Granville High School honors fallen soldiers

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By Joshua Bassett

Granville High School’s gym was quiet Friday afternoon as many gathered there to give thanks to the veterans who have served the country.

Those who spoke at the Memorial Day service gave thanks as well.

Veteran Jerry Austin, commander of American Legion Post 323, talked about losing soldiers and people he knew in Vietnam and the more than 53,800 names on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C.

“On that wall are 16 names I know personally,” Austin said, asking two students in the audience, Bailey Pratt and Josh Sumner, to stand up.
Austin asked them to pick seven friends each from the audience until and made sure 16 students were standing.

“That’s the faces of the 16 that I know of that are on that wall,” Austin said. He said he doesn’t know for certain how old they were but he knew they were not 20. “I know that for a fact.”

“They were my brothers,” Austin said.

Austin said that while Memorial Day is about more than cookouts, people should not lose out on quality time with others.

“Those kids (the 16 who passed), we partied when we partied and we served when we served,” said Austin. “They’d want to say ‘Thank you, but have a good time.’”

John Norton, another World War II veteran, read the names of soldiers from Granville who were killed or passed away in World War II and were graduates of Granville High School.

For each name Norton read, student Jacob Vladyka rang a bell in their honor.

Granville school Superintendent Mark Bessen, a retired lieutenant colonel, told the audience that growing up during the Cold War, the United States was seemingly always at war. He said that when looking back at 2001, for many of the students in the audience, the U.S. has been at war for much of their lives too.

Bessen said that the best thing the students can do is continue to get their education and become productive members of society, and to try to look after our natural resources.

Bessen also read parts of a speech made by President Ronald Reagan about Memorial Day in 1982: “Yet, we must try to honor them, not for their sakes alone, but for our own.”

Essays were read by four students for the national Grand Lodge Americanism Essay Contest sponsored by the Elks Lodge, chosen by two teachers. The theme was “What the Pledge of Allegiance Means to Me.” The students were Stephen Buxton, Anne Faxon, Carly LaFlamme and Katie Wittman.

Buxton wrote how he felt the pledge means that we should honor others and give them respect. “The pledge also means to be excellent at everything I do,” Buxton said.

Faxon wrote” “As long as we have the flag and the pledge then we will not fall.”

If the essays make it to the district, state and then national level, the students could receive plaques for first, second or third place at the national level.

Austin also had a message for the audience about talking to people who lost loved ones or friends who served over the years.

“Don’t ask them how they died, that’s not important,” said Austin. “Instead, ask them how they lived.”