School children paid special tribute to the nation’s veterans on Friday in celebration of Veterans Day. Vets had breakfast at the invitation of Homewood’s Churchill School students who sang and performed for them.
presented Army veteran Bob Philbin with poppies at the
school’s veterans program. Philbin served as a medic
in Vietnam. (Photos by Marilyn Thomas/H-F Chronicle)
School children paid special tribute to the nation’s veterans on Friday in celebration of Veterans Day.
Vets had breakfast at the invitation of Homewood’s Churchill School students who sang and performed for them.
The program opened with a surprise Skype visit from San Francisco when Dan Savage said hello to his mother, Mary Ann Savage, principal of Willow School.
Today Savage is working for LinkedIn on a project to connect veterans with jobs, but he remembered how care packages and letters sent by Homewood District 153 students made a difference for him and fellow military personnel when stationed in Iraq.
“What students did for us was very much appreciated,” he told the audience.
Veterans from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines stood when their military anthems were played. Then they were treated to breakfast and entertainment from the James Hart Chamber Orchestra, Jazz Band, James Choir Ensemble and the Homewood Children’s Choir.
At an afternoon service at St. Joseph Church, St. Joseph School children welcomed guests with paper poppies, the traditional flower given in memory of deceased veterans.
The service included prayers, in which Associate Pastor Rev. Dan Jarosewic asked students and guests to pray that God gives members of the military “courage, hope and strength.” He said “soldiers today are still in jeopardy, still dying.”
The students gave the history of Veterans Day, originally celebrated after World War I as Armistice Day. The name was changed to Veterans Day in 1954 to include members of the armed forces from World War II and the Korean War.
The students also gave recognition to veterans and their leadership roles in business and government, and suggested special efforts be made to visit veteran care centers to remind veterans they are not forgotten.
the Churchill School veterans program with his son,
Bryan, a third grader, and daughter Bailey, a fourth grader
(not pictured). Jackson served as with a nuclear, biological,
defense unit of the Marines.
TOP RIGHT: Veteran Jim Baltikowski of Tinley Park has
shared stories about his time in the Marines with
granddaughter Sarah Kelley for a Churchill School project.
He served with the Marines in the Panama Canal Zone
and at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba.
BOTTOM LEFT: Gabriel McKinney invited his great
grandfather, James D. Dawson of Chicago, to join
the celebration at Churchill School. Dawson served
in the Army at bases around the U.S. and at the Pentagon.
BOTTOM RIGHT: Army veteran Mike Schromen of Park
Forest was invited to the vets breakfast by his great
niece, Anna Lee Weber, a fourth grader at Churchill
School. He was a combat engineer in Germany.