A printer by trade, he put together a photo album of Assyrian Americans who served in World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars.

The purpose of the album was to raise money for what he and his friends thought would be a modest monument. (Also included is the name of a Civil War Veteran.) "Originally, we figured about 250 names," said Lincoln Peters, Hosanna's longtime friend and fellow veteran. "We never anticipated that many names ... It just grew by leaps and bounds."

Hossana and his war buddies from the Assyrian American Am-vets Post 5 dedicated the next three years to selling the album. "We sold a lot of books," said Peters, who's in his early 70s. "We knocked on doors, sold them at Assyrian weddings and churches and contacted Assyrian groups across the country." Hosanna's dream began to expand. A real estate dealer in California willed the group $5,000, and the owner of a string of gas stations came up with $10,000, said Peters.

But Marshall Joseph, the post's financial officer, was quick to point out that "the little man was just as important." He said a woman in Hartford, Conn., donated $10 even though her "income was negligible and she was having a hard time. She hasn't received anything out of this but a thank- you note. Regardless of the amount of the contribution, everyone gets a thank-you note."

Joseph said that even as Hosanna's health failed, he would "keep shaking his head" at the interest in the monument.

"It was beyond his imagination that this big thing was rising," said Joseph, who will turn 80 in July.

He estimates the memorial may cost $110,000 before it's completed, since it's unfinished. The group also hopes to install a walkway by selling memorial blocks to people who wish to honor family members.

An official dedication is scheduled for May 16.

Hosanna would be proud.

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