Greenport School adds 200 veteran names to Wall of Honor

Roughly 200 names of local veterans who graduated from Greenport High School were added to the school’s Military Wall of Honor May 11. 

The Wall of Honor began as a wartime tribute under the school’s original principal Joseph Walker in 1942 to recognize those who enlisted following the attack on Pearl Harbor. The 84-year-old installation has become a permanent fixture at the school, as a tribute for veterans and timeline of the community’s identity. 

It had not been updated since the late ’90s and early 2000s when former National Honor Society Advisor Tom Rabbit alphabetized and condensed the wall to the left side of the school’s auditorium doors, current Honor Society advisor Brian Holt said. The additions had been done in a piecemeal fashion here and there throughout the years. 

Efforts to update the wall began after Interact Club advisor Rebecca Lillis realized the wall hadn’t been updated in about 20 years during the school’s Veteran’s Day breakfast. 

“We just wanted to continue it and we wanted to make sure that we had a place to honor our veterans,” Ms. Lillis said. With this year’s additions, the wall now honors 340 names of local veterans.

From there, the Interact and History clubs at the school, alongside advisors Ms. Lillis, Carolyn Elak, Mr. Holt, Jillian Johnstone and community members Joan Dinizio and Carlos DeJesus helped gather photos and information about local veteran alumni of the school. 

“Pictures just kept coming in,” Ms. Lillis told The Suffolk Times. 

A crowd of 40 community members, veterans, students, local elected officials and school leaders gathered Monday afternoon to celebrate the installation. 

Interact Club member and senior Stefany Chapeton-Azama said the wall serves as a space to honor “the courage, sacrifice and service of those who have served in the United States Armed Forces.”

“As students and members of our community, we wanted to do more than simply learn about history, we wanted to actively preserve it,” she said. “We realized that many local veterans have done so much, yet their stories are sometimes not really known or remembered by younger generations.”

American Legion Burton Potter Post 185 Commander Jack Martilotta commended the students and community members who made the updates possible at the unveiling. 

“Not too long ago, they were in this building doing the same things you are,” Mr. Martilotta said of veterans. “They were part of the school and forever part of the community. So when the country called, these individuals that are on that wall, they answered the call selflessly and with courage. They made the extraordinary decision to put service above self [and] defend the freedoms we all take for granted.”

Ms. Lillis and Mr. Martilotta both acknowledged that military service does not start and end with those in uniform, but extends to their families and communities at home.

“Service is never carried by one person alone,” Ms. Lillis said. 

Greenport Schools Superintendent Beth Doyle said the unveiling of the wall was an opportunity to honor those who have served their country. 

“This wall is more than a display of photographs,” Ms. Doyle said. “It is a reminder that our history of community lives within these halls and that the sacrifices made by generations before us should never be forgotten.”

She added that the wall allows students to learn and preserve the history of local veterans’ sacrifice for future generations. 

“I hope it inspires future generations to consider the service as a path forward in life, and let’s never forget,” Mr. Martilotta said. 

The wall can be viewed outside Greenport School’s auditorium. For more information, call 631-477-1950.