CLALLAM BAY — The thunderous roar of applause, cheers and feet stomping on wooden bleachers filled the Clallam Bay School gym Wednesday afternoon in honor of five young men who lost their lives.
Teacher Erik Hanson announced them into a microphone one by one — Damien Anderson, John Hubble, Cassidy Hunter, Erik Kroeger and Colin Gregory.
“Let’s hear a round of applause for our young men!” Hanson urged.
The gym brimmed with friends, family, teachers and classmates of Anderson, 18, Hubble, 20, Hunter, 16, and Kroeger, 18, killed early Saturday morning when their car missed a curve on state Highway 112 and plunged upside-down into the Pysht River.
Hunter and Kroeger were still students at Clallam Bay High, while Hubble had graduated in 2002. Anderson graduated in 2003.
The fifth person being honored, 21-year-old Gregory, a 2000 graduate, was killed in a construction accident Nov. 11 in Port Hadlock.
Gregory’s photo was shown with those of the other youths at the close of Wednesday’s service memorializing Saturday’s deaths.