MMA's Wall of Honor pays tribute to those who served

This article originally appeared in the fall 2021 issue of the Eagle.

At the outset, Missouri Military Academy’s Wall of Honor was built to celebrate the service of MMA alumni who have served in the U.S. military.

It has become so much more.

Tucked between Barnard Hall and Ekern Cadet Health Center, the Wall on Veterans Plaza is a point of pride for the Academy, a place of reflection and reconnection for alumni and cadets alike. The nine-word epigraph, stretched across three panels, says it all: In Honor Of Those Who Served Around The World.

“It’s a living memorial,” says Marine MajGen Robert Flanagan, who served as MMA president when the Wall was constructed. “Of all the things I did in my time as president of MMA, the Wall is the most special.”

Set in Stone

Built in 2010, the tall, stone Wall of Honor recognizes the more than 1,400 MMA alumni, faculty, family, friends and staff who have served in the armed forces. Their names are engraved on Corian marble plaques and filled with gold resin. In addition to the names, the Wall carries large insignias of five branches of the U.S. armed forces and is flanked by memorial benches on Veterans Plaza. (Note: Funds are currently being raised to add the insignia for Space Force, the military’s newest branch, to the Wall.)

It all came about during a springtime stroll around the campus by Flanagan and his executive officer, Air Force Lt. Col. Jim Medley.

“We thought it was sad we didn’t have a way to honor the service of the many alums, faculty and staff at MMA,” Medley says. “The memorial chapel honors those who were killed in action, but there was nothing for those who served. So Bob and I walked around to find an appropriate place for a way to recognize those who served.”

Flanagan recalls a desire to reconnect the Academy with its military heritage.

“After all,” he says, “the school’s name is ‘military.’ ”

The two administrators sought the advice of two other MMA staffers — Facilities Director Greg Morton and Senior Army Instructor Paul Gillette, who also served as alumni director — to come up with an apt monument to the service of MMA-related veterans.

“The four of us put our heads together and came up with a design and a plan to pay for it,” Flanagan says. “It just took off from there.”

A Database of Honor

Gillette, a 1970 MMA graduate and retired Army lieutenant colonel, accessed the alumni database MMA had begun building, gathering names of veterans and branch of service to generate the original list for plaques engraved by Bee Seen Signs in Jefferson City.

“MMA did have an ongoing effort to recognize those who served and died,” Gillette says. “There were banners on the wall of Stribling Hall with silver stars for alumni who served in World War II and Korea and gold stars for alumni who made the ultimate sacrifice. Memorial Chapel also has lists of names of those who died in combat for World War II, Korea and Vietnam. My job was to gather military service information on our alumni. At the time, our alumni database consisted of several thousand 3-by-5-inch index cards; the effort was underway to transfer the data from the index cards to an electronic database.”

Medley served as point man on the venture. He notes that donations — primarily from alumni and faculty — paid the entire cost of the $10,000 project, financed by the sale of bricks used to pave Veterans Plaza and sales of memorial benches that invite visitors to sit and contemplate the names on the Wall of Honor. Alumni enjoy visiting the site and remembering past classmates and brothers-in-arms.

“We got a good response in the fundraising campaign,” Flanagan says. “It really struck a note with alumni.”

Service & Sacrifice

The Wall of Honor was dedicated at Homecoming 2010 with Iwo Jima survivor Marine Cpl. Leo Champagne doing the honors at the ribbon-cutting along with Flanagan and Alumni Association President Army Lt. Col. Harry Hoyt ’65.

“The Wall, in no small way, recognizes the military service and thus the personal sacrifices our alumni have made,” Gillette says. “That includes combat and noncombat service, time spent away from family on duty or deployments, missed birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, holidays, etc. It is not an easy undertaking for the service member or his/her family. It is another way of demonstrating to potential MMA families, the public and our supporters that MMA instills the value of service beyond self in our cadets.”