PEMBROKE/Pembroke High School’s Veterans Outreach Club will honor local Veterans in “Wall of Honor” event next month

Story by Julie Carasone

In 2019, Hunter Schodel, Vice President of the Pembroke Veterans Outreach Club, wanted to recognize local veterans for their accomplishments and sacrifices and with the club, they decided to do a “Wall of Honor”.

Schodel is the brainchild behind the project. He came up with the design for the plaques and how to use the C&C machine to cut the design into the wood, teacher Anthony DiGiulio helped implement it.

“It was our intention that we were going to have this opening ceremony, plaques done and the whole thing done for May of 2020, but everything was put on hold because of COVID. We restarted the whole process this school year. Club Members, Sam Pfeiffer and Everett Hartz, picked up where they left off last year,” said Matthew Moscato, Pembroke Veterans Outreach Club Advisor.

Veterans or Friends and Family members of Veterans were able to send in an application with their names, branch of service and when they served. When the club receives this information, club members Pfeiffer and Hartz prepare a piece of plain wood, burn it and then brush it off and place it in a C&C machine where the veteran’s name, branch of service and years served are carved into the wood. The plaques will then be placed on a “Wall of Honor” in the high school. Both Pfeiffer and Hartz have a rich history of family in the military and joined the club to give back to those that served.

“It is the least we can do and our way to thank them and it is very humbling,” says Pfeiffer.

For people out of state or who cannot make it to the high school, the National Honor Society of Pembroke have designed a virtual wall. NHS members and seniors Sebastian Kitt and Allie Schwerthoffer have designed an interactive wall where each veteran will be featured.

Schwerthoffer says, “NHS has to do a service project and this was introduced and right away we wanted to do it”.

Sebastian Kitt started up the website. Any documents, pictures, pictures of artifacts and stories will be put on virtual wall. iPads/Chromebooks will be mounted at the physical wall, and individuals will be able to click on a veterans name and their story will be told.

“Putting this together and having a picture go along with the story, it makes it so great and you get to learn so much about that person,” says Schwerthoffer.

Moscato says that they will take names and nominations for forever. These seniors will teach the juniors how to add names to the virtual wall and this will be an ongoing project in conjunction with the Veterans Outreach Club.

So far, the club has over 110 names and expect to add more to the wall.

On Sunday, November 21st at 1:00 p.m., there will be a dedication ceremony for the “Wall of Honor”.

There will also be a special commemoration for Clarence J. Hall, a 1967 graduate of Pembroke High School, who was killed in action in Vietnam. He received the Silver Star, the 3rd highest medal for Valor. C. Jay was credited with saving the lives of several of his comrades. His sister, Sandy Hall will be at the ceremony, many Vietnam Veterans, and will have a last roll call. Assemblyman Steve Hawley and many other speakers will be in attendance. Moscato says, “No one will see the wall until its completed. The plaques will not go up until the day before. Any veterans will have the first look and walk through”. Afterwards, there will be a reception honoring each branch of the military, memorabilia set up and other displays. The Buffalo Dolls, period singers, will be there, a brass quintet, fire companies flying a giant American flag, the Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts. “A huge community event,” says Moscato.

“I just think that its cool that you go into a classroom at school and teachers and kids are already talking about it and there is a sense of pride that arises from it. I mean, you have all these young impressionable kids and they find at such a young age, they can make a difference and I think its really powerful, ” says Schwerthoffer

Individual can still submit applications for the “Wall of Honor” by clicking on the link below, where an online and printable application is available.

Veterans’ Wall of Honor | Pembroke Central School District (pembrokecsd.org)

For questions or contributions, please contact Veterans Outreach Club Supervisor – Matt Moscato – wallofhonor@pembrokecsd.org or 585-599-4525 ext. 1107 or my his phone # 716-353-5768

Since the project has been funded totally through fundraisers by the Pembroke Veterans Outreach Group, donations are graciously accepted.