Veterans Day next week

bruno

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I just finished reading the book "The Bedford Boys" which is about A/116th Inf Reg- 29th Inf Division which was a VA National Guard Company from the little town of Bedford Virginia which wound up hitting Omaha Beach on D Day- June 6th 1944. 19 soldiers from Bedford were killed on D- Day and another 3 were killed in the next couple of days- within 1 month only 5 members of the company were still in the line. This book was really an interesting and sobering reminder of the cost of service as well as a look back at a time that is rapidly pading from memory. Today you can go to Bedford and see the fantastic D-Day Memorial that was built there. More importantly though- 1 week from today- Nov 11th you can honor the veterans around you by actually remembering and celebrating Veterans Day.
 
I am a teacher and we are charged with "doing something" for Veterans Day. I would like to have a speaker, and that is easy enough to secure, but what can middle school students "do" ? I am open to ideas! Loving the support of the adminstrators here...."do something..." arg!!
 
mom3boys, I know our local American Legion here is always looking for the young folks to come out & help with some of their projects. They are involved with our schools as well. Maybe give yours a call?
 
Good stuff tpg. Really.... these guys love to interact with the kids and visa versa. The kids learn alot from our Vets. Sometimes too much. LOL They sure do share the stories which impress & delight the younger crowd. And the older Vets seem to simply enjoy being around the young & upcoming who want to follow in their footsteps. Tis a good thing IMHO. I truly love "those guys". They are such an inspiration. Tpg included.

One year all the kids got together and just raked leaves around a post & the memorials. Was good stuff. They were invited back for a fly over that left many an open mouth. Pretty priceless to watch. One phone call can set wheels in motion so get out there & start yanking chains. :thumb:
 
TPG: you are awesome! Toys for Tots is absolutely the perfect idea! I didn't want to make cards...I wanted to do something substantial! Thanks!!
 
Also, do not underestimate the value of a good interview and report. In seventh grade I was given the assignment to interview a veteran and compose a report based on the interview. That assignment is the reason I began considering becoming involved the military. Thank you Pop-Pop!
 
mom3boys, if you're looking for something they can do "in school", might I suggest a history lesson to them about the significance of the poppies everyone wears on their lapel pins on Veterans Day? Then have them make their own poppies to hand out to the rest of the school for $1, which they could forward to the local VA chapter.

Don't know the legality of selling and donating from school grounds. But I do know that most Americans today do not have a clue about the holiday and the significance and symbology of the poppies that are supposed to be worn to show support for all veterans. A little history lesson and introduction to civil responsibility never hurt any school child.

Just my $0.02....
 
The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. My wife has always done a veterans day presentation along with other teachers in her school system. Students in the second grade class do a presentation of patriotic songs and then introduce members of their family who have served in the military. Although they are few and far between now over the years she has had grandparents from WWII come up to her with tears thanking the teachers for the presentation and remembrance. I have my poppy on the visor in my car and I buy a new one every year.
 
mom3boys, if you're looking for something they can do "in school", might I suggest a history lesson to them about the significance of the poppies everyone wears on their lapel pins on Veterans Day?

Q. Why are red poppies worn on Veterans Day, and where can I obtain them?
A. The wearing of poppies in honor of America's war dead is traditionally done on Memorial Day, not Veterans Day. The practice of wearing of poppies takes its origin from the poem In Flanders Fields, written in 1915 by John McCrae. For information on how to obtain poppies for use on Memorial Day, contact a veterans service organization, such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW) or The American Legion, as a number of veterans organizations distribute poppies annually on Memorial Day. You can find veterans groups in the Veterans Service Organization link on VA's Veterans Day web page. Veterans groups in your area can be found in your local phone book. Look in the yellow pages under "Veterans and Military Organizations" or a similar heading.

From: http://www1.va.gov/opa/vetsday/vetday_faq.asp
 
I have also see schools start Toy drives to donate to the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program.

When DS was the Community Service Commander at his NJROTC unit, he got in contact with our local Toy's for Tots organizer (great guy and a Navy Corpsman ironically :eek:) to look for work.
He did the usual stuff like set up drop off centers and collections but, the biggest job we (I was voluntered...:biggrin:) did was organize and carry out, bulk toy buys. The Marine Corps sends out area money to buy toys and obviously it was hard for a bunch of jarheads to buy toys at Wal*Mart for 10 year old girls! Kung Fu grip GI Joe's are not always a big hit for 10 year old girls...lol Most of the toys collected are usually for boys and they obviously hand out toys to both boys and girls. DS organized days at places like Wal*Mart and KB Toys, where we'd send in 20 cadets to buy toys, I'm talking about thousands of dollars worth of toys and we had to spread the price range out from about $5 per to to a max of about $35 for a toy. It's harder than you think! That was about 3 weekends worth of work! Be sure to have plenty of pick-up trucks and trailers to haul the stuff back to the staging area! The remainder of the volunteer stuff was organizing the individual toys into some sense of order by age group and gender category, again, it's a lot harder than you think! We literally kept about 20 cadets busy for about 4 weekends! They all loved it too, you'd be surprised at how rewarding it was for some of these kids!
 
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