Hugh Kellenberger Chancellor | Student Development Beat
As America
contemplates another war, one graduate student is attempting to
piece together Appalachian State University’s legacy in previous
wars.
“We are trying to find all Appalachian State University faculty,
staff, alumni or students who have died while in service,”
history education master’s candidate Cory J. Stewart said Friday.
Once the names are collected, a plaque with the names of the veterans
will be erected next to the Veteran’s Memorial, located beside
the B.B. Doughtery building, Vice Chancellor for Student Development
Dr. Gregory S. Blimling said Monday.
The process began last Veteran’s Day, when Blimling discovered
Appalachian had no records of those lost in service.
“As part of the conversation we realized we did not have a
list, so we contacted the history department and they identified
Stewart as someone who was experienced in public projects like this,”
Blimling.
Stewart is hoping to have all the information compiled by April,
as his grant lasts only this year. He is currently working through
records of the Vietnam War.
Stewart has gone through books of annuals and military records finding
matches. After he finds a match, he looks for things such as when
the person was at Appalachian and any military information, such
as classification or years of service.
So far about 20 people have been found, 15 of those just from World
War II. One person died in Grenada. So far no records have been
found of anyone from Vietnam, the Persian Gulf or the recent Afghanistan
conflict.
Stewart said the reason for having no deaths in Vietnam might be
that the university would have prevented students from being drafted
in most cases.
Stewart recently searched for records on a student who died in WWII
and discovered an annual the student owned. The annual was covered
in messages to the student, including sayings such as “You’re
the man” or “way to go.”
“It is kind of a depressing project to look at annuals and
see those students who died but did not know they were going to
fight,” Stewart said. “We think of soldiers as GI Joe-Rambo
types, but they were students just like us.”
“I look it as a way to honor our great-grandfathers, grandfathers
and fathers,” Matthew T. Souther, a freshman history secondary
education major from Pleasant Garden, said Sunday. “It’s
showing thanks that they protected this country, in peace or war.”
There are no current projects in place to take records of every
soldier affiliated with Appalachian State University, regardless
if they died in service or lived to tell the story. Stewart said
there are people on campus interested in undertaking that project.
