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Veterans Day At Roosevelt Is A Tradition, Lesson In Respect


Robert B. (left) a veteran from the Vietnam War, told Roosevelt School students about how the efforts of military personnel have helped protect the freedoms for Americans. (Journal photos)

There’s a tradition at Roosevelt School in Park Ridge to celebrate Veterans Day by learning about and paying respect to America’s military veterans.

It started when now-retired principal Mary Jane Cole discovered that a student had no idea what a veteran was. She invited some veterans, including relatives of Roosevelt students, to visit the school.

The tradition continues each year as the current Principal Kevin Dwyer makes sure every class in the school meets veterans on or about Veterans Day.

Close to 30 veterans gathered on stage Friday, Nov. 9 for this year’s assembly. Their “roll call” introduced themselves, their ranks and where they served.

The oldest were World War II veterans Harry Pryce, 97, and Charles Larson. Others had served in Korea or Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan. Some served a few years and some made it a career. Many are fathers or grandfathers of students. Some have been part of the Roosevelt staff.

Dwyer invited all the students in Girl Scout and Boy Scout programs to wear their uniforms. They joined the veterans in front to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and also said the school’s Pledge of Respect.

The rest of the auditorium was filled with red, white and blue outfits.

Keynote speaker Barry Sobotka explained why those in military service protect the freedoms Americans enjoy.

President John F. Kennedy had asked citizens in the 1960s to not ask what the United States could do for them, but what they could do for their country. Sobotka’s generation went to Vietnam.

Veterans help to protect freedoms, Sobotka said. Americans can vote. They can choose to practice their religion and have freedom of speech. These freedoms are not guaranteed in many countries.

He remembered arriving in the very hot Vietnamese weather. Most meals, especially away from the base, were C-rations. There were 12 canned meals in a pack — not all particularly palatable. Cookies from home were a great treat then and he applauded the modern students’ collecting extra Halloween candy to send to troops this year.

He encouraged the students to keep up Roosevelt School’s traditions of sending letters or cards to servicemen, because it helps the morale of military personnel far from home.

It took two assemblies to get all the kindergarten through fifth grade classes in to hear the veterans. Many classes visited locations around the school where smaller groups of veterans answered questions from students.

Pryce, a colonel who stayed in the Army as a career, told of his first night overseas at a battlefield in Europe. The Americans were assigned to dig trenches for protection on their side of the field. The Germans on the other side had dug their own holes on the other side, with a zig-zagging trench across the middle.

Pryce was not encouraged when a German plane flew over the field dropping grenades. He was less enthused to go into the zigzagging trench to do recognizance with only one GI behind him, not knowing what they would meet around the next turn.

When his trigger finger slipped and the gun went off, they made a fast retreat and dug their foxholes deeper.

He reminded the students that the soldiers on both sides were all human beings, serving their countries — but if you were going to have problems with a rifle, he suggested joining the Navy.

Steve Timmerman served in a unit of rangers in South Vietnam. There were six in a unit, three from South Vietnam and three Americans.

The Americans finally advanced from C-Rations to freeze-dried meals but had no way to heat the meals except to stick their canteens in the tropical sun all day and mix the water with the rations in their helmets at night.

Thomas Hebel, who was a dog handler and trainer in Vietnam, said he had heard his grandmother had acquired a Blue Star flag for his parents to hang in their window, a proud symbol of having a family member in service.

He said he had really looked forward to getting home and having a little ceremony to take it down and celebrate his return. It wasn’t in the window.

Vietnam was not always a popular on the homefront. His mother said that vandals had broken the window by the flag several times and his father grew frustrated in having to replace the glass. They saved the flag, however.

Dr. Hebel, who later taught at Roosevelt and several other Dist. 64 schools, brought the flag to explain what it was.

He said he had learned the first time he taught as a substitute at Roosevelt and told that story that the students listened and brought thank you letters, and then treated him with the same disregard they would give to any substitute.

“It’s not what you say, it’s what you do,” Hebel said.

That’s why Cole always reminded students to greet military veterans in uniform with a “thank you” for their service.

Dr. Kevin Dwyer, principal, invited Roosevelt School’s Girl Scout and Boy Scout members to join in the annual Veterans Day program on Nov. 9. More than two dozen retired and active military personnel were guests for the day, a program to teach respect and understanding for service to the United States.

Students were invited to share photos of family members who have served.

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