They walked the locker-lined halls with stitched names like Veater and Campbell, Brininger and Saul, tall in their camouflage next to the silent students looking up at them.

Boots squeaked and loafers clicked in reply over lengths of polished school floors.

Reaching their assigned classrooms at Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary School in McSherrystown on Wednesday, members of the Hanover National Guard, who served recently in Iraq with the 56th Stryker Brigade, ducked inside to hushed, wide-eyed audiences.

Little hands shot up.

"What was it like over there?" asked a third-grader. "What are the schools in Iraq like?" asked another. "And are you glad to be home now?"

Sgt. 1st Class Doug Beckner told the class he was relieved to be home and explained schools in Iraq keep boys and girls separated and often need items as simple as No. 2 pencils. And as for what it's like over there, "hot" pretty much sums it up, he said.

"I was so used to the nonstop heat over there, I'm freezing now every morning when I get up here," Beckner said.

Individual classroom presentations like Beckner's followed an hourlong Veterans Day assembly at Annunciation that was organized by the school to honor not only the recently returned local Guard unit, but all American military veterans.

The event began with a prayer by Beckner's son, Lane, an eighth-grader at Annunciation.

"Help us prize our freedom and use it well," Lane said. "We pray for the day when no one

Advertisement
needs to serve in the military."

The guest speaker, United States Navy Capt. Mike Sokolowski -- whose son, Matt, a junior at Delone Catholic High School, helped organize the talk for his Life Scout badge project -- explained the history and the significance of the holiday.

"This is the day a grateful nation honors all its veterans, living or dead, who have served their country over the years," he said. "These are men and women who left their families, friends, jobs and lives to serve a higher cause -- protecting liberty."

Sokolowski asked the gym full of children to take time in the coming days to seek out and personally thank a veteran.

You can't always tell what a veteran looks like, he said -- they might be a teacher or a policeman or a construction worker -- but there's always one sure way to tell.

"Look at the way they stand and hold themselves during the national anthem," Sokolowski said. "They stand rigid, with pride, because they understand what it's taken to have the freedom we all enjoy."