Local Kīhei teacher selected for prestigious program to research military heroes

A Maui teacher is among the 55 educators chosen nationwide to participate in National History Day’s “Researching Silent Heroes.” The program focuses on researching and profiling US military service members who served in World War I, World War II, the Korean War or the Vietnam War and are buried or memorialized in American military cemetery cared for by the American Battle Monuments Commission.

Among the selected participants is Nicole Lasko from Kūlanihāko‘i High School in Kīhei, Hawai‘i, who will be researching US Army Air Corps First Lieutenant Daniel Tucker Mathis Jr., a World War II casualty buried in the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

The names of nearly 29,000 service members are recorded on a total of eight panels within the Courts of the Missing that sits atop the Honolulu Memorial. The courts were established by the American Battle Monuments Commission to honor the sacrifices and achievements of American armed forces in the Pacific during World War II and the Korean War. The memorial grew in 1980 to include the missing of the Vietnam War.

For educators like Lasko, Silent Heroes provides a chance to contribute to a national effort to preserve the memory of service members who made the ultimate sacrifice.

The educators meet monthly with historians and research specialists, receiving guidance on overcoming challenges that often arise in historical research, such as missing records or reconciling conflicting sources.

The teachers’ completed research profiles will be published on National History Day’s Silent Heroes website and shared with the American Battle Monuments Commission for use in future educational materials.