In late July, we and eighteen other Glenbard West students had the extraordinary opportunity to travel with veterans of the Second World War to the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana. The trip was sponsored by the Gary Sinise Foundation, a non profit organization—founded by the Forrest Gump star—dedicated to helping veterans and preserving their memories. The trip typically occurs a few times a year in partnership with high schools all over the nation. The program is called Soaring Valor.
Glenbard West had the privilege of being one of the final three schools to be selected, as the trips in this format will end at the conclusion of 2025.
The National WWII Museum featured elaborate, immersive exhibits that showcased the American view of history’s most destructive war. Entire floors dedicated to different battles and expeditions put us in the veterans’ shoes as we walked together through pivotal world history.
Mr. Leo Rosenzweig, a marine, was thirteen years old when the Attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. As our plane took off, he described the “day that will live in infamy” vividly, as if it happened yesterday.
Mr. Pat Hendricks spent his Army days on Pacific boats, fighting to establish Allied control in Okinawa and the Philippines while surviving on canned ration food. These soldiers only had access to primitive “C rations:” food engineered to last on long, hot treks. Mr. Hendricks mentioned multiple times how he had to cut his chocolate with a bayonet.
During our time at the museum, Mr. Hendricks relived his youth, pointing out the tools that were once ubiquitous on Army ships and retracing his island-hops on maps of the Philippines. After an extensive tour, Mr. Hendricks said the museum “taught us that America has a role to protect all freedoms at home and abroad.”
So what do we, as high school students, owe to these veterans? I was struck by the answer they gave: remembrance. Unfortunately, WWII veterans are passing away every day. It is estimated that less than 1% of the 14.6 million who fought in the war remain with us. Mr. Hendricks says that “WWII had become forgotten to some extent,” and that the events of WWII “had a larger impact on the world than [students] had known [sic].”
In line with these concerns, a 2020 poll commissioned by the Claims Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany found that 48% of American Millennials and Gen Z could not identify a single Nazi concentration camp. 49% report having seen Holocaust denial or distortion content online. We as students have a sacred obligation to educate ourselves and others about the events of World War II, and to understand the fundamental difference between good and evil.
Mr. Rosenzweig defined the trip as “[A way] to share your experiences about the WW2 museum and how it impacted your lives in this area of history as well as how you can make this a better world.” He noted that we must “try to help others understand what happened.”
The museum offered immersive experiences, original artifacts, historical documents, and windows into a decades-past culture to help us really understand what happened. Mr. Hendricks reflected that “There was learning that we were able to hand down— in both directions Student [sic] to veteran and vice/versa.”
In short, the extensive efforts of the Gary Sinise Foundation, the mission of the National WWII Museum to preserve a fading piece of history, and Glenbard West’s willingness to cooperate with everyone involved, allowed the final survivors of a disappearing era to instill indispensable knowledge into a welcoming new generation.
