How often do you reflect on the name of a trail? It might be just small print on a map or a trail
side sign with some name of a hollow, valley, or tree species, but sometimes there will be an interesting backstory.
One local Indianapolis trail has a namesake which goes beyond a mere geographic feature or grove of oak trees.
So, settle in for a quick history lesson. As can be seen from
my previous posts, I ride at Fort Ben Harrison in Indianapolis quite often. The first trail
that the HMBA built there is named Schoen Creek. Well, the namesake is easy
enough, as there is a small creek which flows through the area the trail
traverses. However, who is this Schoen? A comment on the HMBA forums a few
years ago indicated that Schoen was actually a fighter pilot. This made sense, as I
recalled when reading into the history of Indianapolis a few years ago a
reference to an Army airfield near Fort Ben called Schoen Field which dated
back to the pre-World War II era of the Army Air Corp.
Not long after this, I was riding around Crown Hill Cemetery
when I caught this out of the corner of my eye:
And below the main marker was this:
Note, these photos were taken this week as I finally decided
to stop and take a photo, more than two years after first spotting the marker.
Anyway, this Karl Schoen looked to be from around the same time period as the airfield, so I
did a bit of online research.
Turns out Karl Schoen was an Indianapolis native, born in October
1894. He graduated from Purdue in 1917
and enlisted with the United States Army Air Service soon after, where he was commissioned
as a lieutenant. He received flight training before being sent to the Western
Front in France in February 1918 as part of the 139th Aero Squadron.
During his service, he shot down six German aircraft, although the final two
were apparently claimed during a dog fight in which he too was shot down, resulting in his death.
The circumstances of his death was a thing of legend. A
US soldier posted to an ammunition dump wrote to Schoen’s parents and described
the low level dogfight which claimed his life. Apparently the Germans attacked
the dump with three fighters and Schoen and a wingman engaged all three. One
German fighter was shot down, as was Schoen’s wingman. He was outnumbered and
outgunned, and as the fight neared an end, his aircraft’s machine gun jammed.
The observer said that he could see Schoen then pull out his service revolver and
continue to fire at the enemy aircraft. Ultimately
Schoen was hit and as his fighter went towards the ground, he continued to fire
the pistol at the German aircraft. The
writer noted that when American forces arrived at the wreck sight to recover
Schoen’s body, they found him still clutching the revolver. In recognition of his fight that day, Schoen
was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1919. For those who
know Indianapolis, Lt. Schoen’s widow and 10 month old daughter actually lived at 5201
N. College Ave, the location of the present day Habig garden store.
Interestingly, the grave in the
above photo at Crown Hill is not the final resting place for Lt. Schoen, but
merely a marker, likely so he could be included along with the rest of the
family. His remains are actually interred at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery
in France, with many other American causalities from the first world war.
Thanks to www.theaerodrome.com, here
is his marker in France:
So, there you have it. The background behind the name of an
airfield, a creek, and now a mountain bike trail. Only the creek and the trail
survive. The airfield itself was little more than a grass field with several hangers,
and was deactivated sometime around, or soon after, World War II. The US Department
of Defense Finance and Accounting Center located on the southwest corner of E.
56th St and Post Road in Lawrence Indiana now occupies that land.
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