Manansquan High School hosted more than 30 Vietnam veterans on Friday as part of an event organized by the school's history club and the Daughters of the American Revolution.
MANASQUAN - Students at Manasquan High School read about the Vietnam War in their history books, but on Friday that history came alive as more than 30 veterans of that conflict visited the school on the day before Armed Forces Day to share their own stories.
The event - which is co-organized by the school's history club and the Daughters of the American Revolution - started with a welcome breakfast for the veterans at the high school and then throughout the day history classes would come to the school's library to talk to the veterans, look through their photos from Vietnam and event inspect or try on some of the military equipment and weaponry.
"A lot of the kids are studying Vietnam, so they're asking questions about where they were stationed and what it was like," said Jim Fagen, a Manasquan High School history teacher who helped organize the event.
"They're putting a face to the history in hearing some of these other stories that you don't always get to hear. And if they have heard about it, now it's like: 'Oh, here is someone who actually did this,'" Fagen added. "And for the veterans it's an opportunity for them to get together and to share their stories."
Now in its second year, the event grew from less than 10 participating veterans in 2015 to more than 30 this year.
"The young people need to know what happened, because there's a lot of information out there that isn't exactly true," said Gladys Haynes, chairwoman of the Daughters of the American Revolution's effort to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War. "This gives them a chance to meet the real deal, get the real answers and know that there were real people there. And I think there is a lot of sudden realization in the juniors and seniors that these guys were about their age when they went through this."
Manasquan junior Brendan Reilly said his class has been learning about the Vietnam War era for the past few weeks, so it was great for him to get to meet people who were actually there and to find out what they thought of it.
"I was talking to one vet and he was telling me about the damage that he saw there, and how he still has nightmares to this day about it," said Reilly, 17. "That's something I'll remember most about today, because we learned about how the events in our history books actually affected the people who were there years later."
One of the things that the students learned Friday, is that not all combat veterans share the same types of experiences as others veterans who served, either in Vietnam or other conflicts.
"I thought it was really interesting because everyone had a different view of Vietnam," said Sara Aloupis, 17, a junior. "One guy was in the medical aspect of it and another guy was in combat, and I thought that was cool to hear their different stories and how it affected them differently."
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