WEST HAVEN - The Ward Heitmann House held a Flag Day ceremony on June 14 that honored World War II veterans, according to a statement.

"If you told any of these men that they were noble, they would be embarrassed; perhaps they’d laugh and turn away. But the actions of at least 138 West Haven High School students during World War II were noble indeed, and on Flag Day, June 14, 2010, the survivors of that group were honored in a special ceremony at the Ward-Heitmann House," the statement said.

Mayor John Picard, Bailey Middle School Principal Valerie Bruno, ceremony director Joe Weber, and West Haven Historian Dan Shine paid tribute to the men in speeches "honoring their patriotism and their noble devotion to their country in its hour of great need," the statement said.

Each member of the group left school and their various interests and obligations in order "to join the U.S. Armed Forces; they had chosen to fight for their country as well as for the freedom of faraway peoples that they had never met. Some of them didn’t live to return home," the statement said.

Their names and enlistment dates were read, to the sound of a drum roll; at the end of the ceremony, they were assembled for group photos.

Patriotic music was provided by the Bailey Middle School Band.

“We don’t know exactly how many of our boys left school and volunteered for WWII service,” said Weber said in the statement. “After Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941, there was an immediate patriotic rush to enlist in the Armed Services; but at West Haven High School, records of such service-related school departures weren’t kept until the period from June, 1942-June, 1945. Anything before that period was not recorded.”

In the photo are survivors from the original group.

The citizens of West Haven gratefully salute their efforts and their sacrifices, the statement said.

In photo front row, l to r, Bill Smallman, Art Hubbard, Charles L. Peschel, Bob Reilly, Harry Thibeaut, Harry Brown, Edward Wolfe. In second row, also l to r, Robert Granger, George Raffile, Thomas Kelly, Richard Dewick, Jimmy Quarz, Salvatore Corso.