United States Veterans, dating as far back to World War II to a modern Army Nation Guard Master Seargant of the War on Terror, shared their stories at North Haven High School (NHHS) on Friday, June 3 in a program titled “An Eyewitness to History.”

Hosted in NHHS’ auditorium by Federico Fiondella of the history department, and Dr. Russ Dallai, NHHS Principal, the speaker series allowed students to hear stories of the veterans throughout the school day.

U.S. Veteran Richard Donahue served in Korea. He discussed his placement of the 38th Parallel, getting the students to participate in the conversation. “On June 25, 1950, at 4 o’clock in the morning, The North Korean army attacked South Korea,” Donahue explained. “They attacked it with airplanes, tank, and artillery.”

Donahue was drafted a month after President of the time, Harry Truman, decided that the United States was to go to war with North Korea. “I was shipped to Southern California from Hartford,” Donahue said. He served as a medic at front-line aid stations, and through his time overseas, he was promoted up to Sergeant.

With a photographic slideshow, Donahue was able to show pictures that he took during his time in Japan and in North and South Korea, as well as a map of Korea to give the main idea to the students. With the 38th parallel cutting Korea roughly in half, the front line was pressed against it.

Practicing how to get in and out of a ship accurately and some airlift training in Japan, Donahue was getting ready from April of 1951 to December of 1951. When he was in Korea, he wanted to see what the front line was like. He went on to explain, “The next morning I got up, and this is what I saw,” he said as he turned back to his slideshow to display a snowy mountain. “This mountain is honeycombed with caves, bunkers, artillery.”

Donahue was asked by a student what he was taught prior to serving his country. “First thing we learned what to do was give shots, and the way we learned was by an orange,” Donahue explained. An orange, he said, had similarities to human flesh, where once the needle was to puncture the fruit, it would be the same as puncturing skin on a person.

U.S. Veterans Allan Myer, Rick Leac, and U.S. Veteran and retired NNHS Principal and teacher Don DeLoge served in the Vietnam War. Even though they were all at the war, their stories are different.

Myer stepped forward first and walked right past the podium. “I like to get closer to you guys,” he said with a voice that sounded like it came from the microphone.

“I want to tell you guys not what took place, but how it felt,” Myer went on to say. He explained that he was going to tell the audience about the topics that were not discussed in the history books. In charge of caring for 130 men, Myer had to make sure that all of them were safe.

“Forget about the enemy, worry about the letters,” Myer said. He was so concerned about the safety of his troops that he would be up at 4 a.m. to make sure everything was safe, and there were nights where he would not get to bed until midnight.

Serving in the Navy, former-Principal DeLoge stated strongly that “there is nothing that prepares you for the first time you’re shot at.” Noting that he was not fired upon every day, but the times he was shot at were memorable. “Your mouth gets dry,” he went on to explain, and he said that he wanted to be anywhere than he was at that given time.

DeLoge was unable to have Christmas with his wife until three years after they were married, which was something he and his family did not appreciate. “The thing we didn’t like was the family separation,” he said. He compared his relationship to his wife as being pen pals.

When DeLoge returned from his second cruise overseas, he was able to fly commercial. However, when he landed in the States, he was greeted by a Lieutenant from the Air force. The Lieutenant told them that from there on out, the soldiers he was warning should not wear their uniforms on any flights in public any longer, because of the way the public viewed them.

To that, DeLoge says to hate the war, not the warrior.

Myer, on the other hand, says that “it really prepared me for the rest of my life,” noting that if he had enough responsibility to care for over 100 soldiers, then he would be able to do a lot more in his life than he thought.

Other chapters in the day’s presentation covered The Great Depression, The JFK Assassination, the final days of the Nixon Administration, the Reagan Years, and the War on Terror.