Boston University's Honor Wall profiles students, alumni killed in service to country
His story is included in BU's new
'They're really humbling stories of heroism and bravery that a lot of people kind of overlook nowadays, especially when we think of the importance of that time in history,' said Michael Tozeski, who graduated last week with a master's degree from BU's Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies.
Tozeski spent the last year researching BU students or alumni who were killed in action since World War I. He relied on state and national military records, BU archives as well as outreach to veterans organizations.
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The wall so far includes 28 killed in World War I, 221 killed in World War II, 15 killed in the Korean War, nine killed in the Vietnam War, and three killed in the Global War on Terrorism.
Tozeski said it has been 'tremendously humbling' to learn about BU's service members.
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'It's just been a truly unbelievable project,' Tozeski said. 'Like, really, greatest generation kind of stories.'
BU hopes to hear from people with information about other students or graduates who died while in uniform, so that their profiles can be added to the page.
The wall was modeled after an online veterans memorial
The memorial page launched at the suggestion of John Woodward, BU's director of military education since last year. He had heard there were about 220 service members from BU killed in World War II alone.
'The lack of a comprehensive list of the members of the BU community who made the supreme sacrifice serving in uniform saddened me,' Woodward said in an email. 'My dad and my uncles were all combat veterans of World War II. I grew up seeing how important their war service was to them. They always remembered the comrades they lost in the war.'
Tozeski, Woodward's research assistant, got to work. He figures he spent at least 150 hours on the project, spending his lunch hour twice a week at the university's archives center.
'They were able to provide archival material dating back to the turn of the 1900s and were extremely gracious in helping pull records,' Tozeski said of the archives staff.
The profiles on the wall also include World War I Army Private
WWI Army Private Charles W. Whiting of Avon is among the BU alumni listed on the Honor Wall.
Boston University/Honor Wall
'Enemy soldiers were made aware of his efforts, and despite being targeted by field artillery, Pvt. Whiting remained steadfast and continued to repair and maintain the communication lines until he was killed in action,' Tozeski said. 'Such bravery cannot be quantified.'
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While some of the people included on the wall had already graduated from BU before they went to war, many were still students, Tozeski said.
'And they're kids,' Tozeski said. 'That's the other thing that I've been so humbled learning, is that a lot of these were students that gave up their education to go to war, you know, they gave up their lives to serve the country.'
Adam Sennott can be reached at
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