CARMEL – The year was 1950 when 17-year-old former Carmel High School student Richard Turpin withdrew from school to enlist in the U.S. Marines.
Sadly, on September 30 of that year, Private First Class Turpin made the supreme sacrifice when communist North Korean soldiers poured across the 38th parallel to invade South Korea.
American and allied forces rushed to the aid of South Korea and pushed the communist forces back. A three year long war ensued.
On Tuesday, some 100 Carmel educators and community members gathered outside Carmel High on a warm and sunny morning to remember Turpin and dedicate a plaque in his memory.
School trustee John Curzio, who emceed the ceremony, recalled how when “Richard’s class graduated from CHS on June 25, 1951, during the commencement ceremony, classmates donated a plaque to the high school in his memory. The plaque was hung in the school library. Unfortunately, as the library has moved numerous times over the past seven decades, the original plaque was lost.”
Curzio noted that plaque was presented to the school by the Class of 1951 President and Valedictorian, Gloria Morris. “Now 91, Gloria still remembers her classmate Richard Turpin as an active and outgoing student.”
Curzio called the Korean Conflict the “Forgotten War but in Carmel the service and sacrifices of our American heroes who fought in this war deserve to be remembered with pride. Over 36,000 Americans died to ensure an end to communist military takeover of free nations. One of these American heroes was Richard Turpin.”
The Carmel Board of Education recently approved a resolution directing Superintendent of Schools Joseph McGrath to have the new memorial plaque placed in a prominent location within the vicinity of where the CHS Library was located in 1951.
“Today we keep the promise made over 100 years ago by a great general that “time will not dim the glory of their deeds,” Curzio said.
