Burke honors veterans

GOSHEN — John S. Burke Catholic High School recently held a ceremony honoring those who served in the armed services. The ceremony was held before a boys’ varsity basketball game against NFA.

Led by color guards from the Town of Montgomery Veterans of Foreign Wars and Newburgh Free Academy’s Junior ROTC, members of the audience who are current or former members of the military were invited onto the basketball court to be recognized. A moment of silence was held to honor men and women who died in the service of our country.

Kathleen Kish, Burke Catholic’s school nurse, was invited onto the court, accompanied by “America,” a service dog in training from the Puppies Behind Bars program. Kish made a presentation to Billy Beysel, a Burke Catholic graduate and veteran of combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan as a United States Marine.

Puppies Behind Bars is an organization that utilizes prison inmates to train puppies as service and companion dogs for wounded veterans. The Burke Catholic basketball program held fundraisers to sponsor a puppy, and Beysel was asked to name the dog-in-training. He named the puppy “Doc” in honor of his close friend and comrade in arms Hospitalman3 James Swink. Doc Swink was killed in action in Iraq in August of 2010, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on his 21st birthday. Beysel was presented with a journal kept by Doc’s inmate puppy raiser, documenting the dog’s progress throughout the program.

The pre-game ceremony ended with the National Anthem sung by Burke Catholic Junior Deirdre Lahiff.

Burke Catholic has a long history of honoring those in the military and first responders. The school features a military “Wall of Honor” which contains photographs of Burke Catholic alumni serving in the armed forces, including General Martin Dempsey (Burke Catholic Class of 1970), the current U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.