CAPE CENTRAL HONORS VETERANS

Students and staff at Cape Girardeau Central High School honored veterans with dedication of a Veterans Wall and program of patriotic music and readings Wednesday.

Dr. Richard Bollwerk, director of elementary education for the Cape Girardeau public schools and a Vietnam veteran, cut the ribbon to dedicate Veterans Wall, which features a plaque listing Central alumni killed in action in the nation's wars and other patriotic art.

Dr. Dan Tallent, Central principal, said the wall will feature displays honoring veterans.

Tallent said veterans "have a common bond with our freedom and our love of our country."

Local veterans from World War I through the Gulf War were recognized after the dedication. Students performed music and read poems and essays about the nation's wars, starting with the American Revolution.

Freedom was bought through veterans' sacrifices, said Emily Trueblood, a student performer, "and like other things of great value this did not come cheaply." The nation's debt to veterans, she said, "must continue to be paid long after the guns have been silenced."

Emily Hall, a senior, said it is important to honor veterans "because you have to remember the people who fought for us in the wars. They helped us save our country."

Senior Kara Vogelsang said most of the veterans honored Wednesday are from the Cape Girardeau area. "These are people that fought not only in wars for the country but for Cape Girardeau also," Vogelsang said.

Wednesday's ceremonies were organized by students in the Renaissance program, said Julia Jorgensen, Renaissance sponsor, but students and faculty from throughout the high school participated and provided assistance.

Renaissance students were working on revamping the front lobby over the summer when the idea for the veterans program was born, Jorgensen said.

"We had the veterans plaque and it was in such bad repair that it fell apart," she said. "And I noticed that we didn't have all of our veterans that had died from Cape Central listed."

The list was updated, with help from local veterans organizations, she said, but "we wanted to do more than say thanks for helping us out."

Students in Susan Hekmat's research techniques class researched information about the nation's wars and Cape Girardeau's contributions to them, Jorgensen said, as well as how various memorial and military traditions got their start.

VFW Post 3838's color guard also participated in the ceremony.