CARMEL – On an overcast and chilly morning, 15 Carmel High School graduates who died serving our nation were honored Monday with the unveiling of their names on a granite monument outside their alma mater in the Putnam County seat.
Dignitaries on the federal, state, county and local levels joined members of the Carmel School Board, Superintendent of Schools Michael Plotkin and some 100 residents for the unveiling.
Those recognized were World War II veterans – Francis J. Adams, George W. Bridle, John Clifton, John J. Cook, Reed Hopkins, William Mahl, Daniel J. O’Brien, and Francis J. Sprague.
Korean War veteran Richard F. Turpin and Vietnam War veterans Franklin C. Eucker, James C. Foster Jr., Harry Roy Lagerwall, Michael W. McDonald, Edward Starr and Kenneth Totten Jr. were also honored on the monument.
Carmel School Board Vice President John Curzio welcomed the gathering explaining the district’s goal was to ensure that the “sacrifices made by these heroes will be forever remembered by our school community. Lives remembered are never truly lost.”
Curzio also welcomed the families and friends of many of “our fallen heroes. Thank you for sharing your loved ones with our nation, and for allowing us to share in your remembrance today. Thank you to all of our veterans in attendance today. We are so incredibly grateful for your service.”
Curzio said the project began more than two years ago when the district started the journey of identifying the names of the school’s fallen heroes, followed by a community fundraising effort for the monument.
“A project like this requires a community effort. Thank you to everyone who contributed to honor these great men,” he said.
Curzio called it “entirely fitting that this monument stands here, on the grounds of Carmel High School. Before these brave men were soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen; they were Carmel students. They walked in these same hallways, sat in the same classrooms our students sit in today, and looked out these same windows with big dreams for their futures. When they left this campus, duty called them to places far from home. They traded Carmel’s school colors for our nation’s uniform, and they gave up their tomorrows so that we could have our todays.”
Curzio said, “From this moment forward, as long as this school stands, no student or community member passing by this front circle will ever forget the depth of that sacrifice. May this monument serve as a daily, living reminder to every person who walks through the front doors of Carmel High School: that freedom is never free, and that some of the greatest heroes our nation has ever known once called this school home. Etched upon this very memorial are the words of former President Ronald Reagan, which perfectly capture our promise to these fifteen brave souls: ‘We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may be always free.’”
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