Veterans treated to dinner, students hear speaker

“The biggest weapon of Special Forces, is their brain,” veteran of war Bruce Wozniak said after making greetings in both Spanish and Arabic to those assembled for the November 11 Veteran’s Day student rally at Stanley-Boyd. “They learn the language of where they go to,” Wozniak said, sharing that he had served in “Panama, Desert Storm, and twice in Iraq.”

In a day and an age when warfare and its burdens are being borne by an increasingly specialized group of people, understanding between veterans and those who benefit from their sacrifices, can be important. Touching on how Vietnam veterans “were not welcomed home as they should have been,” Wozniak deftly touched on war’s realities, mentioning how another veteran present had alluded to that, “no one was in Cambodia” (a country adjacent to Vietnam) and that he could produce a book saying that “no American service member had any contact with the mujahideen” when fighting in Afghanistan.

The two claims made in Wozniak’s speech appeared to draw knowing skepticism from some of those present, in spite of the official story.

Wozniak, who served with his son Victor in Iraq with the Wisconsin National Guard back in 2009, said that he and his son had been welcomed home with parades, something not all veterans had experienced on returning.

“Bob (Wanish) got hit by a land mine, I got hit by an IED in a truck, but if it wasn’t for the support of our country and giving us armor, I would be mush,” he said of the experience in Iraq that Wozniak ultimately recovered from in body.

The acronym IED stands for “Improvised Explosive Device,” and was a common weapon deployed against U.S. convoys by those seeking to harm them. Land mines were among the weapons employed in Vietnam, and many still remain active and hidden underground, decades after that conflict ended. But remembering the dangers and casualties of war wasn’t the only thing on the program for Thursday’s remembrance at Stanley-Boyd—there was also a student program.

Welcoming the veterans with a lunch meal at 11:00 a.m. were select students from Mrs. Thorpe’s class, the veterans to be honored arriving through the north foyer after parking in back of the school.

With a slide show on loop during the assembly and virtual tour by teacher Bob Seidl of the World War II memorial, the early grades were first, with presentations made to fifth grade at Noon, followed by first grades at 12:15 p.m., then second at 12:30, third at 12:45, fourth at 1:00 p.m. and kindergarten at 1:15 p.m.

Following a short intermission the middle and high school assembly began at 1:45 p.m., with slide show, flag presentation, the pledge of allegiance as led by Student Council President Tori Szczech, and a welcome form MC and high school speaker Emily Brenner.

With a thank you read by Maya Millliren and Vivian Morrow of the sixth grade and recitations made by seventh and eighth graders, it was into a speech by Bridget Bowe as a State Senator Scholar Candidate and then the speeches by local veterans Bob Wanish and Wozniak. At 2:30 p.m. came the closing ceremony with the flags being retired and Brenner dismissing students, who returned to their classrooms around 2:40 p.m.

“I’ve been fortunate the wars I’ve served in,” Wozniak said. “My son served with me my last tour. We came home, we had parades,” he said, noting that others had not. But while fighting days are over for those of past generations the scars remain, while threats to freedom and the nature of war as a continuing force in the world means that future generations may yet have to serve overseas as well–better able to fight knowing the country is behind them, than not.

A good meal: Local veterans both old and young were served a meal by Stanley-Boyd students under the direction of Kari Thorpe prior to an afternoon rally last Thursday in honor of Veteran’s Day in the Stanley-Boyd High School Gym.