A cenotaph in the Chapel Hill Section at Forest Home Cemetery honors the memory of our beloved Mayor, Carl F. Zeidler 1940-1942. He was Milwaukee's golden-haired, handsome, golden-voiced baritone who was Milwaukee's "Singing Mayor." He could sing in five languages, and he sang for the dozens of local organizations he belonged to. Milwaukee had three singing mayors; Carl Zeidler, Henry Maier, and John Norquist. His brother, Frank Zeidler, (still living in 2006) was our 37th mayor, and told the Milwaukee Sentinel in an article written by Jackie Loohauis on Oct. 27, 2002, that "Carl had a drive and warmth that made him a political natural." After graduating from West Division High School and Marquette University's Law School, he joined a firm in Chicago, and returned to Milwaukee in 1936 to become an assistant city attorney. In 1940, he waged a vigorous campaign for mayor and upset the 24-year administration of Daniel Hoan. "A nominal Republican, Zeidler ran unattached and launched a campaign that made Depression-numbed Milwaukee gasp." At the rallies, a five-piece band played; a huge American flag dropped behind him, and thousands of balloons were released. Beautiful women passed out literature. And of course, the candidate sang, most memorably "God bless America." On election day, Carl won by 12,000 votes and brought his flamboyance into office. He took the oath of office in 1940 before 7,000 people at the Milwaukee Auditorium. While in office, Carl lowered property taxes, reduced city personnel spending, and began Milwaukee's mobilization for War. Most famously, he got the American Legion to hold its 1941 convention here. In 1942 Carl enlisted in the Navy, and sailed out on the LaSalle as a gunnery officer. On Dec. 12, 1942, the Navy sent his family a telegram informing them the ship and all aboard were missing. The ship was last seen September 26, 1942 leaving Canal Zone. And though Milwaukee grieved, and many hoped their young mayor would still be found, the government declared him legally dead, that the LaSalle had been sunk by a German submarine. In his honor the city named a park in downtown Milwaukee, "The Carl Zeidler Park."

TRULY AN AMERICAN HERO!