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News & Photos
Fifth Graders Get Perspective from WWII Veteran
During World War II, the average life expectancy of an army scout was two weeks. Those brave men sent ahead to keep their platoons safe from ambush were often victims of enemy fire.
The danger didn't stop then 19-year-old Bernard Sevel from serving as a U.S. Army scout in the European Theater starting in 1943. Shot at but never hit, he returned home after the war with a Bronze Star for bravery.
Today Sevel told some of his war stories to the fifth graders, whose current reading, Mary Downing Hahn's book Stepping on the Cracks, is set in World War II. Students, including Sevel's own grandson, got valuable perspective by hearing the former infantryman describe his experiences.
Sevel recalled being stranded in a German village after being separated from his platoon. There he was, a Jewish-American soldier alone in Nazi Germany.
"Did you have any food?" one student asked.
Sevel subsisted on black bread and pickles while hiding in basements of abandoned homes. A fellow soldier found him after a week.
Another student asked if Sevel had any friends die. After Sevel said yes, he told them how he coped with the horrors of war: "You block it out."
Students were also curious about whether Sevel ever considered deserting, as a character in Hahn's book did.
"Yes, I was afraid. It is overcoming your fear and doing what you have to do. I was more afraid of letting down the guys in my outfit," Sevel replied.
Along with his stories, Sevel brought old uniforms, his Bronze Star, and an assortment of sepia photographs from his service days. Students crowded around him after class to get a closer look.
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During World War II, the average life expectancy of an army scout was two weeks. Those brave men sent ahead to keep their platoons safe from ambush were often victims of enemy fire.
The danger didn't stop then 19-year-old Bernard Sevel from serving as a U.S. Army scout in the European Theater starting in 1943. Shot at but never hit, he returned home after the war with a Bronze Star for bravery.
Today Sevel told some of his war stories to the fifth graders, whose current reading, Mary Downing Hahn's book Stepping on the Cracks, is set in World War II. Students, including Sevel's own grandson, got valuable perspective by hearing the former infantryman describe his experiences.
Sevel recalled being stranded in a German village after being separated from his platoon. There he was, a Jewish-American soldier alone in Nazi Germany.
"Did you have any food?" one student asked.
Sevel subsisted on black bread and pickles while hiding in basements of abandoned homes. A fellow soldier found him after a week.
Another student asked if Sevel had any friends die. After Sevel said yes, he told them how he coped with the horrors of war: "You block it out."
Students were also curious about whether Sevel ever considered deserting, as a character in Hahn's book did.
"Yes, I was afraid. It is overcoming your fear and doing what you have to do. I was more afraid of letting down the guys in my outfit," Sevel replied.
Along with his stories, Sevel brought old uniforms, his Bronze Star, and an assortment of sepia photographs from his service days. Students crowded around him after class to get a closer look.