Angels Camp – Junior and senior Bret Harte U.S. History students learn firsthand the experiences of those who have served our Nation. Veterans and servicemen share their stories, bringing history alive for the students. The United States Servicemen/Veterans Presentation event has been a 24-year tradition at Bret Harte High School (BHHS), headed up by history teacher Jennifer Truman.

Students, in small groups, rotate around the room spending 20 minutes with a veteran or serviceman of their choice. Each veteran’s table has photographs, uniforms and memorabilia unique to their time serving the country. Most of the veterans and servicemen are local residents who dedicate this time to spend with the students. A couple veterans travel from out of state to present at the event and to also catch up with their fellow veterans, some of whom formed lifelong friendships while serving.

Veterans and servicemen attending this year include: Bill Waid, Tom Christian, Ric Ryan, Jay Hennell, Robert Bradway, Julie Hollars, Susan Escallier, Ed Anderson, Bob Axiak, Larry Bain, Marty Straessler, and Gary Patterson.

Martin (Marty) Straessler boasts that he travels the furthest to attend this long-standing tradition at BHHS. He admits it’s also to check up on his fellow serviceman, Larry Bain, whom he met the day he enlisted. Staessler shared, “My hope is that we can impart a small amount of knowledge to the students. What they read in the text books is not indicative of what actually happened. We bring the ‘been there, done that’ perspective to history.”

The time spent talking with veterans and servicemen is part of an oral history assignment. Students are required to find out who they are talking to, where they served, their branch of service, which conflict they fought, where they were stationed, what their duties were, and any engagement they were involved in. Students are also asked to outline the stories they hear, including a description of photographs, etc.

A local veteran, Tom Christian, is a retired school teacher, who was drafted in the Vietnam War in 1969. His story sounds different than those who had enlisted in the service. When asked how he felt about being drafted, he said “I would have never volunteered to fight. You don’t know what you are getting yourself into. You think you’re going to be helping people but it was much different than I could have ever imagined.” Christian showed the students the pocket-sized photo album he carried with him during his time in Vietnam. He carried pictures of his family to help him get through.

A special addition to this year’s event was the Copper VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) Post in attendance presented awards to BHHS winners of the Voice of Democracy Essay contest, an annual nationwide scholarship program sponsored by the VFW. Nina Hollers won first place for the Post, the District and took 4th place at the state level. She was awarded a plaque, a certificate and $500. In second place was Aurora Lewis, she received a certificate and $300. In third place was Jayce Davey and in fourth place was Rowan Gouveia. The Voice of Democracy Essay contest goes all the way to the national level, it is open to all high school students in grades 9-12, and the winner of the national contest is awarded $30,000. The Copper VFW Veterans encouraged students to enter the contest.

“This is about these veterans and servicemen getting to tell their stories,” said Truman. “It’s not the stories in the books, documentaries or movies, it’s the real-life version.” Truman has been teaching history at BHHS for 26 years and values these opportunities for her students.

“Veterans get to tell their stories, memories that are both good and sad. It’s important that they are remembered,” said Sunny Temple a BHHS Junior. Alex Worth, also a junior said, “Coming here and sharing their stories must be traumatic, to bring all that up again, but it is good to know what they had to go through so that we could be here today.” The event’s impact on students is very clear, there is a cost for freedom.

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