Members of the Paducah Tilghman High School Navy Junior ROTC unit participate in the 5th Annual Vietnam Wall Pushup Challenge. Pictured are (left to right) Joyce Carruthers, Cole Spicer, Joshua Lopez, Kelondre Quarles, and Dustin Shirley.

Paducah Tilghman High School’s Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (PTHS NJROTC) unit has entered the 5th Annual Vietnam Memorial Pushup Challenge. The challenge, hosted by the High School of Graphic Arts NJROTC unit in New York, NY, was presented to Junior ROTC units in high schools across the country.  The challenge started on Veterans Day this year and ends on Memorial Day.

The objective of the event is to have each participating JROTC unit conduct 58,261 pushups during the school year, one for each name engraved on the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, DC. Last year over four and half a million pushups were completed by 61 units from 23 states to honor those who were casualties in the Vietnam conflict. Since the beginning of the competition, the Paducah Tilghman cadets have already completed 9,760 pushups.

“This is a great way to honor those who served in Vietnam, and gave the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam,” said Senior Chief Petty Officer Don Myers, the school’s naval science instructor.  “And, at the same time our cadets are becoming more physically fit,” he added.