Anthony Wayne High School added 46 names to its Military Wall of Honor this Veterans Day, bringing the royal blue wall outside the main gym to 779 alumni and district staff members who have served or are serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, the Toledo Free Press reported.
Among the newest names are 2025 graduates Cooper Mohr and Hayden Robarge, friends who both joined the Air National Guard and now serve at the 180th Fighter Wing, according to the Toledo Free Press. As students, the two often passed the wall; now their own names are on it.
The wall was established in 2019 and received its first names in 2020. Names are arranged by decade and list each person’s branch of service, the Toledo Free Press reported.
“The Wall of Honor is more than names on a wall. It represents courage, sacrifice and service beyond self,” Principal Jon Burke said during the school’s “A Salute To Our Veterans” program, as reported by the Toledo Free Press. “To our veterans, those present and those remembered, we thank you. Your courage gives meaning to our freedom, and your stories continue to inspire the next generation of Generals.”
Before the gym program, school staff and students from military families — known as Purple Star Generals — hosted a breakfast in the cafeteria for returning graduates, the Toledo Free Press reported. Among them were 1983 graduates Scott Gmitter and Brian Spangler and 1984 graduate Jeff Brossia, Navy veterans who had not been back since the school was rebuilt after a 1992 tornado.
The keynote speaker was high school math teacher Jim Eberly, who served a combined nine years in the Army and Army Reserves. “We signed up for freedom. We signed up to protect those that cannot protect themselves,” Eberly said, according to the Toledo Free Press. He urged students to honor veterans by becoming part of something bigger than themselves.
This year’s additions span generations, from 1943 Waterville School graduate Bernard Utz, an Army corporal who earned a Purple Heart in the Pacific, to members of the classes of 2025 and 2026 now in the Air National Guard and Marine Corps, the Toledo Free Press reported.
The Anthony Wayne ceremony was one of many Veterans Day honors across Ohio on Nov. 11. In Stark County, officials named wounded Army veteran Larry Glasgow the county’s Veteran of the Year, and in Findlay, a Hancock County deputy and Army veteran received a $2,000 scholarship for his criminal justice studies. Ohio veterans were also thanked statewide with free meals, coffee, car washes and zoo admission.
For families who lost a loved one who served, the day carried a different weight. Jo Heilman, who worked in the school cafeteria for 17 years, returned to see her late husband Larry’s name added to the wall; Larry Heilman, a 1961 graduate and lifelong Whitehouse resident, served in the Army from 1965 to 1967, according to the Toledo Free Press.
Other new honorees are already serving their own communities. Twin brothers Dylan and Tyler Ware, 2018 graduates, both joined the military out of high school; Dylan, an Army veteran, is now a Sandusky County sheriff’s deputy, and Tyler, a Marine veteran, is an officer with the Whitehouse Police Department, the Toledo Free Press reported. Both were on duty on Veterans Day and could not attend.
Joseph Masiker, a 2026 graduate now at the U.S. Air Force Academy, sent a message that was shared at the event. “It means so much to me to not only have the opportunity to serve my country, but to be recognized by my high school for doing so,” Masiker said, according to the Toledo Free Press.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What we know: 46 names were added this year for a total of 779, and the school is already collecting names for next year. What we’re still waiting on: nothing is pending in this story — the open item is simply the 2027 class of honorees, which the district builds from community submissions over the coming year.
What happens next: names are being accepted for the 2027 Military Wall of Honor inductees. Families can submit a name by emailing [email protected], the Toledo Free Press reported.