Tucson High honors 143 alumni who died in WWII

The memory of 143 Tucson High alumni who died while serving in World War II was honored this weekend with the dedication of a brick walkway outside the school’s Hall of Champions.

The bricks on the walkway were engraved with the names of those who died. The bricks had been purchased as memorials by family members and friends.

The Tucson High Badger Foundation sold the bricks and made the walkway along with other brick walkways dedicated to veterans of other wars and those purchased as memorials to other alumni.

The money from the sales of bricks — minus the cost of the bricks and engraving — was added to the Badger Foundation’s scholarship and endowment fund. There are currently 11 former Tucson High students making use of these scholarships to further their education.

The chairman of the Badger Foundation Board of Directors, Jerry Strutz, presided over Saturday’s dedication. It included a keynote address by Mike Butler, a retired Marine colonel and a 1962 THS graduate .

Following the keynote address, the names of the alumni killed during WWII, the Vietnam War, and Afghanistan were read, sometimes by family.

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Before, during and after the dedication, those who attended were invited to see the gallery exhibit in the main building curated by Victoria and Scott Hough. The exhibit included WWII memorabilia, but the photos and articles were the big draw. Every alumnus who died during the war was represented by photos and articles telling their stories.

Victoria Hough said they used yearbooks and newspapers.com to gather information, finding much of it in the Arizona Daily Star and Tucson Citizen archives.

One such story involved Staff Sgt. William H. Boykin. While in Australia, probably in late 1944, he and a fellow soldier, Delmo Franchi of Long Island in New York, went to a photographer to have their photos taken and sent to their parents. The photographer switched the photos and sent them to the parents.

When Boykin’s parents received the wrong photos, they returned them to the photographer. Before they received the correct photos, they learned in February that their son was killed Jan. 17, 1945, in the Philippines. Boykin’s friend, Franchi, whose photos Boykin’s parents had received in error, was killed four days later. The photos of the young men became final mementos from their sons.