County of arch: Appanoose County
Location of arch: 1005 E. State St., Centerville
Number of Graves: 10.300
Please watch the video in the link below for the full history and re-dedication ceremony held in 2009
Arch is built of brick with the words "Oakland Cemetery/ Arch of Remembrance" This arch was originally built as a World War I Memorial Arch
"Wayman (Wayne) Minor, one of 13 children and family moved to Diamond in Johns Township in Appanoose County near Plano in the early 1900s where his father, Ned Minor, farmed and worked in the coal mines. Wayman enlisted in the U.S. Army and served with Company A, 366th Infantry Regiment, 92nd Division, an all black combat unit in WWI. Wayman was buried in the Saint Mihiel American Cemetery at Thiaucort, France, after his death just hours prior to the signing of the armistice on Nov. 11, 1918.
"Wayman's name is on a bronze tablet on the WWI Arch of Remembrance memorial at Oakland Cemetery." ~ Daily Iowegian
Overlooking the valley within the cemetery is a Japanese Howitzer. All marking are in Japanese. I don't' know why its here. It is almost 2 blocks away from the veterans memorial so doesn't belong there.
"Short history of Centerville: Centerville is a city in and the county seat of Appanoose County, Iowa County, Iowa, United States. The population was 5,924 at the 2000 United States Census census. After the turn of the 20th century Centerville had a booming coal mining industry that attracted many European immigrants. The city today remains the home of many Swedish-Americans, Italian-Americans, Croatian-Americans, Albanian-Americans and others descended from immigrants who worked in the mines.
Also, just inside the cemetery near the Arch is Veterans Memorial Park. It began as a Civil War monument erected in 1914, a small cannon in 1918, then the wall of Gold Stars (KIA) after World War II. Small stones in the ground added ever so often with a different conflict incised. Then on 2001 all items were brought together under the title of "Veterans Memorial Park". ~ Oakland Cemetery Brochure