PHOTOS: MHS Students Chat With Melrose Vets

Melrose veterans again visited Melrose High School on Friday, Nov. 18, marking Veterans Day and giving 52 freshmen world history students a chance to meet and speak with veterans in the community about their experiences in the Armed Forces. The visit is part of an ongoing oral history project.

Students were divided into groups and visited with veterans for approximately 30 minutes at a time over a 3-hour period, according to Melrose High School teacher Lisa Lord. During that time, veterans shared stories about their military experiences and answered student questions.

Veterans taking part in this year’s presentations included Bob Driscoll, Rob Mann, and Jason O’Brien, who served in Iraq; Ryan McLane and John Quinn, who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan; Bill Forbes, who served in Vietnam; Jim Kelly, who served in Korea; Bernie Wideman, who served in the Navy between the Korean and Vietnam Wars; Irving Smolens, who served during World War II; and Daniel Menezes, who served in Iraq.

Students also had a new opportunity this year, speaking via Skype video chat over the Internet with MHS Class of 2005 member Julie Forbes, currently serving in the Air Force and deployed in Afghanistan on a second tour.

Click through the gallery above to see photos provided by Lord from the visit.

History of Veterans Events and Oral History Project

Submitted by Lisa Lord.

Friday’s event was part of an on-going oral history project begun during the 2006-2007 academic year. Initially conceived as a way to introduce students to the events and impact of World War II from the people who lived through it, the original event was a day-long field trip to a local elder housing complex. Small groups of students were paired with World War II veterans or community members who had been civilians during the war; the students spent hours interviewing the volunteers about their lives and war-time experiences.

A number of factors, including larger numbers of students involved in the project, resulted in a change of location and format. After several years, the event was expanded to include local veterans who served during other conflicts or in non-combat roles, and it was moved to the fall, in recognition of Veterans Day.

Over the last six years, 250-300 students have taken part in conversations with combat- and non-combat veterans from 4 of the 5 military branches (Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines), women’s service organizations during World War II, and the US Public Health Service, and also with World War II-era civilians.  Those conversations have covered aspects of World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and recent conflicts in the Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the War on Terror, as well as roles and responsibilities of the United States Military in times of peace.

The notes, audio and video tapes, and photographs from these events have served as the start of a growing, though still informal, archive, which to date has provided material to create a Veterans Day tribute in the Free Press in November 2007, and to aid in remembering several local veterans (Mario “Marty” DiMeo and James Milano) after their passing. It is my hope that the archive will continue to expand as we continue to learn about and document the experiences of our local heroes.

Anyone who has information that they would like to share with us for inclusion in the archive, or who would be interested in participating in future veterans events is welcome to email me at llord@melrose.mec.edu. Please include the phrase “veterans” in your subject line.