Committee revives project honoring fallen WWII Bearcats

By Camille DeVaul · Wed Dec 10 2025

Committee revives project honoring fallen WWII Bearcats

Trustees select Joel Peterson as new board president during Tuesday meeting

PASO ROBLES — A new president has been chosen to lead the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District (PRJUSD) Board of Trustees through the next year. During the Tuesday, Dec. 9 board meeting, Joel Peterson was unanimously chosen to serve as board president. Trustee Laurene McCoy was then unanimously approved to serve as clerk.

During the meeting, former Director of Student Services Tom Harrington provided the board with an update on the War Memorial project, which will honor the 12 Bearcats who died in World War II. Now retired, Harrington has joined a committee that is working to restart this project.

"Most people in the community know that Paso Robles High School plays its home football games and some of its soccer matches at War Memorial Stadium," Harrington said. "Most do not know the stadium was dedicated to 12 Bearcats that were killed in World War II."

All 12 of the Bearcats were in their early 20s and even teens when they died serving their country.

The 12 Bearcats that lost their lives serving their country in WWII were:

"These bearcats have names and stories. They had promising futures before their lives were cut short in defense of this nation," said Harrington, whose father graduated from PRHS in 1939 and knew each of the Bearcats who died personally.

War Memorial Field, located behind the Lewis Flamson Junior High, was first dedicated in 1946 with a plaque at the bottom of a flagpole at the stadium. Currently, the plaque is difficult to read and hard to find.

"If we do not do something to remember them, we will undoubtedly forget them and the sacrifice they made," Harrington said.

Someone from the community has recently asked the district to recognize those Bearcats by name. A committee was formed to explore options, and the members decided they would like to recognize those Bearcats with a memorial wall and plaque on site.

The current committee members working on the War Memorial project include Curt Dubost, Ray Dauth, Dave Lambert, Gene Miller, Mark Perry, and Kelly Stainbrook. With Miller's help, the committee was able to pull together an abundance of research on the 12 Bearcats that they would like to share with the community on a website in the near future.

The committee is currently working with local landscape architects to develop plans, and fundraising platforms will soon be available for the community to contribute to as the committee is looking to publicly fund the project.

The committee has three requirements for the project: a wall with a plaque displayed vertically with the names and seals of the different military branches; a place where a remembrance pad with bricks available for purchase; and an area with high traffic, but will not obstruct regular flow to the stadium, and some way to access additional information online on the memorial site.

The committee has looked at three location options for the memorial project: the south side of the stands on the home side of the field; the location of the old oak tree behind the scoreboard; and the south end flag pole, where the current plaque is located.

Trustees unanimously expressed support for the Memorial project. Harrington will return to the board with further information on the plans that are available.

The next Paso Robles Joint Unified School District meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, at 6 p.m.

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