A community is only as strong as its willingness and ability to remember. Thankfully, each Memorial Day at the corner of Penn Street and Church Road, North Penn High School’s Key Club carries forward a solemn tradition. We couldn’t come together in 2020 at the Penndale Memorial Garden, but last year we rededicated ourselves to honoring the 18 students of our community who made the ultimate sacrifice for country, community and family.
As we prepare for the celebratory graduation of the class of 2022, we should reflect on the class of 1961 that was just as hopeful and full of promise over 60 years ago. That class lost one of their own members in Vietnam, which led to a single tree being planted by North Penn students to honor a life cut short during an era of tumultuous change. Over the years, an orchard of 14 crabapple trees would mark the toll of a protracted war in a foreign land — sons that never returned to walk across the same school ground that now hosts a permanent reminder of their valor.
To upgrade and sustain the memorial, our community invested countless contributions from community members, businesses and the school district. Through the generosity of Kiwanis Club of Lansdale and the leadership of the Key Club, a monument was dedicated in 1994. In 2010, another monument was dedicated for graduates lost after Vietnam. Four names have since been added, representing sacrifices in Beirut, Lebanon; Kuwait and Bahrain.
Each year, tribute is paid to our fallen at the Penndale Memorial Garden, with the ceremony culminating in each name being read while family members or representatives place flowers at the base of the monument. I’m forever influenced by the family and friends of their loved ones — and especially the fellow vets who survived to share the memories and dreams of the fallen. Their numbers are dwindling as time marches forward, and it is the duty of the North Penn community to never forget. We honor them in thoughts and prayers but also through action, unity and the shared values that demonstrate the best of what our community represents.
Remembering is much more than the act of not forgetting; it is the pursuit of forever honoring those who embodied and defended the very essence of what defines our community. Please learn the names and stories of these cherished North Penn students so we can share their legacies with future generations.
The North Penn High School Key Club ceremony will take place at 11:15 a.m. on Memorial Day. Parking is available at Penndale Middle School.
Remember their names:
