Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall S. Smith
June 18, 2023
Army Private 1st Class Samuel Bowen
July 2, 2023
By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer
The pictures on the large screen of the Washington High School auditorium stage told the story of the life of a Massillon Tiger. As piano music played over a loudspeaker, there was a photograph of the face of Cory M. Endlich as a little boy. Then there he was with his two brothers, Ken and Kevin, and his parents, Randy and Cathi. Next came a picture of Cory wearing a Bernie Kosar jersey, then as a grade-schooler in a soccer uniform, followed by the young boy holding a baseball bat. A picture of the boy as a school patrol guard came up next. And then there was the image of Cory in a Massillon
Tigers Swing Band uniform carrying a tuba and of him in a cross-country uniform. Finally, there was a picture of him as an American soldier and a fallen Ohio hero. In front of the screen in the auditorium was the flag-draped casket of Army Sgt. Cory Endlich, a 2003 Washington graduate, killed by a sniper’s bullet June 9 in Iraq. ”We have lost a son. We’ve lost a comrade. We’ve lost a faithful servant of our Lord.” Rev. Paul Myers at Sgt. Endlich’s funeral service.
