Veterans spoke with students of Clara Barton Elementary School in Bordentown City at a Veterans Day ceremony.
By: William Wichert
Standing outside Clara Barton Elementary School in Bordentown City in their winter coats, the group of silent children moved their arms in the air with the grace of 100 ballerinas and quietly expressed their patriotism amid the din of passing traffic.
This dance movement came at the end of the Veterans Day ceremony at the school Nov. 11, when music teacher Nancy Bender led students in a sign language version of "God Bless America" and other patriotic songs.
Assembled in a semicircle on the lawn of the Crosswicks Street building, the elementary students began their school day by honoring about 20 local veterans from World War II to Operation Iraqi Freedom. The ceremony was one of several events held in the area last week as local residents came together to remember those who fought and served in America’s wars.
"Today and every day, we should be proud of all veterans who sacrificed their lives to defend this great nation," said Melanie Bakeman, president of the Student Council, who led everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Melanie was followed by 19 students who read personal essays about what freedom means to them as well as ways that they are proud to be Americans.
"I am free to speak. I am free to be myself. I am free to read books," said one boy.
Another girl shared a personal story about coming to America with her family. "The first thing my mom did when she brought me here from China is make sure I became an American citizen," the girl said. "So I am proud to be an American."
Following the ceremony, the veterans visited several classrooms to share their experiences with the students. In Heather Wawrzyniak’s second-grade class, the children were full of questions for Sgt. Dean Edmiston, of David Court in Bordentown Township, who served in Iraq with the Marine Corps Reserves from January to August in 2003. Questions such as: "How hot is it in Iraq?" "How big are the guns?" "What do some of your badges mean?" "Did you have jet packs?"
Standing before them in a red and blue dress Marine uniform, Sgt. Edmiston, who joined the Marines ten years ago after graduating from high school, did his best to tell the kids what life in Iraq was like for him. He passed around photos from his time there, let the children touch Iraqi money bearing the face of Saddam Hussein and showed them a food pouch that was meant to last for at least three days. The second-graders laughed at the toilet paper inside the pouch and got excited about a photo of a lizard in Iraq.
"It was tough for me. I was away from my family the whole time," said Sgt. Edmiston, who said it took between four and six weeks to receive letters from home. "For three months, I didn’t talk to anybody except other Marines."
After one student asked if he saw any quicksand in Iraq, Sgt. Edmiston said no, but explained that the country’s sandstorms were awful.
"Sandstorms were unbelievable over there. It was like a blizzard. You can’t see anything. It gets in your eyes," he said. "The snow is kind of refreshing. The sand over there is horrible."
Some other questions were a little harder to answer, such as, "Did you win?" and "Did anybody die?"
"Unfortunately, there were a few (deaths), said Sgt. Edmiston. "Maybe Ms. W. can elaborate on that."
Ms. Wawrzyniak told her students that death is a part of war. "Sometimes war is necessary to keep our freedoms," she said.
Sgt. Edmiston went on to explain the actions of the Iraqis who fought against the American soldiers. "They were fighting for their beliefs. They didn’t want us to come in there. We wanted to get Saddam Hussein," he said.
As to the other difficult question about winning the war, Sgt. Edmiston said he expected that the conflict would continue for a few more years. But he said afterward that he was surprised to see how dangerous the fighting has become, since the city of Fallujah was relatively calm when he was there. Fallujah was the site this week of battles between American troops and Iraqi insurgents.
"Fallujah’s a bad area right now. When I was there, it wasn’t bad at all," he told the students.
Sgt. Edmiston, who served in the Marines for four years before joining the reserves in 1998, said he is prepared to return to Iraq if his battalion is reactivated. "I have to do what I got to do," he said.
At the Brig. Gen. William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery in North Hanover later that morning, veterans and family members remembered those who served in previous wars by planting the ashes from 2,250 retired flags in the grounds surrounding the cemetery’s chapel.
"Men who fight together, suffer together to achieve a common aim," Emily Root, a member of the cemetery’s advisory council, told a crowd of more than 50 people. "In tolerance, there’s progress progress toward a better, happier world."
Retired U.S. Army Col. Stephen G. Abel, the state Deputy Commissioner for Veterans Affairs, presented the advisory council with a proclamation from former Gov. James McGreevey that cited the accomplishments of veterans in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other conflicts.
"Today is a great day to be an American," he said. "We citizens of New Jersey and the country thank you veterans for what you have done."