McCunes working on next WHHS military wall display

Father and son Richard and Sean McCune are passionate about honoring United States veterans.

Together, they have fashioned a pair of monuments honoring U.S. veterans who have attended West Holmes High School.

Now there is about to be a third.

The McCunes are in the midst of drumming up support and collecting the names of veterans to place on the coming West Holmes Military Wall of Honor at West Holmes High School.

The newest addition will include the names and military branch with which each veteran served or serves. It also will include any military honors such as receiving the Purple Heart and the year they graduated from WHHS.

While each individual veteran will be laser printed on a gold nameplate, those who died while serving will be honored with a black nameplate.

The entire piece will be encased in a wooden frame that is being built by the buildings and trades class at West Holmes High School.

According to Richard McCune, the West Holmes Military Chair of Honor at the football stadium was placed Sept. 3, 2021, while the West Holmes Military Chair of Honor in the high school was created Jan. 30, 2022.

The McCunes are currently seeking anyone who attended West Holmes High School and served in the military, whether they graduated or not.

“If they were here, we would love to have them contact us to have their name added to those who served their country,” McCune said.

The Wall of Honor is being displayed during all winter sporting events, and McCune has a table set up in the concession area for those who want to learn more or want to add their name to the growing list of veterans.

“The frame I have up with the names right now is a prototype that I made just to have something to put them in,” McCune said. “The frame that will officially be part of it will be much better looking, and Star Laser is engraving all of the nameplates.”

For the McCunes, these places of honor are all about giving the deserved credit to the many people who have or are serving their country in the name of freedom.

“It’s important to honor those who served, and this is a way to get today’s and future generations to continue to give them the honor and respect those who serve in the military so richly deserve,” McCune said.

For several years the McCunes have traveled to different schools in the district and shared their display of military memorabilia. That has given young children a chance to gain insight into the many wars fought and the sacrifice of those who served.

These additions at the high school are simply another way to share that message with young and old alike.

The idea from the wall came from an unlikely source, a visiting football team’s principal who saw the Chair of Honor and was impressed enough to dig into the people behind its creation.

When West Holmes played Shelby in the football playoffs two years ago, the principal there had seen the article written on the indoor chair display and wanted to know who headed that effort up.

He connected with the McCunes, and Sean McCune said while Shelby High School will create two chairs of honor at their school, they shared with the McCunes the idea of creating a Wall of Honor like the one currently in Shelby’s new school.

While Sean McCune hasn’t served in the military, he understands what his father and many others did for their country in serving and also understands the demands placed on those serving today.

“This is about honoring those who deserve our gratitude,” Sean McCune said. “When Dad told me about the chair of honor, I told him I’d back him in whatever he wanted to do. We kind of switched, and I’ve taken on the creation of the wall, but we really work together to make it all happen.”

Richard McCune served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War from 1969-73, although he was never sent overseas. He said these types of tributes remain vital to the ongoing effort to keep the names of those who served in the forefront, and they can have a big impact on those who see them.

“These should be here long after I’m gone, and hopefully in the future, we will have frames going down the hallway commemorating those who served who attended West Holmes,” Richard McCune said. “It’s our honor to be able to create these lasting monuments devoted to those who served in the military.”

Anyone wishing to contact McCune to add to the list of names in the West Holmes Military Wall of Fame may do so by emailing him at hippee6752@yahoo.com or visit him at any West Holmes home sporting event.