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March 12, 2015 VOLU M E 2 8 | I S S UE 1 6
HighlandsRanchHerald.net D O U G L A S C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O
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Project honors teacher’s memory ACE students win funding to help those who are hurting More than a hundred volunteers who lined the road for the funeral of Army Sgt. Floyd Jackson march back to the funeral home. Many of the volunteers, who included civilians, Boy Scouts and military personnel, carried American flags that were dipped as the procession passed by. Jackson died in a Korean prisoner of war camp in 1951. Photo by Tom Munds
Decades later, soldier laid to rest Floyd Jackson died in 1951, DNA aids identification of remains
ONLINE
By Tom Munds
tmunds @coloradocommunitymedia.com Army Sgt. Floyd Jackson died more than 60 years ago. But loved ones — his mother, brothers and sisters, family friends — never had the chance for final closure or to honor a fallen hero with a full military funeral. Jackson paid the ultimate sacrifice for his country when he died in a Korean prisoner of war camp half the world away. Those same loved ones were plagued first with nagging, then lingering, then permanent unanswered questions. Until recently, that is. Because the right people were in the right place at the right time, Jackson was laid to rest next to his mother on March 7 in Olinger Chapel Hill Cemetery in Centennial — six decades after he died in the POW camp. “Uncle Floyd died before I was born, but my family talked about how he died in prisoner of war camp,” said Joanne Mueller, Jackson’s niece and closest relative. “My daughter was looking at a family album and asked about Uncle Floyd. Not long after that, we went to a meeting for families of service personnel missing in action. The Army asked for a DNA samples from the family. That was in 2004.” It took until January for the government,
“This is my fourth military funeral, and each one is nerve-racking. I go over the words in my head, but it is hard to speak those words when you look into For more photos and a video the eyes of the loved of the ceremony for Army one receiving the Sgt. Floyd Jackson, go to flag.” HighlandsRanchHerald.net Jackson was born in Warrensburg, Mo., in 1930. His mother brought her six children to Littleton about 1949 after her husband died. Jackson was a teenager and worked in the kitchen at Bradley Café in the Coors Building in Littleton until he joined the Army. Jackson joined the Army in 1950. He was sent to the Far East and became a member of the 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, and 7th Infantry Division. His unit was deployed near the Chosin Reservoir in December 1950 and their position was overwhelmed by hundreds of Chinese soldiers. Jackson was among those captured and taken to a Korean prisoner of war camp. A soldier returning from the camp in 1953 said Jackson died on Feb. 13, 1951. His remains were not included in the more than 1,400 remains the Koreans returned in 1954. Remains of additional American military
A picture of 19-year-old Littleton resident Floyd Jackson after he joined the Army in 1950. Courtesy photo using modern technology and family DNA samples, to identify the Littleton man’s remains and offer to return them to his family. “I never thought this would happen in my lifetime,” Mueller said. “I knew it was my uncle’s wish to be buried next to his mother. So, I told my children, that, if Uncle Floyd’s remains were identified and he was returned home after I died, to bury him next to his mother.” Though they are full of beautiful details and precision movement, military funerals are never easy, said 1st Lt. Joseph Zarella, commander of an honor guard from Fort Carson.
Fox Creek Elementary hosts first book signing By Christy Steadman
csteadman @coloradocommunitymedia.com
Books continues on Page 10
jreuter@coloradocommunitymedia.com When Highlands Ranch High School teacher Joe Chandler collapsed and died while on a cruise last year, it devastated his wife, students and the school’s staff — including his good friend, English teacher Bas Wolf. “It was this universal response of ‘No, not Joe,’ this incredible charismatic person that everybody loved,” Wolf said. “He had a gift for kids a lot of other people would have given up on. He was this father figure that none of them knew they needed.” So when Wolf was asked to take over Chandler’s Alternative Cooperative Education program for at-risk kids, he accepted it as both a way to honor his friend and aid the students to whom Chandler was devoted. “These kids were incredibly hurt and needed somebody consistent in their lives,” said Wolf. “It was on my heart to support them and be there to help them through this.” No one was prouder than Wolf when the ACE students successfully pitched a business ACE continues on Page 10
Jackson continues on Page 10
Second-graders become published authors
The second-graders of Fox Creek Elementary spent all day practicing how to sign their autograph in a book about beavers. In their individual classrooms, they passed around the book they collaboratively wrote, and practiced how to quickly find the page to which they contributed. Crystal Winter, Mellissa Baskall and Tina Petrick, Fox Creek’s second-grade teachers, were preparing their students March 5 for their first book-signing event that evening at the Tattered Cover in Highlands Ranch. “We practiced being professional,” Petrick said, “because this is a professional book signing. We’re authors and illustrators.” Each class produced a published non-fiction book about beavers, in which every student has a page or two that they created — the writing and the illustrations. Fox Creek is an expeditionary learning
By Jane Reuter
ACE student Kirby Fick stares out a window at Highlands Ranch High School at the area that students will convert into a life garden, a project they started with former ACE teacher Joe Chandler. Chandler died on Oct. 12. Photo by Jane Reuter
THIS WEEK IN SPORTS
Title shots: ThunderRidge’s girls and boys and Valor’s girls advance to the final four. Page 17
Fox Creek Elementary School second-graders Brianna Cordray, left, and Tyler Lambert sign the page of the book that they wrote at their book signing event March 5 at the Tattered Cover in Highlands Ranch. Photo by Christy Steadman
Play ball: Baseball season is back, but the weather can provide obstacles. Page 23