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Honoring Alumni Killed in Action

WVIK Staff

Students and veterans gathered at Central High School in Davenport today to honor a special group of alumni. Forty-two graduates of the school have been killed in action fighting for their country from World War II, to the present.

Mackenzie Gibson, Cadet Lieutenant Colonel of the Junior ROTC unit, says the annual ceremony began three years ago when a student set out to honor his grandfather who fought in World War II. And then decided to remember all the Central alumni who died in wartime.

The feature speaker was Lieutenant Colonel Joel Russell, chaplain for the First Army based on Arsenal Island. He says the 42 embody the Seven Army Values: loyalty, duty, respect, service, honor, integrity, and personal courage. 

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They selflessly served a cause greater than themselves.

Also on hand, and wearing his uniform, was Davenport Superintendent Art Tate who served in the Army.

More names will be added to a plaque at the school as they become known. 

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.