By Jay Sorgi • Posted November 13, 2026

More than 50 years have passed since more than two dozen young graduates of Father Judge High School in Northeast Philadelphia all were killed fighting in the Vietnam War, but their alma mater has never forgotten them.

Now, the City of Philadelphia has permanently memorialized the “Father Judge 27.”

The block along Solly Avenue in the city’s Holmesburg neighborhood where the school is located has now been renamed Father Judge 27 Way, near the school’s memorial to the 27 men.

A ceremony marking the name change took place Saturday, Nov. 7 on Father Judge 27 Way, with many family members of the fallen servicemen among the nearly 200 people who gathered that sunny morning.

“We pray that every person who sees his son and travels down this road, whether they walk, drive or live here, will be reminded of the sacrifices made by our veterans,” said Oblate of St. Francis de Sales Father Joseph Campellone during the opening prayer. “May this street sign be a visual sign of the Lord’s reminder that the greatest love is to give our lives for a friend.”

Philadelphia District Six Councilmember Mike Driscoll, who grew up in the Northeast in Oxford Circle, led the effort in City Council to pass the resolution renaming the street, which happened on Oct. 1.

He remembers growing up in the 1960s when young men started receiving draft cards and discovering they were being sent to Vietnam to fight in the war.

“All this stuff started becoming real to me, reading in the newspapers that these young men that lived in our neighborhood were giving that last full measure of devotion. It was very real to me growing up,” said Driscoll, one of eight elected officials who joined the ceremony Saturday morning.

He said he hoped that every time today’s young students of Father Judge see the memorial as a symbol of public service, which is “what you’re learning here from Father Judge High School, (that) you’ll always remember that Father Judge means public service.”

Driscoll, a Cardinal Dougherty graduate, joined Bob McHugh, a graduate of rival Archbishop Ryan, and McHugh’s wife, Janet, a former archdiocesan teacher, in pushing for the resolution. The McHughs are cousins of one of the fallen graduates.

“I wish we could have done this 20 or 30 years ago when their parents were still here,” Bob McHugh said.

The impetus to honor the 27 men with a street sign began on Memorial Day, McHugh said, when the trio attended a service honoring the fallen men from Father Judge whom he calls brothers.

“We were standing in the middle of Solly Avenue, and I looked around and said, ‘Why hasn’t this been done yet? Maybe we could do something about it,” he said.

He explained that the school had to wait for an appropriate time following the installation of new school President Jim Meredith.

“From day one, Mr. Meredith put this at the top of his list,” Bob McHugh said. “He only had about a thousand things to do on day one, but he put us as a number-one priority and he got this done.”

Meredith, a 1992 Father Judge graduate, remembered walking the same halls that both his current students and the Father Judge 27 walked. He saw the same memorial that the current students do, one that stands as a tribute to sacrifice and heroism.

“Our 27 graduates who lost their lives in a distant land grew up in many of the same Northeast Philadelphia neighborhoods as our current Judge guys,” Meredith said.

“This marker of Father Judge 27 Way is not merely a street sign. It is a compass for our students when they arrive at school about doing things the right way, a reminder of sacrifice and service.”

The grandfather of a friend of the husband of Father Judge Principal Patricia Rooney was a member of the 27, something that touched her for years before she came to the block of what was formerly known as Solly Avenue.

“Fast forward to today when I can be part of this and really understand more about the individual men who gave their lives for this, which we celebrate so often in our school community in everything we do,” she said. “It’s in our prayers. We wear the 27 on our sports emblems, on our T-shirts, and it’s just so real to us.”

It had always been real to Joe Van Ossen, a 1966 Father Judge graduate who served with the 27. He heard all 27 names called, with a bell rung to honor each individual, as he led a march toward the memorial Saturday morning with others who served in the armed forces.

“It was in our blood,” he said. “I think everybody was committed to serve our country in time of need. I think that’s what the whole thing is all about.”

Patricia Bense Donohue, whose brother John Bense was one of the Father Judge 27, spoke succinctly about the devotion that the school community carries for each fallen graduate.

“They never forget,” she said.