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Heroes Monument Honors Fallen Mt. Vernon Navy Pilot
by Melissa Payne
September 24, 2010
The football field at Mt. Vernon High School is now Heroes' Field. New bleachers and lights will line the field and a new monument is now in place to honor heroes in the community.
The first hero to be honored is the Navy Pilot from Mt. Vernon who was killed while flying his plane with a student.
"When he was in the 8th grade, he actually got to play some football with the varsity, and we were down and Mt. Vernon had the football like on the three yard line," said Lt. Clinton Wermers father, Ron, as he remembers his son out on the football field, years before the plane he was in with a student, went down.
According to the young pilot, Wermers' helped save his life.
"He immediately helped the student get out of that parachute, because it would pull him down," said Wermers. "He would do that, it was his job, he was a leader."
A leader in the air, and on the football field. Remembering his son as Number 33, makes his father smile.
"And they ran a play where they gave it to my son and he scored a touchdown in the 8th grade. And I was pretty tickled about that, and so was he, of course," said Wermers.
Now Wermers' father will have a permanent reminder of his son at the Mt. Vernon football field. At the newly named, Heroes' Field, a Mustang stands as an image of bravery, a symbol of strength.
"It makes me proud to know that he had done that, but at the same time, it's very sad, just tragic," said Wermers.
"There's so many different heroes. There's heroes that do brave things, but there's also heroes that do every day things, and just do the right things," said Mt. Vernon Athletic Director, Eric Denning.
Standing tall at the entrance of the field, many hope the monument will inspire the students to take a stand, and answer the call to be a hero in their every day lives.
Every year a new hero will be chosen, and a plaque will be placed at the field. A committee will review applications and pick someone they believe has made a difference in the community.
