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On Thursday, two Troup High School students were given the opportunity to read eulogies for two Korean War veterans at Fort Mitchell as part of the National History Day (NHD) Silent Heroes program.

Troup High teacher Chance Giddens was selected as one of 48 educators across the country to take part in the program, which recognizes veterans each year. For the program, middle and high school students across the country work on history projects to recognize veterans from different war eras with this year covering the Korean War.

Giddens selected two of his former students, Yuri Kim and Asher Harrelson, to participate in the program. The group then selected U.S. Army Corporal Shigeru Ito and U.S. Air Force Corporal Shirley Jean Tinker Thomas as their project focus. 

Ito and Thomas lived in Columbus, Georgia, after the Korean War and were buried at Fort Mitchell.  Ito was born in Hawaii and is of Japanese ancestry. Thomas was born in Milwaukee and was one of the first women to serve during the Korean War. 

Kim and Harrelson were selected by Giddens because he knew they were both very patriotic. Harrelson’s grandfather was a general in the Air Force and Kim is also looking forward to a career in the military.

“I’ve been accepted to the West Point Military Academy at West Point, and I’m planning on going to the Air Force Academy,” Kim said.

Kim said his Silent Hero was particularly special to him as they are both Japanese Americans. He said giving the eulogy really hit his heart.

The students learned that the vets are not just names in a history book.

“We learned how meaningful it is that each person in history actually has their own story and timeline and family,” Harrelson said, saying they learned what they did and what kind of impact they had in their community for the project.

Reading the eulogy was extra special for Asher because Thomas’ family was present for the reading. Unfortunately, Ito only has a couple of surviving children, who were unable to attend.

Buck Thomas, Shirley’s son, was in attendance for the ceremony.

“It was a super nice ceremony. The people from the high school did a super job. He did a he did a good job of doing research,” Buck said, saying he was proud of his mother and father’s service. They both served and met during the conflict. They are both buried at Fort Mitchell.

The students spent 25-plus hours working on the project on their own and even more working with Giddens. All of the work was done outside of the classroom. It truly was an extra-curricular project, Giddens said.

“I just learned a lot and the fact that there’s so many untold stories that we can tell. There’s so many experiences that we can share, but it’s just on us to share those experiences,” Kim said.