The banners have been displayed for years at Central High School in Knoxville, Tennessee, a small tribute to alumni who had given so much to preserve freedom in World War II.
The two banners include 49 stars with names sewn meticulously on the fabric of all the young graduates from Central who had lost their lives in one of the most destructive wars in human history.
What Were Their Stories?
Russell Bazemore serves as the instructor of Central’s Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC). Bazemore, a retired Navy captain, had examined the banners, which hang at the back of the JROTC classroom, wondering what stories lie behind those names. What lives did these young men lead? What had they done at Central before being shipped off to battlefields in Europe and the Pacific?
Bazemore had an idea – finding out would make for a great history project for his junior cadets.
“Let’s find out something about what they did in World War II,” Bazemore told WBIR Channel 10 News in Knoxville.
When Bazemore’s students began researching the names, it dawned on them that the soldiers weren’t much older than they are when they were killed in action. Central High student Isabella Glass, 15, wondered what lives these 49 men could have lived. What dreams they had. Glass has dreams of her own, with plans to be an aviator in the military.
“It’s kind of crazy to me to know that these people, like, were just so young when they went through this, and they still had so much life to live,” Glass said.
Soldiers Served in Key Battles
As the students dug more into the backgrounds of the “Central 49,” they learned many had fought in pivotal battles in both the Pacific and European theaters. D-Day, the Battle of Midway, Iwo Jima, and the attack on Pearl Harbor. They’re all represented.
“Robert Bobby Mills — he was a state golf champion in 1944. … He landed at Omaha Beach,” said Noah Keesee, company commander of the JROTC class.
Pfc. Mills, a member of the Ninth Army infantry unit, was killed in Germany on April 18, 1945.
The junior cadets also unearthed an aged yearbook from more than eight decades ago, featuring a black and white photo of Gaylon Wilson. Not among the 49 names on the banners, Wilson, a Navy veteran, had survived the war and was present on the USS Missouri when the Japanese Empire surrendered on Sept. 2, 1945, mercifully ending World War II.
That old yearbook photo led Bazemore to another idea – what if his students met Wilson? The veteran is still alive, at age 100, living in Knoxville, just a few minutes away from Central High.
Bazemore took his JROTC class to see Wilson, and after a few handshakes and hellos, the curious students began peppering him with questions.
“What ran through your mind when you witnessed the Japanese surrender?” one student asked.
“Glory, glory Hallelujah, I’m going back to Coker Avenue (in Knoxville),” Wilson said. “I was ready to come home.”
After the War
When Wilson returned to Knoxville, he enrolled at the University of Tennessee, playing football for coach Robert Neyland, a retired brigadier general. Neyland became a legend in “Rocky Top,” with the university naming the football stadium in his honor.
"I would describe Coach Neyland as the finest man I've ever known," Wilson said.
Listening to Wilson’s stories, the junior cadets marveled at meeting someone who had a front-row seat to history.
“He witnessed the end of one of the worst wars in human history, and that’s just something … astounding,” JROTC Executive Officer Aden Hirsch said.
Reflecting upon the proud work of his students this semester, Bazemore is pleased knowing that a simple idea, spawned from curiosity, turned into a rewarding history project.
“I am extremely proud to be at a school that has supported the military over the decades, like Central High School,” Bazemore said.
