Vaishali Patel
A show of hands Friday among a classroom of Midway Elementary students revealed nearly half have firsthand knowledge of the lives of the deployed.
Almost half of the class raised their hands when asked if they had a friend or family member deployed overseas. One student said he anticipates for his sister’s arrival whenever it’s time for her to return home.
“She always comes back alive,” the YES Program student said.
Evelyn Sweet-Hurd, author of the award-winning memoir “His Name Was Donn: My Brother’s Letters from Vietnam,” enlightened YES Program students recently about what life was like during the Vietnam War according to her brother’s letters. Hurd said the students were prepared to hear her and Donn’s story since their recent studies were focused on veterans. She also added that the students were very attentive and amazed when listening to her speak about Donn’s difficult times at war.
“It hit them [the students] hard when I told them about the Korean War,” said Hurd.
In addition to Hurd’s presentation, the Xerox company donated 200 postcards decorated by children to the group of local students, who were encouraged by Oak Hill Middle School teacher Melissa McKenzie to write postcards to military personnel deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“... teach them how to become effective letter writers ... we don’t even write letters anymore since we the got the computer,” McKenzie said.
Once the students finished writing their messages on the postcards they were mailed back to the Xerox where they will be distributed to the military. The students were excited to learn about life overseas, and they appreciated Hurd taking the time out to speak to them.
“Nice little program. We usually don’t have writers come here and talk to us,” 10-year-old Malik Cummis said. “I really liked it.”
Hurd rounded out the 2009 Big Read events Friday evening by talking to members of the community at Georgia Military College in a program titled “War Letters: Forty Years of Family Correspondence.” The evening presentation honored members of the armed forces on active duty, their families, veterans and first responders, and it remembered those who had given their lives in service. Hurd began the program by showing a DVD given to her by one of her brother’s war companions, which begins with protest music from different time periods and revealed where Donn was stationed.
The recent Veteran’s Week events’ sponsors included the GCSU American Democracy Project and Department of English and Rhetoric, “Flannery O’Connor Review,” the Georgia Military College English Department, and the families of the Georgia Army National Guard 48th Brigade.
Hurd’s book can be purchased at Waldenbooks in Milledgeville Mall.
