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A Troup High School teacher has been selected as one of less than 50 to participate in the Silent Heroes program.

Troup High teacher Chance Giddens was selected as one of 48 educators across the country to take part in the National History Day (NHD) Silent Heroes program, which recognizes veterans.

Each year, the program has middle and high school students work on a project on history to learn and potentially win prizes. Over the years, the program has covered different war eras, from World War I to Vietnam. This year’s contest covers the Korean War.

Teachers apply to participate in the program, and one is selected from each state. Once selected, the teachers then put together a team, typically a class, to work on the project. One requirement is that they must be within 100 miles of a US National Cemetery, which Fort Mitchell in Alabama fits the bill for Troup.

The teachers then select two veterans who fought in the Korean War and are buried in a national cemetery.

“They were looking specifically to highlight some underrepresented groups from the 1950s,  either someone who is a person of color or female or somebody who went on after the war to have a big impact in their community,” Giddens said.

Giddens and his team selected U.S. Army Corporal Shigeru Ito and U.S. Air Force Corporal Shirley

Jean Tinker Thomas. Both vets lived in Columbus, Georgia, after the Korean War and were buried there at Fort Mitchell.

Ito was born in Hawaii and is of Japanese ancestry. Thomas was born in Milwaukee and was one of the first women to serve on the front lines in the Korean War.

Giddens said typically, a whole class works on the project, but he said it didn’t fit well with his current classes, so he selected two of his former students to take on the task.

“I had two students last year in AP US History, both of whom I know are not only pretty patriotic, but who are interested in the military,” Giddens explained.

Giddens reached out to Yuri Kim and Asher Harrelson to help him with the project, and both jumped on board.

“Both are patriots. Yuri is trying to get into the Air Force, and Asher’s grandfather was a general in the Air Force,” Giddens said. “They love their country, and this is something they could put on their college resumes to try and boost their enrollment chances. There’s only just a handful of students around the country who are working on this.”

Giddens said after tons of research, the project will culminate with Yuri and Asher writing a eulogy for Ito and Thomas, and then they’ll travel to Fort Mitchell, where they will read the eulogies at their grave sites.

Once all is said and done, NHD will compile all of the research and eulogies, and they’ll post them on their website and at their headquarters for other people to see, Giddens said.

“The whole purpose is to bring some awareness about the Korean conflict itself and to highlight the stories of some Americans who fought in conflicts which might not otherwise be known by anybody. It’s a pretty cool thing,” Giddens said.