M
cKeesport Area High School will reveal a monument to its
students killed in Vietnam with a ceremony in advance of
Memorial Day.
The public is invited to attend a dedication ceremony in the high
school auditorium Saturday, May 13, at noon. Families of 10 of the
“McKeesport 23” will be present to share their personal thoughts
and memories of these fallen veterans.
Class of 1965 graduate Joe Hoffman – a Vietnam veteran,
LaRoche College professor, and former White Oak police chief
– reached out to the school district last year to find a way to
memorialize these young men on district property. The idea was
embraced by the school board, administration and community.
“McKeesport, from 1965 to 1971, lost 23 men,” Hoffman said.
“When planning a class reunion, we knew we had three men from
our own class killed in Vietnam. I went online and researched this.
When I saw that there were 23, I thought that was an incredible
number.”
Hoffman’s effort goes hand-in-hand with a longstanding tradition
of memorializing the young men from McKeesport who made the
ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam.
The LaRosa Boys & Girls Club maintains arguably the longest
standing Vietnam memorial in the state of Pennsylvania, and for
years, the club has been honoring 11 members who were killed in
Vietnam.
Monument to honor
‘McKeesport 23’
GERMEK
ARNOVITZ
MCNELIS
GIBEL
BROOKS
MOSER
SOTAK
HUFF
BURSE
In 2016, the City of McKeesport and American Legion Post 361
donated banners to the club as part of the McKeesport Veterans
Banner Program. This initiative allows local residents to honor their
loved ones by purchasing banners for display throughout the city.
Banners were created at no charge for the “McKeesport 23” and one
additional soldier who had ties to McKeesport but moved during
his childhood.
“These guys were the sons of World War II veterans, and they
were the sons of mothers and fathers who worked in the steel
mills during World War II,” Hoffman said. “Without the Mon Valley, it
would have been difficult during World War II … A lot of these men,
coming out of high school, walked into good jobs in the steel mills.
They didn’t get deferments for college, and they were drafted.”
The “McKeesport 23” includes PFC Norman Wallace “Boots”
Johnson, Army; PFC Michael Joseph Nemchick, Army; PFC Michael
Dennis Pliska, Army; PFC James Francis Brooks Jr., Army; SSGT
Thomas John Winkelvoss, Army; PFC Tyrone Gregory Burse, Army;
PFC James Edward West, Marines; SSGT David Lloyd George Moser,
Marines; LCPL Gregory Francis Popowitz, Marines; SP4 Curtis Taylor
Gay, Army; LCPL Thomas James “Jitters” Sweeney, Marines; PFC Louis
Howard Huff, Marines; MAJ Jack Claire Plumb, Air Force; SP4 John
Alan Germeck Jr., Army; PFC Tibor Sotak, Army; Petty Officer 2nd
Class Patrick Robert McNelis, Navy; GYST Raymond Gibel, Marines;
1st LT Richard Arnovitz, Army; PFC Kenneth Kline, Army; 1SGT
Donald Robert Donaldson, Army; CPT Terry Jack Martell, Army;
and SP4 Vincent Edward Galka, Army. The American Legion also
recognizes James R. Long as having ties to McKeesport.
Hoffman said it’s important that the City of McKeesport
remembers all of its veterans, including the “McKeesport 23.”
34 McKeesport Area
NEMCHICK
SWEENEY
JOHNSON
DONALDSON
PLISKA
THOMAS
KLINE
GALKA
PLUMB
WEST
LONG
GAY
POPOWITZ
WINKLEVOSS
MARTELL