Veteran essays: Globensky, Zenk, Laramy, Moran share best, worst of times
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By The Chippewa Herald
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 11:47 AM CST
Editor's note: This is the second group of excerpts from the students' essays.
Students in Alice Butler’s eighth-grade class at Notre Dame Middle School interviewed a veteran and wrote an essay about him or her. In honor of Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11, The Herald is reprinting excerpts from each essay provided.
Commitment to and the importance of the annual project was recognized in June when the American Legion Auxiliary Department of Wisconsin presented its History Program New Initiatives Award to The Chippewa Herald, Notre Dame teacher Alice Butler, and all Notre Dame eight-grade students who participated in the “interview a veteran” project.
Veteran Kelly Moran
Written by Gabrielle Geissler
Kelly Moran was in the United States Navy as a seabee... Kelly joined the military by choice age age 17 and then stayed in the military for six years and 11 months...
Kelly was called the utilities man because he was a mechanic for water treatment, heating, plumbing and boilers. Once he got more technical training for his job and learned to maintain the air conditioning and refrigeration that was all he did. It was very hard to find people to do those jobs. It was a great job for him because it turned into a lifelong career...
When Kelly first joined the Navy he was stationed in a boot camp in Orlando, Fla. After that he went to ace school in Port Hueneme which is located in California at age 17. Next he went to Diego Garcia which is a British island.
In Garcia he lived in a sea hut which was their barracks. The sea huts were on stilts and they had a tin roof. He roomed with Vietnam veterans and when coconuts hit the roof the veterans would yell incoming. The veterans would because they thought they were grenades. Those were the very first places that Kelly Moran went.
After the British Island he went to Signella Sicily, Italy. When Kelly was in Sicily he learned to scuba dive. While he was diving he found broken pottery which was from Roman times. There were bombs, machine guns, and even bullets from World War II. Later Kelly went back to the states for a year and then to Christ Church, New Zealand. Even though the food was bad in New Zealand, it was still one of the neatest places. During those times Kelly was finding that he was hoping to get out of the army.
The last place that Kelly Moran was sent to was Antarctica. He was between the South Pole and McMurtle station. The program was called Wintered over Antarctica and only a select few got to be in the program. In order to go to Antarctica he received special survival training and went though a week of physiological testing.
Since it was cold there you needed to keep your calories up. In Antarctica he spent four and a half months in darkness and then four and a half months in daylight. Their supplies were parachuted to them and some of the packages had food in them. The food packages had strobe light on them so that the team that was there would pick that food sooner. Otherwise the food would freeze.
Kelly also watched the southern lights which were amazing and you could also hear them. You could also see killer whales, seals and penguins. The whales would use their tail to push water across the ice to get the penguins or seals into the water. Once they were in the water the killer whales would then eat them. That could all be within one hundred yards away from you. Kelly said that it was one of the best experiences that he had.
Veteran Denny Laramy
Written by Kaylee Howard
Denny Laramy is a strong and kind man, but those aren’t the only good words to describe him. He was a United States Air Force Staff Sergeant... When he graduated from high school, he didn’t know what he wanted to be. He and his friend went to Eau Claire to sign up for something else but instead they signed up for U.S.A.F. basic flight training. At age 18 in 1954 he was in basic flight training. He was stationed at the Lackland Air Force Base 12 mile south of San Antonio, Texas. Lackland was the largest training base in the United States for the Air Force in 1954. When he told his family, they said, “Whatever you want to do.”
Discipline was strict. Their shoes had to be so shiny that you could see yourself in them like a mirror. They also had to shave and shower every morning. If you didn’t shower, they would do it for you. Everything had to be perfect. Sometimes they had an honor flight inspection. Whoever had the least things out of order got to go to town for the day. You absolutely had to follow orders even when they seemed to be wrong.
“Discipline teaches you to be a team, not an individual,” Denny wrote.
Denny Laramy served our country for four years. He felt proud after he served. He would like to see every man and woman serve at least two years. He thinks joining would be good because college would be paid for and you will probably find out what you want your career to be.
Veteran Milt Zenk
Written by Lauren Feldhake
My grandpa Milt was a child in a family of seven. Of the seven, six of them entered the army. He joined the army (at age 23) when he found out that his younger brother was going to be drafted.
When he entered the army they asked him where he would like to be put. He decided that he wanted to work in the hospital. After a while they decided that he should be put in the combat area.
He was asked to come back to the hospital base. He was going to be put in the war right away but it ended a few months before he was able to be put in. He was supposed to be in World War II. When he joined the army he wasn’t expecting all the sorrow that came over him as he saw the injured people. I think it really shocked him to see all of the things behind the scenes.
While in the army he learned a lot of important things. He learned that he had an advantage working in the hospital; their food was much better because they had to feed the patients well. He learned that fooling around was not what he wanted to do, from watching others getting in trouble for it...
He does remember some of the people he met, but he left the army when he was 26 so he doesn’t remember all of his friends, also a lot of them have died. He would do it all again though if he had to, because he loves the feeling of knowing he helped his country.
Veteran Dan Globensky
Written by Bethany Kolpien
Dan Globensky joined the military when he was 18 years old. He was in the National Guard for four years until he was 22 years old. He was stationed in Ft. Knox, Ken...
Dan said he had a good experience, and it really made him grow up. Even if you are not in a war you are still important. They got to use weapons, earned medals and all kinds of things, and even got in trouble occasionally. Dan got to us an m60 rifle and numerous other explosives. He earned medals for experience with weapons. He got in trouble a few times for being late for roll call.
Dan said that the food was good which you don’t really hear that often, you usually hear complaining about how bad the food was when they were in the military. They had three square meals a day; they had scrambled eggs, bacon and cheeseburgers. They had to eat fast.
He said the best part of being in the military was the ability to serve his country... Dan said the worst part was training to be in combat, and the threat of going to war.
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