Tuesday, 5/8

I'm glad they were able to pay him a visit.

Some of you may know about the Marquette Senior High School “We The People” team, a group of students who just went to Washington DC to take part in a national scholastic competition. They didn't win, but they did have the time of their lives there, including an unexpected—but highly appreciated—visit to a grave.

Let me explain—I received a call last week from Fred Cole, who teaches A.P. Government at the High School and who is the coach of the team. Fred & I used to live next to each other, where we would spend hours on certain winter mornings shoveling out our adjoining driveways and sidewalks. Anyway, the “We The People” team had ordered a wreath that they had planned on placing at the Vietnam Memorial but the wreath was delivered a day late. Knowing of Loraine's research, he wondered if there was someone from Marquette buried at Arlington National Cemetery, which was one of their stops the next day. He figured that if there was someone from Marquette buried there the kids could place the wreath at that person's grave.

As it turns out, there is. Alfred “Jo Jo” Clement was one of two men from Marquette killed in early September, 1944, trying to cross the Moselle River near the small town of Dornot, France. The body of the other, Sam DePetro, was recovered after the war and sent back to Marquette, while Clement's body wasn't found until almost 60 years later, when a French group called “Thanks, G.I.s”, a group that specialized in trying to recover missing servicemen from French soil, discovered remains near the battle site. DNA tests showed it was Clement, and he was returned to the U.S., eventually being buried at Arlington amongst people who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. So when Fred called, I knew where the kids could go.

And they did--

(picture courtesy of the MSHS AP Gov Facebook page)

I think it's nice that during a whirlwind trip to the national's capital, a trip that included not only a scholastic competition but also as much sightseeing as they could cram into the few days they were there, that the kids paid their respects to someone who died 55 years before they were born. Whenever we visit military cemeteries overseas we always stop and pay our respects to the people from “home” who are buried there. I think it's cool that the “We The People” team did the same.

I'm sure Alfred Clement would appreciate it.

(jim@wmqt.com)