Community

Discussion Continues Regarding WPHS Veterans Monument

WHEELING - Ohio County Schools is continuing to work on a project to place the names of military veterans who graduated from Wheeling Park High School on "The Eagle" monument outside the school.

Karin Butyn, communications and alumni director for Ohio County Schools, updated board of education members this week regarding the monument.

She said the school district is working with Boswell Monuments on the project. They are the only company locally who does the work, she told board members.

Research also has been done to determine the purpose of why the monument was placed, she continued.

"What we found through our research was that the monument was built to recognize all veterans who graduated from Wheeling Park High School," she said. "But we want to make sure we also have a spot to recognize those who have fallen in battle who have graduated from Wheeling Park High School."

Butyn noted there are a few options for placing the names of veterans on the monument.

The first option is to maintain the monument as is, she continued. "We could make the base specifically for fallen soldiers, and we know of (at least) three who have graduated from Wheeling Park High School who have fallen in battle."

The vertical part of the statue then would be used to recognize WPHS graduates who served in the military - both living and deceased, Butyn explained. Their names would be engraved on the slabs along with their year of graduation.

"We've also looked at having the six service branches engraved on the sides - three on one side, three on the other."

Veterans interested in being included would fill out a self-report form. There is no centralized database through which the school district could find the names of alumni who served in the military, according to Butyn.

Option two would disregard the base of the monument. All the names then would be placed vertically on the sides of the statue, with symbols designating those who died in action.

Option three, meanwhile, would involve removing the soldier's cross and redoing the base of the statue.

"We would put the soldier's cross in a location designated only for the fallen," Butyn said. "We would then engrave or use the bronze plating to the names of veterans both living and deceased who graduated from Wheeling Park High School."

The cost has been estimated at $100 for each name engraved on the monument, and it would be less if placed on bronze plating.

Superintendent Kim Miller added the school district had not yet reached out to organizations who may be interested in partnering to make the project a reality.

"The hope is that we will have community support to make this happen," she said.

Board member Pete Chacalos expressed concern that it is inevitable that some names of veterans may be left off the monument, and that more names would have to be added later.

Butyn agreed there was no way to alphabetize or otherwise organize the names on the monument for that reason.

"The last thing I would want to happen is for a parent or someone who has lost a child to come up and say, 'My child's name is not on there.' Do I think we are going to (miss) people? I do. We will lose people who have no concept of filling out this form, or aren't sure where their documentation is from the military. That is going to happen."

Her suggestion was that the process be opened up each year, and names added as needed.

"We can continue to add names, if that is what the community wants to do," Butyn said.

The first graduating class from WPHS was 1977.

Information about the project and obtaining the self-report forms would be pushed out through social media, and also available through local veterans organizations, she added.

The self-report form is available on the Ohio County Schools Facebook page and will also be posted next week on the school district's website.