Eagle Scout honors fallen with school memorial

PLACENTIA – They fought and died serving our country, attended our schools and came from our own back yards.

And one Placentia student is making sure their memories aren’t forgotten.

As part of his Eagle Scout project, Andrew Binnings, 16, constructed a memorial to honor three El Dorado High School graduates, Marine Cpl. Claudio Patiño IV, Staff Sgt. William Harrell and Army Sgt. Jason M. Weaver, who died while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

More than 200 people attended the Veterans Day ceremony at the school on Monday to pay tribute to the three fallen heroes and all those who’ve served.

Binnings, a member of Boy Scout Troop 54 and an El Dorado student himself, got the idea to memorialize the three men after noticing Patiño’s name, written in chalk, kept getting erased from a wall near the Placentia school’s campus last school year.

“Anyone that lives around here has seen that. It goes up and it comes down. Then it goes up again,” Binnings said. “I just thought it would be cool to have something permanent to remember him, and then later, I found out there were more (service members).”

He decided he wanted the memorial inside the school grounds so all students could see the sacrifice of their fellow Golden Hawks.

First, he went to El Dorado Principal Carey Cecil with his proposal offering a detailed PowerPoint presentation, including architectural drawings and a proposed timeframe. Cecil then presented the idea to the school district, which approved the memorial in July.

“I am honored to work with young people like Andrew, people who respect and appreciate the freedoms others have fought to protect,” she said.

The memorial features five stones in a semi-circle by a 5-by-5-foot wall. Three are dedicated to the three men and two are reserved in case other El Dorado graduates die while serving in the military.

Monday’s event started with some 35 veterans marching to the ceremony area before Binnings spoke to the crowd about his inspiration for the project.

Guest speaker Marine Lt. Col. Andrew Murray conducted a roll call for the group of veterans standing in military formation. After the three deceased men’s names were called to no response, Binnings and his fellow scouts played Taps.

Binnings escorted each family to their respective stones to place a bouquet of roses.

Mayor Scott Nelson, who attended a Veterans Day ceremony near City Hall earlier in the day, said he was impressed by the work put in by those involved.

“This is phenomenal,” he said. “This is by far the best one I’ve been to today.”

Kelli Harrell, whose husband William Harrell, is among those honored, said the work and dedication Binnings has put into the memorial is surprising.

“It absolutely blows my mind,” she said in a previous phone interview. “For this to come from a 16-year-old blows my mind – that he would think to want to honor these men like this.”

William Harrell was killed in 2004 while fighting in Fallujah, where some of the fiercest battles occurred in the early stages of the Iraq War.

Evelyn Patiño, the mother of Claudio Patiño, said in the days before the ceremony she is glad others want to keep her son’s memory alive.

“I’m very appreciative that someone thought of my son,” she said in Spanish through a translator. “I have always wanted to have a little memorial at the school.”

Claudio Patiño, a scout sniper who was on his third deployment to Afghanistan, was killed at 22 by small-arms fire in 2010.

The memorial’s construction started in early October. The Home Depot donated concrete, plants, tools and soil. Some employees volunteered to help build the memorial.

Every weekend beginning in October, Binnings went to the school to help construct the monument, often with other teenagers helping out.

Placentia resident and Vietnam veteran Richard Garza, who attended the event, said he would like to see more young people recognizing the nation’s vets.

“I wish more students would do something close to this,” he said.

Patricia Weaver said before Monday’s memorial she is still dealing with the loss of her 22-year-old son, Jason, who was killed in 2011 by an improvised explosive device explosion while serving as a military policeman in the Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. He was her only child.

“I feel overwhelmed and touched,” Weaver said. “I’m honored that someone was inspired by my son.”

Contact the writer: 714-704-3794 or lcasiano@ocregister.com