Medal of Honor recipients share their stories with students

[thedrifter]

Medal of Honor recipients share their stories with students
'This is your country … to take care of'
By Kelly McBride
kmcbride@greenbaypressgazette.com

In a manner of speaking, Ronald Rosser's mother made the decision for him when it came to the military.

Rosser, a Korean War vet and one of 17 children, recalled the time during his teenage years when he came home to news of his latest siblings.

"(My sister said), 'Ron, mama had twins,'" he said. "I said, 'there goes my place at the table - I'm going in the Army.' A week later I was wearing a uniform."

The anecdote drew laughs when Rosser, a Medal of Honor recipient, relayed it during a Thursday assembly at Green Bay West High School. But most of Rosser's message for the teens had a more sober tone, as he spoke about living life honorably and the legacy today's students will leave for future generations.

"This is going to be your world, folks, not mine," Rosser told the students. "My time and my friends' time is about over. … This is your country, and it's yours to take care of. There's not going to be anyone else to do it, just you people. So think about that. But whatever you do, do it with honor."

Rosser is one of about 65 Medal of Honor recipients in Green Bay this week for the annual convention of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. He and other military veterans have enjoyed activities such as golfing, fishing and tours in Door County.

On Thursday, many of the veterans got their chance to mingle with the people of the Green Bay area through school assemblies and an afternoon autograph session at Lambeau Field.

"It's a wonderful opportunity to hear someone speak - in such a humble way - about honor and integrity and the importance of that throughout your life," said Green Bay West High School Principal Luke Valitchka. "That's certainly one of the things we're wanting kids to take from our educational experience in our school, is the importance of being an honorable person."

Rosser, who served 21 years in the Army, earned his Medal of Honor Jan. 12, 1952. His official Medal of Honor citation describes Rosser charging enemy positions on a hill three times, then helping wounded men to safety while under enemy fire - even though he also had been wounded.

While at West, Rosser paused to view the school's memorial to Ben Edinger, a 1999 West graduate and U.S. Marine who died in 2004 after a roadside bomb attack in Iraq.

Medal of Honor recipients lunched at Lambeau Field before signing autographs and touring the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame.

Vietnam veterans Gene Wheaton of Green Bay and Brian "Bear" Anderson of New Hampshire didn't know each other before Thursday's autograph session at Lambeau.

But as the two talked shop while waiting in line for one autograph, Wheaton said his fellow serviceman was "just a friend I haven't met before."

For both, meeting the Medal of Honor recipients was an honor.

"These are our heroes," Anderson said. "These represent the best of the best."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Signature of valor
By MEG JONES
mjones@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Sept. 6, 2007

Green Bay - Craig and Tera Stencil took the day off Thursday, bought a couple of green combat helmets at an Army surplus store and headed to Lambeau Field to meet heroes.

The Stencils were part of the throng that swarmed a section of the hallowed ground not to meet Hall of Fame-bound quarterbacks or anyone else who wears a Packer jersey for a living but to get autographs of men who fought on a far different battlefield.

"I wanted to come here because I'm huge into World War II history and my dad was in Vietnam," said Craig Stencil, after getting the signatures of several Medal of Honor recipients on the helmets.

The free event drew hundreds of people during the three hours the medal recipients signed their names and shook hands with well-wishers. It was part of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society's annual convention, which is being held this week in Green Bay, the first time Wisconsin has hosted the gathering of men who earned the nation's highest military award.

More than 60 of America's 109 living Medal of Honor recipients are attending the convention, which includes a patriotic concert, black tie dinner and the Packers' season opener on Sunday.

The Medal of Honor recipients, mostly clad in light blue Medal of Honor polo shirts and their medals, signed books, programs, posters and pictures. And at least two helmets.

"They said (the helmets) brings back memories," said Tera Stencil. "One man wanted to try it on, but it didn't have the liner."

Added her husband as he held up a helmet: "The guy who signed here said he got hit right in this spot by shrapnel. He said that's why he signed it right here."

James Skaleski of De Pere brought a copy of the Oct. 23, 1965, Saturday Evening Post for Medal of Honor recipient Roger Donlon to sign. Donlon, the first to receive the medal in Vietnam, is pictured on the cover. Skaleski bought it at a rummage sale years ago and fished it out when he heard the Medal of Honor convention was coming to town.

"I came just to honor them. They did a lot for our country," said Skaleski.

Though Donlon, now 73, is more than four decades older, he doesn't look much different than the Saturday Evening Post painting. He said copies still show up in the mail for him to sign.

"I got more people telling me they came into the Army and the Special Forces because of that article," Donlon said. "It's been a great recruiting tool. In fact, some of the ones who come up to me and say that are generals."

Before the autograph signing and a private tour of Lambeau Field, some of the medal recipients spoke at schools Thursday morning. Wisconsin Medal of Honor recipient Harold "Hal" Fritz met with students at De Pere Middle School.

One boy raised his hand and asked Fritz his age.

"I said, 'Well, I'm so old the first gun I had was a musket,'" said Fritz, who's actually only 63. "He asked, 'What's a musket?'"

At Chilton High School, hundreds of students and teachers filled the bleachers of the school's gym to hear Robert Howard speak, cheering and clapping as he walked in to the strains of the school band playing the Army march.

Chilton's middle school principal, Rich Appel, is a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves who spent 15 months in Iraq. He told the students that Howard earned eight Purple Hearts, served five tours in Vietnam and was the only person nominated for the Medal of Honor three times for three separate actions. Meeting Howard, he said, "was one of the highlights of my life."

Howard, 68, who retired from the Army in 1992, has visited Iraq with other Medal of Honor recipients. "I'm not allowed to carry a weapon, but I go on the battlefield and I talk to them about fear. I was in 52 battles and I can tell them a little bit about surviving."

His message to the Chilton students, who gave him a Chilton blanket and cap, was simple: Freedom and democracy shouldn't be taken for granted.

After he finished, some of the students stopped to shake the hand of a real American hero.

Before he left Chilton he autographed the school library's copy of a coffee table book about the Medal of Honor. On Page 125, next to his black and white photo, Howard carefully signed his name and a Latin phrase that's etched in the Washington Monument.

Howard wrote "Laus Deo." It means praise be to God.

Ellie