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High school alumni to hold flagpole dedication for veterans

The dedication of a flagpole memorial honoring Desloge High School military veterans — including two former graduates who were held as prisoners of war during the Korean Conflict — will take place at 11 a.m. Labor Day in Brightwell Park.

The flagpole memorial is a project of the Desloge High School Alumni Association, according to David Shaw, class of 1964.

“Along with all Desloge High School alumni who have served in the armed forces, we are specifically honoring POWs Jack Stegall and John M. Cole Jr.,” said Shaw. “Another one of our alumni, Charles Boyer, had the original idea last year of trying to find a way to honor Jack Stegall who had served on the park board with Charlie when Brightwell Park was established. Charlie wanted to do a memorial of some sort — preferably to raise a flag for him — at the park in his memory.”

Once the project began in earnest, Shaw said he took on the job of fundraising.

“I’ve been active in the Desloge High School Alumni Association for many years and we had monies left over from previous all-school reunions we used to put on,” he said. “So, we had a couple of thousand dollars to start the ball rolling and we started working on it.”

Shaw began sending out emails to DHS alumni informing them of the project.

“As we were gaining momentum on it, one of the alumni said, ‘Well, wait a minute, there’s another guy who was a POW in the Korean Conflict and he died while he was in captivity. That was John Milton Cole Jr. I went online and did a little more research and confirmed all that. So, we couldn’t just have a dedication to one, when we had another POW.”

Shaw admits that he began to get cold feet, concerned there might be a third alumni who might be left out.

“I did more research and I could not find a third POW from Desloge High School from the Korean War,” he said. “That’s how the two guys were chosen for the memorial.”

According to Shaw, the response from DHS alumni for the project has been outstanding.

“We’ve had excellent response,” he said. “We’ve raised about $8,000 — $6,000 above the original $2,000 we wanted to raise. After everything is paid for we still have money left for replacement flags and it’s all come from alumni donations except for $100 we received from the Mineral Area Elks Club in Desloge.”

Shaw said everything is in place, including a memorial plaque that was installed several weeks ago.

“It’s a huge flag and not an easy one to handle,” he admitted. “When you’ve got a lot of people looking at you and the flag is 15 feet long and 10 feet tall, you want to make sure everything turns out right. We’re glad to have Desloge’s VFW Post 2426 assisting us in the ceremony.”

Shaw emphasized that Monday’s dedication is open to the public. He said family members of both Stegall and Cole will be attending the program as well.

“The response of the members of the Cole and Stegall families has been wonderful,” he said. “We’ve got people coming from as far away as South Carolina and Louisiana to take part. There will also be others who are more local, such as from the St. Charles area, who will be here too. We were able to get in touch with the niece of John Cole and the brother of Jack Stegall, so it looks like we’re going to have a good crowd of family members there.”

As the project comes to an end, Shaw had words of praise for those who have helped make the flagpole memorial a reality.

“The generosity of time and talent from so many people who have come together to make this happen has been amazing,” he said. “Besides the monetary donations, we had people who donated hours of work installing the flagpole. The city of Desloge was instrumental in getting the hole dug and getting the concrete poured for the base.

“The fire department is providing the audio system for the presentation and Total Electric was instrumental in setting the pole and doing all that work. We’ve also had people donate their time and talents anonymously. It’s just been a community effort and nobody said no. Whenever anyone was asked they all said, ‘Sure, I’ll be glad to help. I wished we could do more.’ It just causes your heart to beat a little faster.”

“Along with all Desloge High School alumni who have served in the armed forces, we are specifically honoring POWs Jack Stegall and John M. Cole Jr.” — David Shaw, Desloge High School, class of 1964

The public dedication of a memorial flagpole in Desloge's Brightwell Park will take place at 11 a.m. on Labor Day. The project undertaken by the Desloge High School Alumni Association honors all of the former school's military veterans, as well as Jack Stegall and John M. Cole Jr. who were held as prisoners of war during the Korean Conflict.

The public dedication of a memorial flagpole in Desloge’s Brightwell Park will take place at 11 a.m. on Labor Day. The project undertaken by the Desloge High School Alumni Association honors all of the former school’s military veterans, as well as Jack Stegall and John M. Cole Jr. who were held as prisoners of war during the Korean Conflict.

Kevin Jenkins is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at 573-518-3614 or kjenkins@dailyjournalonline.com

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