School District Five teacher selected for prestigious learning opportunity
February 17, 2025
Spring Hill High School teacher Marc Turner was selected for a prestigious learning opportunity to study the lives and service of an American Veteran with National History Day® (NHD) and the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC).
Turner is one of 55 educators selected by NHD for its Researching Silent Heroes webinar series, in coordination with the ABMC. Educators selected for this cost-free learning opportunity receive hands-on training to research and create a profile for a Silent Hero®, an individual who served in the United States military. The men and women researched for this webinar series died during World War I, World War II, the Korean War, or the Vietnam War and are buried or memorialized in an American military cemetery cared for by the ABMC.
Turner has been a teacher for 31 years. This is his sixth year at Spring Hill High School.
“I applied to do this for a couple of reasons,” Turner said. “One is my recent interest in World War II. I participated in a teacher workshop at the National World War II Museum in 2023 and working with materials related to wartime experiences both at home and at the front made me reconsider a variety of things about this conflict. My grandfather was a World War II veteran and it really put his life in a new perspective. The other thing that attracted me to this program was the opportunity to do some historical research on someone from this state. So far, it’s been interesting to examine the story of a young pilot who died early in the war in North Africa. I still have a couple of tasks to go—but it’s been a great experience.”
Teachers meet monthly with both a historian and a research specialist to set their Silent Heroes into historical context and learn strategies to research their lives. They discuss effective research strategies and discuss how to deal with roadblocks that historical research creates, such as missing or incomplete records, alternate spellings, or reconciling memories with the historical record. When the teachers complete their research in April, they will write a profile for NHD’s Silent Heroes website for publication in late spring/summer 2025. This work will be shared with the American Battle Monuments Commission for future use in their educational materials.
“National History Day’s Researching Silent Heroes program is essential to our work to improve the teaching and learning of history,” said Cathy Gorn, Ph.D., Executive Director of National History Day. “Thanks to ABMC, teachers across the country and around the world get to dive into primary source research about the lives of service members from twentieth century conflicts. I can’t wait to read the impactful profiles the teachers will write about these fallen service members’ lives.”
The 55 teachers selected for this program represent 32 states and two Department of Defense (DoDEA) schools overseas. Their Silent Heroes are buried or memorialized at 17 ABMC Cemeteries.
