TOPEKA (KSNT) – A social-studies teacher from Seaman Middle School in Topeka has been selected for the “Silent Heroes” research program.
Jeffrey Schuh will have the opportunity to work with historians and specialists research the life of a U.S. servicemembers. At the end of the research, Schuh will create a profile that will be shared on the National History Day website, as well as shared with the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) for future use in educational materials.
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“National History Day’s Researching Silent Heroes program is essential to our work to improve the teaching and learning of history,” said Cathy Gorn, Ph.D., Executive Director of National History Day. “Thanks to the ABMC, teachers are exposed to unique primary source research about the lives of service members from twentieth-century conflicts. I look forward to the powerful profiles the teachers will write and how this learning will impact the way they teach their students about war and sacrifice.”
The program selected 61 educators across 31 states and one international school. Servicemembers selected for the program are buried or memorialized at 19 American Battle Monuments Commission.
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“Over the course of the next several months, we will conduct a research project on the service member we chose,” Schuh said. “Background life, life before the war, family, service, etc.. We will ultimately be creating a complete bio/profile of the person over the course of the next several months, and then NHD then publishes our final product. I wanted to apply and do this project as I felt it would be an honor to tell the story of someone who was not able to tell their own story, if that makes sense. I also love history and research and the research process that I am conducting fits well with what I teach, so it was all up my alley! The goal really is to tell the story of a service member who is no longer with us, and who wasn’t able to make it back to the USA. So a cool opportunity for sure.”
Schuh will be researching U.S. Marine Corps Private First Class William D. McGonigle, a Kansas native who died in 1968 during the Vietnam War. Due to battle conditions at the time, McGonigle’s remains could not be recovered.
In 2005, McGonigle’s remains were recovered and identified. He is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, as well as on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.
Schuh will be meeting every month with a historian and research specialist until March 2026.
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