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Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9929 Senior Vice Commander John Eelunas spoke of going to a Veteran's Affairs hospital to see a psychologist after returning home from serving in Vietnam. A doctor came out to see him. "Are you a psychologist?" He asked the doctor. "I'm a gynecologist," the doctor told him.
Eelunas said the doctor's answer made him crack up with laughter.
"I was all right after that," he said.
Jerry Blum, a past commander of both the Jewish War Veterans Department of Connecticut and Hartford-Laurel Post 45, who served as a third class petty officer in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, recalled waking up every morning aboard his destroyer escort and having to bail water out of his sleeping compartment.
He said that the officers would entertain themselves by playing tricks on new crew members: a new person would be asked to change the headlights and not be informed that on a ship, the toilet is called the head.
Norman Hackel flew 30 combat missions during World War II as the co-pilot of a B-17 Flying Fortress. He had a one-in-three chance of surviving every mission, he said. He spent three years, three months and 17 days in the U.S. Army Air Corps.
When asked if he would like to fly five more missions and thereby earn a pair of captain's bars, he said that if he were ordered to fly five more, he would, and didn't need to be promoted to captain. But if he had a choice between flying five more missions and being demoted to a private who helps in the kitchen, he said, "Lead me to the mess hall."
The last year of Hackel's service involved rescuing concentration camp survivors. He brought photographs of some of the people he flew out of camps to show students.
"Yes, the Holocaust did happen," he said, offering himself up as a firsthand witness.
Veterans had visited the high school previously, but never on Veterans Day itself, which until last spring had been a school holiday. In May, the Board of Education voted to hold classes on Nov. 11 for the two upcoming school years.
The local posts of the Jewish War Veterans and the American Legion supported the decision, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars opposed it. Republican Board of Education candidates ran on a platform that included restoring Veterans Day as a school holiday.
History of Modern Warfare teacher Christopher Islaub said that the visit from veterans taught students that "the people they are learning about are real flesh-and-blood people."
He said that he could see both sides of the argument over whether or not to hold school on Veterans Day, but added, "If we have the day off from school, most kids are not going to think about why."
Senior Sam Newton said he preferred that class be held on Veteran's Day.
"We honored veterans more by coming to school today," he said.
