Haddonfield Memorial High School students gathered in the auditorium ahead of Memorial Day for a service to remember two borough servicemen who died while serving their country: World War I Navy mechanic Edgar Burton Lloyd and Jon Richard Morvay, who also served the Navy in Vietnam.
The annual honors began in 2015 as a way to better connect students with people memorialized by the high school. Student council members choose the honorees and students from the National Arts Honors Society recreate portraits of them that are added to the collection each year.
“By learning their stories, we may gain a better understanding of our school’s history, and honor those who have served our country and paid the ultimate sacrifice,” said Helene Usher, student body communications director.
Burton Lloyd enlisted in the Navy when he was 19 and was a mechanic in the First Aviation Squadron, where he worked on airplane motors and aviation sites. At 20, he was killed in an airplane accident in Louisiana and buried a week later with full military honors.
Ian Talty, secretary of the student council, recalled that Morvay grew up in Haddonfield and graduated from Ocean City High School in 1965. He attended Valley Forge Military Academy and Temple University before he served in Vietnam with the U.S. Navy and was killed in action there in 1967.
“(Morvay) was killed at age 20 years old, an age where many are enjoying their lives in college and relishing the opportunities in front of them,” Talty said. “ … Morvay could have easily attained a degree from a good university, found a good paying job and settled down with the woman he loved, to start with.
“But he made the decision to put his future on hold so he could serve his country.”
National Arts Honors Society students Cece Fitzgerald and Elaine Zhang were tasked with hand-drawing portraits of Burton Lloyd and Morvay based on pictures. They will be added to the collection of Memorial Day portraits that will be displayed year-round in the school beginning next year.
Residents gathered at the high school on Memorial Day to honor the 3,837 men from New Jersey who served in the first world war through an art installation called Project Poppy, where an artificial poppy was created for each person who died.
Poppies from the high school flowed into Veterans Memorial Grove, creating a waterfall-like effect.
“Project Poppy is art, and art is designed to make the viewer feel something,” said Joe McElroy, founder of the effort. “When we try to understand why we feel a certain way when viewing art, we learn about ourselves and about the world.”
The art installation will remain until July 4.
