High school dedicates memorial High school dedicates memorial (December 10, 2004)

2 graduates gave the ultimate in war on terror

By Julie O'Shea

The stone bench and table sits off to the side of the main quad at Mountain View High School. The spot is surrounded by flowers and will someday be nestled under the long branches of a cherry blossom tree that will soon be planted beside this quiet resting place.

It is here that students chose to lay a memorial plaque for Ken Ballard and Kyle Wieland, two Mountain View High graduates who helped their country fight the war on terror and died as a result of their service.

"We will never forget their actions, and we are indebted to them forever," reads the inscription on the plaque.

Ballard, a 26-year-old Army lieutenant, was killed in May in the An Najaf area of Iraq after being hit by small-arms fire. Wieland, a soldier with the Army infantry, died suddenly in November 2003, more than a year after surviving a helicopter crash in Afghanistan that left him with a severe leg injury. He was 23.

In a special dedication Monday, students and staff at Mountain View High unveiled the stone memorial, honoring the two men.

"Ken did not live a long life, but he did live an honorable life," said Karen Meredith, Ballard's mother, who announced a $1,000 scholarship in her son's name. The scholarship will be awarded in 2005 to a Mountain View High senior who plans to study history or international relations. Ballard, a 1995 Mountain View grad, had received a bachelor's degree in international relations.

"Thank you so much," Meredith told student organizers. "This is so nice."

The school cafeteria was overflowing with family, well-wishers and friends who had come to pay tribute to the two hometown heroes. Many seated in the audience held yellow roses and wiped tears from their eyes.

Keith Wieland, Kyle's younger brother, spoke of how he'd always seen him as a "big strong guy" and an amazing athlete with a ready smile and a keen sense of adventure. It was that search for adventure that led Kyle Wieland to the Army after graduating from Mountain View High in 1999. He was 19 when he enlisted.

Keith said he never worried about his older brother going to war because Kyle was never worried.

No one could have imagined when he enlisted that Kyle Wieland's "adventure" would be cut short less than five years later, his brother said.

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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