SHELBY — Shelby High School graduates Gary Seals ’66 and Mike Johnson ’63 discussed finding a way to honor veterans from Shelby High School in 2010.
The result: Display a list of anyone who graduated from SHS and joined any branch of the United States military.
After speaking with the SHS administration, it was determined that the Veterans Roll Call Memorial would be placed on a wall in the main hallway.
Funding was secured by donations, and on Aug. 17, 2014, a dedication ceremony was held in the gymnasium. Each attending veteran was escorted to a microphone where he said his name, graduation year and branch of service.
Adding to the moving ceremony was a color guard and a 21-gun salute.
The memorial has become a must-see for graduates who come to SHS for any activity or tour of the building on class reunion weekends. The memorial was last updated in 2016 and now shows more than 1,300 names.
The time has come to again update the memorial with names of SHS alumni who joined the military and are not displayed. The goal is to have the names updated in time for the 2024 All-Alumni Weekend to be held Oct. 4 to 6.
Here is a link to the names currently on the memorial: https://bit.ly/4eEGALu.
If you served in the military, graduated from SHS and your name is not shown, complete this Google Form https://bit.ly/3W4a2mS.
Names need to be submitted by Wednesday, Aug. 14 so that there is time to verify that the named veterans are SHS graduates, organize the names and create the display.
If you have questions, feel free to contact SHS Principal John Gies at gies.john@shelbyk12.org.