Teagan Smith and advisor Frank O'Grady are pictured at the 2016 National History Day competition at the Western Reserve Historical Society in March.
Teagan Smith, a student at Rocky River High School, is researching the life of U.S. Army Second Lieutenant Franklin Carter and is looking for help from the residents of Rocky River. Smith is participating in a program with National History Day® called Normandy: Sacrifice for Freedom® Albert H. Small Student & Teacher Institute. This institute takes 15 student and teacher teams from around the country on a journey of learning and discovery of the sacrifice for freedom. Each team selects one Silent Hero whose story of making the ultimate sacrifice has never been told and is memorialized at the Normandy American Cemetery. The journey culminates with a visit to the shores of Normandy, France. On the final day, Smith will read a eulogy at the memorial for Second Lieutenant Franklin Carter.
Before delivering this eulogy, Smith is looking for help telling the story of this Silent Hero. Carter attended Rocky River High School, graduating in 1936. Carter and his wife, Irene, lived at on Center Ridge Road in Rocky River, Ohio. His mother and father, Russell S. and Hulda G. Carter, lived in Bay Village. Carter enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942.He was part of the third wave that landed on Omaha Beach on June 7, 1944 as part of the 175th Infantry, 29th Division. He was killed in action on June 26, 1944. Franklin Carter was born on 30 June 1917.
If you have any information about Second Lieutenant Franklin Carter, please contact Teagan Smith’s teacher, Mr. Frank O’Grady of Rocky River schools, at [email protected].
The Normandy: Sacrifice for Freedom Albert H. Small Student & Teacher Institute was created by Mr. Albert H. Small, a veteran himself, to help a new generation of young people understand the sacrifice made by Americans in WWII. The institute engages students in a rigorous study of the Normandy D-Day landings and takes teams to France where they walk in the footsteps of their Silent Heroes. To learn more about this program, visit nhd.org/classroom-connection/normandy-sacrifice-for-freedom/.
About National History Day: NHD is a non-profit education organization in College Park, MD. Established in 1974, NHD offers year-long academic programs that engage over half a million middle- and high-school students around the world annually in conducting original research on historical topics of interest. These research-based projects are entered into contests at the local and affiliate levels, where the top student projects have the opportunity to advance to the National Contest at the University of Maryland at College Park. NHD also seeks to improve the quality of history education by providing professional development opportunities and curriculum materials for educators. NHD is sponsored in part by Kenneth E. Behring, Patricia Behring, HISTORY®, Jostens, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Park Service, Southwest Airlines, the Joe Weider Foundation, and the WEM 2000 Foundation of the Dorsey & Whitney Foundation. For more information, visit nhd.org.
