Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Happy Veterans Day



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On November 11, America celebrates Veterans Day. It is the day we honor the men and women who have served in the armed forces. Veterans Day is a national holiday! 


Photo by Mrs. Yollis









Veterans: Men and women who have served in the armed forces.
Soldiers: Men and women who are currently serving in the armed forces.



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Here is a link to a wonderful BrainPop video about America's Armed Forces. 


What did you learn about the 
Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast guard?





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Here is a link to a patriotic Veterans Day blog post by Mrs. Hembree in Seattle, Washington. Read about her father-in-law's service and see photos from his Honor Flight to see the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.  




Photo honoring veterans at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.


Photo by Joe Hembree





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To help us learn about Veterans Day and the men and women who serve, I asked my students if any of their family members are in the military or are veterans. We honor our soldiers with this blog post! 


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Meet our district superintendent, Dr. Stepenosky. As you can see, he served in the Navy. From 1990 to 1994, he was on the USS Chancellorsville which was a guided missile cruiser. It was 9,000 tons and had a crew of 330. Notice the destroyer in the background. 






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Meet Abigail's Uncle Ming. He is a major in the Air Force and is stationed in Qatar! Today we looked for Qatar on the world map. Where is our soldier located? 









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Meet Chris, Abby's uncle. He is in the Air Force stationed at March Air Force Base (AFB). March AFB is located in California. Chris is serving in the 452nd Aerospace Medical Squadron at March AFB and is in his 6th duty station. What is a squadron? What does he mean "6th duty station"?






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Meet Kate's grandfather, Elbert. He served in the Marines
August 1965 - December 1965 Camp Pendleton, San Diego, California / January 1966 - February 1967 Chulai, Vietnam /
March 1967 - May 1967 Camp LeJune, North Carolina /
June 1967 - June 1968 American Embassy, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic / July 1968 - July 1969 American Embassy, Montevideo, Uruguay / July 1969 - Discharged Camp Pendleton, San Diego, California.

We thank Elbert for his service and for his contributions to our Family Blogging Month post! 






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Meet Tom, Nicholas' grandfather. (Nicholas is my former student.) Tom was a Navy officer in World War II. He was a navigator on the USS Shaula in the Pacific Theater. He used celestial navigation to navigate the ship. Today they use satellites, but are going back to the celestial navigation he used 70 years ago. The reason is the threat of attacks on the satellites.






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Thank you for reminding the children in your class that many of us served in the military. It would please us greatly as the grandparents of Jock to recognize us for our service. Grandmom was a navy nurse stationed at the San Diego Naval Hospital caring for wounded Marines and Navy personnel from 1962 to 1965. 





I served in the Navy spending one year in Vietnam as a surgeon with combat Marines. I served from 1964 to 1969. 







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Meet Sawyer’s grandfather Thomas. He was an officer in the United States Air Force, with active duty assignments from 1962 to 1969 in the United States, Germany and Southeast Asia. He was actually in Vietnam when Sawyer’s dad was born. He retired as a major after thirteen additional years as a reserve information officer for the 440th Reserve Tactical Airlift Wing in Milwaukee. We honor his service every year on Veteran’s Day.





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Meet Lily's Aunt Eileen, Uncle Steven, cousins Ben and Samantha. Eileen and Steven have served in the Navy for the past 25 years. They met at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. Steven is a pilot and flew planes for the Navy.  Eileen is a supply officer and has earned the title of Captain. They current live in Virginia Beach.





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Meet Lily's great-grandfather, Charles Armond Wright. He served in the Army during WW II in Germany and Italy. He helped free the prisoners from the concentration camps. 



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Meet lieutenant Ted Fundoukos, Chloe's (Kostaki's sister) Godfather. In the Greek orthodox tradition, he is family. Ted went to the Naval Academy and served in a submarine!


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Meet Abigail's Uncle Roger. He retired from the Navy last year. He was a Captain in the Medical Corps. Roger served all over the world including the Pacific Rim as well as Europe. Here is a picture of his family from a few years ago. Abigail and her siblings love playing with them at family reunions.





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Are any of your relatives or friends veterans?



Please tell us about them and thank them for their service to America!



7 comments:

  1. Greetings Mrs. Yollis and Class,

    We are first graders in Lewistown, Ohio. Our school is called Indian Lake Elementary. We are in Mr. Hall's class. We really liked your Verteran's post. We used you blog to help us think and learn today.

    We learned ALOT about the Armed Forces. We learned that the Coast Guard helps protect the seas. We learned that Army branch protects the land. They are also the biggest branch. The Navy and Navy SEALs help protect the air, sea, and land. So does the Marines! They are the first to fight though. Finally, the Air Force is the branch that does special air missions.

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    We also shared and learned that we have at least 6 Veterans that are family members. There are currently 6 family members that are soldiers. Just like the video, the Army was the branch that was the largest for our class.

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    Does your school do anything else that is special for Veteran's Day?


    Thanks for sharing your learning,
    Mr. Hall's 1st Grade Class

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @ Mr. Hall and 1st graders,

      Thank you so much for your fine, fine comment! We are glad that you liked our post and that you learned so much from reading it.

      You are correct, the Army protects by land, the Navy protects by sea, the Air Force protects by air, the Coast Guard protects our coasts, and the Marines are amphibious. That means they can protect from the water and land.

      You asked if our school does anything else special for Veterans Day. We do not. However, I encouraged my students to call their military family and thank them. In addition, I told them that President Obama would be making a speech at some point today to honor our veterans.

      You said that you live in Lewistown, Ohio. Is it rural, suburban, or urban? We live in a suburb of Los Angeles. Our population is about 25,000.

      Happy Veterans Day!

      Mrs. Yollis and class

      Delete
  2. Frank (Abigail's dad)November 11, 2015 at 5:03 PM

    What a great blog just in time for Veteran's Day! A big shout-out to my brother-in-law Ming - I hope Qatar is treating you nicely.

    To the class, have you ever wondered about the various ranks in the military? Did you know that each branch has its own insignias and rank order? If you don't know what an "insignia" is, you can learn more about them from the government website: http://www.defense.gov/About-DoD/Insignias

    For example, Ming is an Officer in the Air Force with a rank of Major. So what is his insignia?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @ Frank,
      Uncle Ming's insignia is a maple leaf. I looked it up on the Officer's Insignias website. We looked up everyone's insignias. It was fun, and I really liked it.
      Love,
      Abigail, your daughter

      Delete
    2. @ Uncle Ming and @ Uncle Roger,
      Happy Veterans Day! We talked about you in class today. You both have really high ranks, at least according to the Officer Insignias table we looked at. Was it really hard to get there?

      I miss you guys.
      Love,
      Abigail

      Delete
  3. Hi Mrs Yollis

    My Saba is my dad’s dad. Saba means grandfather in Hebrew. It looks likes this when I write in Hebrew – סַבָּא. He is a pretty amazeing veteran. He fought in the us army during the Korean war. He was also in the IDF. The IDF is the Israel Defense Force. We looked for a picture of him in uniform, but can’t find one. my dad also served in the Israeli Air Force. His name is Ethan but in Hebrew it is pronounced “Eitan,” and looks like this – איתן. Even though my dad was not in the U.S. Military, I have a picture of him in his Israeli uniform.

    I am proud of my dad and my saba! I’m not sure if I want to serve in the military, but I hope that I will be able to give back to my country.

    שָׁלוֹם (Shalom)

    אריאל (Ari)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dear Mrs Yollis,
    It made me very happy to see my cousins, my aunt, my uncle and my great-grandfather. Even though I never met my great-grandfather, it was nice to see what he looked like. I'll bet it was very scary to fight in a war. Mrs. Yollis, do you have any veterans or soldiers in your family or among your friends?
    @Ari Can you teach me how to write in Hebrew? Have you been to Israel?
    From,
    Lily

    ReplyDelete

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