"HONORED SPEAKER - Vietnam veteran George Palermo was the keynote speaker at Thursday's Veterans Day celebration put on by the Littlerock High School's Junior ROTC." EVELYN KRISTO Valley Press
Posted on 11/11/2005 9:30:09 AM PST by BenLurkin
LITTLEROCK - On the eve of the holiday that honors all who wear the uniform honorably, Littlerock High School students stood up and cheered veterans of all services and wars as if they were rock stars. Vets from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm and the present wars in Iraq and Afghanistan marched or ambled into the Lobo gym, walking beneath a decorative archway of red, white and blue balloons.
After passing beneath the balloons, they walked out onto the gym floor beneath the raised sabers of the school's Junior ROTC cadets.
Older veterans wore forage caps of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Veterans of the Vietnam era wore patch-covered jackets and vests and berets and blue jeans.
Some wore Native American regalia.
Also walking through the arch were veterans of fighting in Iraq just home in recent weeks or months, such as Army combat vets Aaron Campos and Andrew Dassler.
Dassler, 19, recently checked out of Walter Reed Army Hospital, where he received a high-tech prosthetic to replace the leg blown away during an improvised explosive device ambush in Iraq. He graduated from Littlerock High in 2003.
Virtually everyone in the gym whooped, clapped and cheered as the veterans passed through the arch of sabers and on to take seats of honor.
Qwastocha Spruille and Melissa Fransen performed a duet of "The Star Spangled Banner" while cadet 1st Lt. Celia Garcia led the presentation of the colors.
Marine Corps Vietnam veteran George Palermo walked to the podium, wearing his familiar field jacket covered with patches of Vietnam service, field boots and a black POW-MIA T-shirt.
To the teens, he described himself as a high school "goof-off" and "class clown" who maneuvered himself into enlisting for the Marine Corps in 1966. That got him trips to Da Nang and Chu Lai air bases.
"My time in Vietnam was an experience that forever changed who I was and what I believed," Palermo told the crowd of approximately 1,000 teens.
"Most of it was an exciting and thrilling experience. Some was horrific, terrifying and dark," he said.
"I don't like to think about the dark stuff, but it usually pops up on its own when I least expect it.
"I did learn through my military experience that there is more to life than goofing off and being a clown. An education is your ticket to all the things you want out of life, so stick it out and study hard."
"Unfortunately, the path I chose to learn that (lesson) was costly and I have paid dearly for it."
He spoke of his visits to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington and a dawning realization about the 58,249 comrades inscribed on the black marble.
"Names that meant nothing to me then suddenly mean so much to me now," he said. "They did as I did - they served. But they did not get to do as I did. They did not get to survive.
"They did not get to return home and raise families," Palermo said.
"They did not get to return home and continue interrupted educations … and go into the family business or become teachers and leaders and doctors and lawyers and human beings."
To those who oppose the war in Iraq, Palermo advised, "Speak your mind, but do not abuse the servant warriors who protect the very freedoms that permit you to speak as you do."
Sgt. Maj. Arthur Walker and cadet Maj. Juan Alburez oversaw the ceremonies honoring the veterans in attendance.
For Littlerock alumnus Dassler, everyone in the gym got on their feet to applaud or salute or murmur thanks.
Cadet Lt. Zackary Barberis supervised the flag-folding ceremony and cadet Lt. Michael Lombardo supervised the drill ceremony, with awards presented to veterans by cadet Capt. Maria Gaspar.
"It was the students who organized everything," Walker said. "We were asked could we do this at the last minute, and they just put everything together and made it happen."
Standing with his Highland High School colleague, Maj. Conrad Hernandez, Walker said the Junior ROTC program isn't intended to recruit young people into the military.
"A young person may decide not to join, and recruiting is not our role," Walker said. "Our role is to teach young people to be good citizens. They may not get that in another class."
Principal Lisa Oates closed Thursday's ceremonies, saying, "The men and women of the armed forces risk their lives and limbs for our safety, and our freedom. Our gratitude knows no boundaries. God bless you, and thank you."
"HONORED SPEAKER - Vietnam veteran George Palermo was the keynote speaker at Thursday's Veterans Day celebration put on by the Littlerock High School's Junior ROTC." EVELYN KRISTO Valley Press
Amen
"Principal Lisa Oates closed Thursday's ceremonies, saying, "The men and women of the armed forces risk their lives and limbs for our safety, and our freedom. Our gratitude knows no boundaries. God bless you, and thank you."
Where is the ACLU - the principal said "God bless you".
God bless and love these kids. It would have been nice if all of us Vietnam vets could have gotten it. Instead, thanks to John F'n Kerry and his hand maiden Jane Fonda, we were spit on and cursed.
Just so you know, please don't respond and tell me thanks for my service. After more than 30 years, I'm too cynical to believe you (and I know you are being sincere) or to care.
It's the price that comes with betrayal from those who should have been on our side.
Proud of Arkansas -- ping
Good to be proud of Arkansas and Little Rock, but this is California and Littlerock.
Oops! Who'da thunk it. Need to read closer next time. Proud of Littlerock, CA too. ;-)
I want to send our kids to that school.
There are still some like that around. Where my kids went to high school, very recently, there were several Christian teachers. Some went to our church. And some teachers have been known to even pray (privately) with students. But no one has complained. And I really miss the prayer before football games. It was such a tradition and now it's lost. Not one person where I live ever complained about it that I know of and people stood and bowed their heads. I don't know why things like that can't be a local, community by community, decision. And I never used to think much about who was on my school board but these days it seems like an extremely important position.
You may be proud of Arkansas, but the story isn't about Little Rock, Arkansas, The name of the school was a dead giveaway - there is no "Little Rock High School" in Arkansas.
I have a nephew at U of Arkansas, and he dearly loves Arkansas, in spite of ... well, you know.
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