Photos by Riley Mullgardt and Ashli Wagner
Ashli Wagner
Video Editor
Webster Groves High School celebrated Veterans Day on Wednesday Nov. 9, by inviting over 100 veterans from all eras around Webster to speak to students.
November 11 marked the 78th annual Veterans Day since it first became a national holiday in 1938.
Veterans came the school around 7 a.m. to start the day off with a breakfast put together by social studies teacher Betty Roberts and child development teacher Diane Stromberg.
During first hour there was a public assembly. Boys Scouts, chamber choir and strings participated in honoring the veterans.
The guest speaker was Dr. John McManus, who is also a Vietnam Veteran.
During the rest of the school day veterans went to different social studies classrooms to tell students about their experiences in the war. Four to five veterans visited each social studies class, and had about 10 minutes a piece to tell their stories and then take questions from students.
Webster Groves High School’s Veterans Day program started about 14 or 15 years ago, and three years ago the social studies department started focusing on specific groups of veterans. This year the Veterans Day program wanted to hear from veterans who were both drafted and volunteers so students could hear their experiences.
The Vietnam war was from 1954 until April of 1975. At the end of the war over 2,500 soldiers were missing in action or prisoners of war.
As of April of this year over 1,600 of those soldiers are still unaccounted for. In the U.S. people against the war held rallies, demonstrations and marches to protest what was happening in Vietnam.
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