OHS Students Honor Veterans
Oskaloosa School Superintendent Paula Wright thanks a veteran for their service after Monday’s assembly.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – On Monday morning, the students of Oskaloosa High School invited veterans and the community to a program dedicated to honoring the service of America’s veterans.
Kirby Nelson with the OHS student council welcomed everyone to the program with the Pledge of Allegiance. The OHS Choir then performed the National Anthem.
Steve Swank, a Vietnam War Veteran spoke about his recent opportunity to participate in an Honor Flight, which departed from the Cedar Rapids Airport. “It was a war that we wouldn’t win. We weren’t really allowed to. Politics and public opinion was against us.”
“I want you all to remember, freedom is not free,” Swank said. “People died over there for your right to sit here today. You need to remember that.”
Many different non-profit organizations host Honor Flight in an effort to transport as many U.S. Veterans as possible to see the memorials of the respective wars they fought.
On April 17th, 2018, Swank got on a flight to Washington D.C. “We were treated like kings.”
When the flight arrived in Washington D.C., there were hundreds of people there to greet Swank and the rest of the veterans. “I think everybody in the airport had to shake our hands and thank us for our service. It was just an awesome experience.”
Swank and the flight visited the veterans memorials, including the Vietnam War Memorial, and Arlington Cemetery, including the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
When the group arrived back to Cedar Rapids and departed the plane, “And there were literally thousands of people in that airport, welcoming us home. It was a welcome we never got when we came home from Vietnam as veterans,” added Swank who recalled the treatment many Vietnam Veterans received when they arrived home. “We were called names. Spit on. Protesters we had to fight to get in and out of the terminals. This welcome made up for all of that. It was just a wonderful thing.”
OHS student Skylar Phillips read an emotional letter dedicated to the veterans who have served and sacrificed for their families and nation.
Master Sargent James W. Spratt (Ret.) with 24 years of service, retiring in 2015, was the next guest speaker to address the assembly.
Spratt is an Oskaloosa native and graduated from OHS in 1994.
After hearing the Star Spangled Banner, Spratt recalled a time when he was visiting Fort McHenry, “And I actually went to the spot where Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the Star Spangled Banner in 1814.”
“It was quite the humbling experience,” he added.
Spratt gave the nod to all the military spouses, “I think the spouses often get overlooked.”
Speaking of his wife, “I served, and she served too alongside me through the deployments, missing the holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, for all the times I was gone,” Spratt added. “She raised the kids.”
The ceremony ended with national recording artists ‘The Band Steele’ performing ‘Sit Awhile’.
The group was dismissed, and the veterans joined the OHS student council for refreshments in the small gym.
