The Experience of War ii iiiiii The Experience of War Contents: 2010 a publication of The Project: The Experience of War Life Inside Tanks . .19 US History and American Literature Honors GT Edward Clark . Cori Castoe Perry Meridian High School 401 W. Meridian School Road Note from the Editors . 1 Indianapolis, IN 46227 T. Carper, C. Castoe, C. Duff, and T. Wicker Stuck In Vietnam . .22 317-789-4400 Larry Bolen . .Kavan Speck Printed at Triangle Printing Company 460 Virginia Avenue Army Left At Home: Longing for Communication . 24 Indianapolis, IN 46203 Debra Bolen. .Chelsi Carter 317-786-3488 Life On The Other Home Front . 5 100 copies were distributed in May, 2010 Edith Bohannon . Abigail House Love Your Country . .26 Ron Newton . Melanie Mancourt Book funded by a service-learning grant through A Career of Service . 7 Learn and Serve Indiana Robert Newkirk . Ryan Humphrey Into The Fire . .28 <http://www.doe.in.gov/servicelearning/> Randy Abbot . .Michael Moyer The Life and Times of Roland Daeger . .9 Roland Daeger . .Theresa Carper The Crew Chief . .30 Keith Sterling . .Samantha Meyer Ol’ Red . 11 Oren Murphey . Melanie Mancourt Not The Crying Type . 33 Michael and Paula Sinex . .Kourtnie Duff From Telephone Poles To the Front Lines . .13 Cover Art by Matthew Huntley Robert Johnson . Scott Brodzeller Brotherhood . 36 Title page and Division Pages by Dayle Hayden and Michael Moyer Ronald White . .Victoria Brandenburg Design and layout by editors Theresa Carper, Corrine Castoe, Courtney Duff, and Taylor Wicker A Behind-the-Scenes Veteran . 15 Photos provided by interviewees or taken by writers Born to Serve . .38 Project coordinated by faculty members, Mrs. Jan Cooney and Ms. Amanda Robinson Fred Bohannon . Abigail House Service Learning Coordinator Kerri Davis Jeffrey and BJ Wilbourne . .Matthew Huntley For Better or Worse . 17 Over-Easy . .42 Duane Widdifield . .Marina Young Arthur Kratz . .Taylor Wicker ii iii Appendix Communication is Key . 44 Dentistry on Deck . 68 An Education in Aviation . 88 Jerald Jones . .Daniel Eakle Carl Kohlmann . Daniel Eakle Doug Bradburn . Taylor Wicker Notes . 119 Good Terms . .46 Sailor at Sixteen . .70 Air Force Index . 122 Jon Frutchey and Ellen Loveless . Aaron Frutchey Max Mills . .Samantha Meyer Ruby’s Independence . 93 Jeanie Rohl: Woman on the Home Front . 72 Making A Difference: Army National Guard . 49 Ruby Hughes . .Morgan Pierle Julie Carey . Casey Rohl Jeanie Rohl . Casey Rohl Being Called In . 96 Sunshine in Afghanistan . 50 Kentucky Floatin’ on the Big Blue . 73 Frank Corbett . Dayle Hayden Sunshine Parra Butt . .Damon Naum Donald Bruner . Mark PanKonie Charlie Spayd: All-Time Flyer . 98 “It’s More Than A Job, It’s A Lifestyle” . 53 With Fight Comes Freedom . 75 Roger Pippenger . .Theresa Carper Charlie Spayd . .Theresa Carper James Mitchell . .Victoria Roach From the Pope to the Pieta . 78 Water Skiing on the Saigon River . .101 Sunrise in Iraq . .56 John Brooks . Maria Mancourt Thomas Harris . .Victoria Roach Brett Naum . Damon Naum An Angel for the Heroes . .80 “Looking In” On the World . 105 Navy Thomas Moran . .Morgan Pierle Jim Ellis . .Scott Brodzeller Infamy: A Story of War and Life . .61 Support from the Seas . .82 Marines Rodney Phelps . Ryan Humphrey Linda Clark . .Cori Castoe Robert Crouch . 111 Handstands and Matchsticks . .63 Planes, Goony Birds, and a BLT . .83 Robert Crouch . Maria Mancourt William Yaeger . .Victoria Roach Jeff PanKonie . .Mark PanKonie Dreaming, Believing, then Becoming . .113 The Traveling Plane Captain . 65 From Home With Love . .85 Jerry Young . .Marina Young Paul Garten . Kavan Speck John Miller . .Michael Moyer Serving Our Country With Marine Pride . .114 A Child’s Story . .67 The Will of Someone Else . .87 Gary Summey . .Chelsi Carter David Baughman . .Victoria Brandenburg Mary Moyer-Miller . Dayle Hayden iv v I’m no more patriotic than any other American. Sure, I’ve waved my fair share of red, Note white and blue flags on July 4th and belted “The Star Spangled Banner” at a baseball game. I’ve never questioned my daily pledge to one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all. And I’ve from always simply assumed the military is too complicated and brutal a concept to involve me, a typical the American teenager. Prior to this service learning project, my greatest military contribution was an illustrated letter sent to an Afghanistan-stationed U.S. soldier in third grade. I drew him wearing a black beret and clutching what looked like a Civil War era rifle, because I didn’t really know what Editors: soldiers looked like. Now we’re all older, but I was hardly wiser. The interviewing process made me realize how Pictured at left are the little I knew about war. One of the veterans I interviewed had been in several important North Afri- members of the 2009-2010 can and Italian battles in World War II. Until learning that, I didn’t even know Africa was involved in Perry Meridian High School WWII. I read about my veteran’s battles in the history book a couple nights later. Instead of just cur- combined American Literature sorily cramming that historical information into my brain, I genuinely absorbed it. When we didn’t and United States History just memorize statistics from our textbooks, our veterans’ experiences became real to us -- and we Honors Gifted and Talented remembered these facts because our interviewees were involved. class. If this project has influenced the IDEA students in any way, it’s given us personal interest Back Row: Scott Brodzeller, and a deeper understanding of what war truly means to the affected individuals. To us, war is no Daniel Eakle, Casey Rohl, and longer the tableau scene of a red-eyed, virulent monster slain by valorous knights in shining armor. Michael Moyer. Now we can picture our family members, friends, neighbors, acquaintances or even complete strangers interviewed as the military men we see in the media. For those left on the home front Row 2: Aaron Frutchey, during wartime, we can imagine what emotions the parents, spouses and children suffered every Corrine Castoe, Victoria Roach, day. and Mark PanKonie. What you are holding isn’t simply a compilation of twenty-four students’ essays. It’s a peek Row 3: Abigail House, Kavan at forty-nine souls. This “book” is true to its name: “The Experience of War.” Every story is a snap- Speck, Damon Naum, and shot at one episode or a glimpse at the full life of a person associated with warfare. Some of these Courtney Duff. accounts brought tears to my eyes, and some humored me. Each is unique; each leaves an impact. All of these people deserve recognition for their role in history, which is why we choose this project. Row 4: Ryan Humphrey, Their stories need to be told because we lose our sense of who we are as a people, as Americans, Matthew Huntley, Theresa without them. You learn to love what you serve. By definition, there are no truer patriots than Carper, Dayle Hayden, Chelsi these interviewees. To all the civilians, parents, children, soldiers, officers, mechanists, machinists, Carter, and Taylor Wicker. spouses, sailors, pilots, cooks and those who have served or supported our country--we salute you. Front Row: Samantha Meyer, Written by Theresa Carper on behalf of the other editors: Cori Castoe, Kourtnie Duff, and Taylor Victoria Brandenburg, Melanie Wicker, the 2012 IDEA class at Perry Meridian High School, and our teachers: Mrs. Jan Cooney and Mancourt, Maria Mancourt, Ms. Amanda Robinson. Morgan Pierle, and Marina Young. vi 1 Army 2 3 Life On The Other Home Front By Abbie House Imagine this: It’s a sunny day. You are leaving for school. You would probably expect it to be uneventful and peaceful. However, this was not the case for Edith Bohannon. Imagine sprinting home as fast as you can with air raid sirens blaring all around you and bombs raining down in the midst of World War II. This, along with countless other frightening events, occurred several times during Mrs. Bohannon’s childhood. Mrs. Bohannon, Miss Hohn at the time, was born in Nuremberg, Germany on November 20th, 1935. Nuremberg is a city in Germany that is about 150 miles north of Munich. Nuremberg’s position in the central part of Germany allowed it to be the host city for several Nazi party conventions.1 However, Mrs. Bohannon did not attend any of these meetings nor did she ever hearAdolf Hitler speak. Mrs. Bohannon recalls that she was around the age of four when World War II began and that, by the time World War II ended, she was around the age of ten. “On a typical day, I would get up and go to school like everybody else. If the air raid sirens sounded, we would take off running for the bomb shelter and we would stay in the shelter for however long the air raid lasted. We had a bomb shelter at the school, but my mom told me not to stay there. So I had to run home as fast as I could to meet up with my mom so we could go to the bomb shelter underneath our apart- ment building,” Mrs. Bohannon said as she described a day during the war. There were frequent air raids in Nuremberg. Two bridges in Nuremburg near Mrs. Bohan- non’s apartment building were often targets for bombings because of their use as supply lines for German forces. One air raid that Mrs. Bohannon easily remembers took place in 1943 while her sister was at work. The air raid sirens rang out, so Mrs. Bohannon and her mother, Oma, made their way to the air raid shelter. However, Mrs.