Hilo educator’s research about WWI captain published on website

Hilo Intermediate School teacher Pualeilani Fernandez researched the life and service of Capt. Philip Overton Mills as part of Memorializing the Fallen, a teacher professional development program from National History Day.

In honor of Veterans Day, Fernandez’s eulogy and profile of Mills was published at NHDSilentHeroes.org. In addition, a lesson plan inspired by the Silent Hero, Social Injustice in Hawai’i, is on the World War I page of National History Day’s website and will be featured in the upcoming publication, “Great War, Flawed Peace, and the Lasting Legacy of World War I.”

Sponsored by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission and the Pritzker Military Museum & Library, Memorializing the Fallen takes educators on the journey of a lifetime to rediscover the history of WWI. By researching the story of a Silent Hero, an American service member who made the ultimate sacrifice during WWI, program participants can be the voice of these Americans who died a century ago.

In June 2019, Fernandez joined 16 other extraordinary educators as they traveled through Europe, walking in the footsteps of history. Using their research, teachers created lesson plans, Silent Hero profiles and eulogies now published at NHDSilentHeroes.org.

Designed to reinvigorate the study of WWI in American classrooms, the lesson plans are multi-disciplinary. Using primary and secondary sources, videos and hands-on activities, students are transported into the past to examine the war and its legacies, which transformed the 20th century.

Each lesson plan is based on solid scholarship, integrated with Common Core Standards and makes use of interpretive materials. They are accompanied by research about silent heroes of WWI, who are honored at cemeteries in Europe.