EAST HADDAM, Conn. (WFSB) – As we pause and honor our veterans this month, an East Haddam teen spent months making sure those who served in the War of independence must not be forgotten.

East Haddam is a small town rich in military history.

“I wanted to recognize and honor all the Revolutionary War soldiers in East Haddam,” said Mathilda Burke, of East Haddam.

For Burke, 19, researching and sharing these stories of service has become a passion project.

“Old documents are very difficult to find. The national census did not yet exist, so we had to dig through individual records to find each person and their service record. There weren’t a lot of original documents,” Burke explained. “I started with an Excel document trying to fill in each name and their service document.”

Burke then posted all of this information online, creating a database of hundreds of names that anyone could access.

“For a small town, this town was very important during the Revolutionary War, as were many New England towns, but for the size and everything we did, it was absolutely incredible,” said Forrest Anderson, of East Haddam.

Anderson is the commander of the local VFW.

“I gave her a very small project and she turned it into a beautiful, beautiful website that I’m really proud of,” he said.

“Everyone should be proud of how our city got started. Many other towns in Connecticut have similar issues, and we should all be proud and honor the people who founded our country and the incredible and courageous things they did for their small towns and our small state,” Burke said .

Mathilda also won a Girl Scout Gold Award for this project, which is the organization’s highest honor.

The website took about a year to complete: CLICK HERE.

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