Two Hampton Middle School faculty members, plus the father of a teacher at the high school, have been honored for their military service.
Hampton Heroes, a school district program to honor local veterans, has inducted about 200 men and women since its formation in 2001.
This year’s inductees include Mark Gartner and Nickolas Endres, both of whom teach health and physical education at the middle school, which hosted the annual Hampton Heroes event on Nov. 4 at Fridley Field.
Amy McKaveney, a Hampton High School math teacher, accepted the honor on behalf of her father, Richard Silvester. Ed McKaveney, Amy’s husband, is technical director for the school district.
Eight inductees are in the Hampton Heroes Class of 2024:
• Charles Battista, who served in the Air Force from 1963-67 as an aircraft electrician. His service included deployment to Vietnam in 1965-66, supporting special forces with observation aircraft and supply aircraft.
Retired from a career in construction management, Battista has a son who served in Iraq as an infantry officer during Operation Enduring Freedom and a granddaughter attending the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
• Nick Endres served in the Pennsylvania Air National Guard from 2008-14, based at the 171st Air Refueling Wing, near Pittsburgh International Airport. He was the non-commissioned officer in charge of the base immunization clinic, and his duties included assignments to pilots to make sure they were medically fit to fly.
In addition to teaching, he serves as Hampton’s head varsity wrestling coach.
• Robert Gaertner Sr. served in the U.S. Navy for 32 years, 18 years on active duty and 14 in the Navy Reserve.
After joining the Reserve, he returned to active duty following Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and went on to serve two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He retired from the military in 2017.
Gaertner works as a civilian force protection officer in the Navy’s anti-terrorism department. He serves as treasurer for Hampton Volunteer Fire Department and on the Sarver Veterans Club executive board.
• Mark Gartner was in the Army from 1995-2004. After completing his first enlistment, he joined in 28th Infantry Division of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.
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In 2003, he was deployed as a squad leader for peacekeeping operations in Kosovo as part of a NATO-led force following the war in the region between Yugoslavia and Albanian separatists. Gartner is in his 21st year of teaching at Hampton Middle School.
• Catherine Gehry served for eight years in the Navy as a hospital corpsman, stationed at medical facilities at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and at multiple locations in Virginia. While in the military, she completed two advanced degrees and started a graduate degree in public health.
Gehry’s duties included serving as a front-line responder and field corpsman for Navy SEAL teams in Virginia. Today, she works for UPMC as a project coordinator in the travel nursing department.
Her husband, Steven, is serving with the Navy. The couple have three children attending Hampton schools
• Amy Knight joined the Navy in 1999 as a cryptologic technician communications chief technology officer.
In 2010, she was commissioned as a surface warfare officer and assigned to the destroyer USS Bulkeley, and in 2014 was assigned to the frigate USS Vandergrift as the force protection officer, shortly before the ship was decommissioned.
Knight retired from the Navy Talent Acquisition Group Pittsburgh in 2020 after serving five years as the recruiting operations officer and officer in charge of talent acquisition. She now is the owner of Flour Power Cooking Studios in Hampton.
• Zachary Merritt was commissioned as an officer through the Navy ROTC program at Penn States, where he earned his bachelor of science degree in nuclear engineering in 2004. He served from 2004-14 as an active-duty submariner, attaining rank of lieutenant commander.
He completed three deployments, two to Pacific Ocean and one to Mediterranean Sea. His military accolades include USS Michigan Junior Officer of the Year, Naval Submarine School Instructor of the Year, Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal and Navy Expeditionary Medal.
• Richard Silvester was an Army combat photographer from 1960-63. He served 18 months in Germany, attaining the rank of Specialist 4th Class.
He is retired, following his career as a news director at WPXI-TV.
• Richard Thomas joined the Army in 1944, leaving Pittsburgh Central Catholic High School to enlist. He attained the rank of Technical 5th Grade Rifleman.
On Feb. 27, 1944, he was wounded in action. He received a Purple Heart, along with a World War II Victory Medal.
Thomas was honorably discharged on April 30, 1946, his 20th birthday. He finished education at Taylor Allderdice High School through a veterans training program. After a successful career with Kraft Foods, he moved from Penn Hills to Hampton, to be closer to family members.
Now 98, he lives at Cumberland Crossing Manor in McCandless. Sharon Bennett, his daughter, accepted the Hampton Heroes honor on his behalf.