Pearl Harbor veteran will speak

Middle school hosts veterans' program Friday

By LEWIS DELAVAN News editor

PRACTICING FOR PATRIOTISM LEWIS DELAVAN PHOTO The Benton Middle School band percussion section practices a patriotic tune under direction of James Pianalto. Students are (from left) Maria Singkhek, Caleb Brinsfield, Ramon Henry, Paul Davis, Tyler Shillcutt, Dustin Bendall, Jesse Baxley and Marcus Rutherford. Social studies teachers are helping Benton Middle School students appreciate sacrifices made by armed services veterans through the decades.

At 9 a.m. Friday in Butler Auditorium at Benton High School, a student led assembly will help the public deepen its gratitude for veterans.

Keynote speaker will be Lt. Col. (Ret.) David Moffat of North Little Rock, a Pearl Harbor survivor.

This year's social studies emphasis was the Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor attack, said middle school Principal Sue Shults.

The school's students study military history each week before Veterans' Day and have a patriotic assembly, but this is the first year the program will be held at the high school.

"It's a really nice tribute to the veterans," she said. "They'll share how Veterans' Day came to be, and lead the Pledge of Allegiance."

Any veteran or current service member who wants to participate in the program is invited - they are asked to sign in at a table in the Butler Auditorium lobby, and will receive a nametag and a special seat.

Many middle school students will have relatives in the program. "Generally we'll have 30 or 40 students who will introduce someone," Shults said.

Central Arkansas Pearl Harbor veterans met monthly to eat in Benton. With World War II vets in their 80s and 90s, this year the school wanted to honor their sacrifice.

Seventh-grade English classes have been reading "Under the Blood-red Sun," by Graham Salisbury, a novel about a Japanese American family after the Pearl Harbor attack.

The middle school band will play the "Star Spangled Banner" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic."

Choir students under direction of Reeca Norman will sing "Unsung Hero," "This Land is Your Land" and other songs.

A trumpeter's "Taps" will conclude the program. "We always have that at the end," Shults said.