Vietnam Veterans Visit Schulenburg High School

In my opinion, today it is sometimes hard for teachers to try to regenerate humanist values in a classroom, no matter what grade level, but we have to try to.

This year we almost ran out of time, but my English III American Literature class studied the Vietnam era and the literature that evolved from it. My father, Eugene Krupala, is always so helpful with helping me ask some Vietnam Veterans to come visit with my students in my classroom. It is an honor to have them, and to have my own father, a veteran, come visit for the day.

I think it’s so necessary for these kids, in person, to see, hear, shake their hand … listen to these men who were just boys, tell of their duties, their draft/enlistment experiences, share memories from Vietnam. The sessions are very conversational and casual. The veterans share what they want, and as the day goes on, a level of trust and camaraderie establishes. They will bounce memories from one to another of where they were, in what year, and of what they were doing. We share laughs and sometimes some tears, but I’m so thankful we live in a country that we can honor these men, where they can come into a classroom, living and breathing, and share their experiences.