A day for Boys' Latin to remember its fallen heroes
School to unveil memorial plaque
By Larry Perl
lperl@patuxent.com
Posted 11/04/09
(Enlarge) Students at Boys’ Latin School will spend Veterans Day paying tribute to graduates who died serving their country in wartime.The most recent was Nick Ziolkowski, who was killed by sniper fire in Iraq in 2004. Two years later, Ziolkowski’s smiling portrait sat on the school’s lacrosse/football field, while Ziolkowski’s platoon commander, Capt. Mike Pretus, hugged Ziolkowski’s mother, Tracy Miller, at the 2006 dedication ceremony where the Athletic Pavilion was renamed the Nicholas Ziolkowski Pavilion. Now, the school is placing a memorial plaque on campus to honor all Boys’ Latin grads who died serving their country. (File photo)
Upper school teacher Butch Maisel said he is keeping the seat empty to remind students how fragile their lives are.
"I want them to know it's a tough world and you don't know what to expect in a turbulent world," Maisel said.
Case in point: Ziolkowski, a 2001 graduate of Boys' Latin and a Towson resident, was killed by sniper fire in Iraq in 2004. He was 22.
Maisel, 56, who lost a half-brother in the Korean War and whose son, Chris, 23, a 2004 Boys' Latin graduate, is serving in the Maryland National Guard, does his best every year on Veterans Day to honor grads who served or died in the military.
He and his son also own a traveling museum of military artifacts dating to the Civil War, ranging from uniforms to nail clippers that soldiers used.
Maisel said they have enough items to fill a gymnasium, and Boys' Latin officials say it is one of the biggest collections in the country. The museum is popular with veterans organizations, Army museums and retirement communities, he said.
But this year, Maisel, who is also an assistant coach and a retired head coach in three sports at Boys' Latin, said he is planning to even further honor veterans.The school will place a permanent memorial plaque under a flag outside the Julian S. Smith Alumni House, as well as hold the annual Veterans Day ceremony at the Gelston Athletic Center. The plaque will list the names of about 20 grads who died in the military, as far back as George Cobb, class of 1941, who was killed in World War II, and John P. Poe, a Princeton University football star who was killed in World War I.
Guest speakers will be Maisel, 1961 grad Butch Hodgson, a Vietnam War veteran, and Maryland National Guard Lt. Col. Samuel Riley, formerly of the 110th Field Artillery. The school has strong historical ties to the regiment dating to World War I, when a number of Boys' Latin grads joined it, Maisel said. He said William Fell Johnson, a 1901 grad, was one of the regiment's first commanding officers.
Maisel's son was in the regiment until last summer, when it was disbanded, which makes him one of the last officers.
Maisel believes it's important for Boys' Latin to honor veterans. In additon to keeping Ziolkowski's seat empty, he keeps a photo of Ziolkowski near his desk.
"The students get a real apprecation for the students that came before them," he said.
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