Chillicothe and Greenfield — The “McClain Cadet Corps” served as an honor guard at the internment of local patriot and preservationist Connie Meyer recently. The corps is a group of high school students at Greenfield’s McClain High School, and they learn leadership skills while giving thousands of hours of community service.
On Pearl Harbor Day, Meyer’s ashes were laid to rest in Chillicothe’s Grandview Cemetery. She had died after being struck by an SUV on November 18th. Among her volunteer efforts were military and patriotic support in the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, so not only the McClain Cadet Corps but a group of Revolutionary War re-enactors gave salutes.
The McClain Cadet Corps stood at attention on that chilly day, and afterward I interviewed them and their advisor and military science instructor, Master Sergeant John Wilson.
Wilson said the students aim for 3,000 hours per school year of a mix of military ceremony and community service since the corps was started in 2018.
He said they have made appearances at Cincinnati Reds games, as well as helping with concessions at school sports, serving meals for the American Legion, setting flags at veterans graves in cemeteries, and working with Meyer for Wreaths Across America. He said they have also become a local option for military funerals.
The current 9th to 12th-grade students are also active in wrestling and robotics.
Wilson said the students are not pushed to join the military – it is a cadet corps, not an ROTC – but even the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps in high schools are not to create service members, but citizens dedicated to serving the community.
Hear more from Wilson in the below interview video, and see the corps in action (or standing at attention) in the video in the related story. The McClain Cadet Corps has a school webpage, Facebook page, and Instagram account.
