Members of the Belleville High School NJROTC served as the color guard for the Veterans Day ceremony at BHS on Nov. 11. Marine Gunny Sgt. Matthew Barr who leads the NJROTC class at BHS.
During the Nov. 11 event, School Supt. Pete Kudlak unveiled the pictures and stories of ten Belleville High School graduates who fought for their country and paid the ultimate price with their lives. Their plaques are on the new Wall of Honor in the hallway to the Commons across from the Distinguished Graduates pictures.
Honored on the Wall of Honor are: Edwin Baggott, Edward Bies, Gerald Bird, James Davis, Gary Kirchner, Aubrey “Red” Mills, Robert Petrimoux, Walter Reinhackel, Sanford Schulert, and James Stacy. Also, another plaque of appreciation honors Cornell Anton and Tom Fielder who did the research on the students and their fates.
Cornell Anton of the Veterans of Foreign Wars made comments during the brief ceremony concerning the boys, then men, who once walked these halls and then gave their lives for freedom. He finished off with a poem that ended, “We have died. Remember us.” The small group of people invited then went outside for a gun salute and “Taps” played by BHS senior Nick Rafferty.