Follow A Legend
To commemorate Veterans Day, we interviewed a national hero and WWII legend named Jerry Peterson.
Jerry joined the United States Army in February 1945 and soon entered WWII. His basic training started in Little Rock, Arkansas and then he was sent to Fort Lewis in Washington state. After spending a short time there he traveled to Frisco, Texas and finally got on a ship headed for…well, he didn’t exactly know. A month later and much to his surprise he arrived in Tacloban, Philippines. Jerry was now part of the plan to invade Japan.
Fast forward to 2009 when Jerry went to Washington, D.C. on an Honor Flight out of Williston, North Dakota. Although he saw many of the memorials there that day, the highlight was the WWII Memorial – a similar opinion to the many 8th grade students we guide there each year through the American Heritage program. Jerry thinks it’s wonderful that kids get a chance to see all of the Washington memorials:
“They’re all very impressive and just sitting at home looking at a picture doesn’t do much. Seeing it in person is really something pretty nice.”
We’re eternally grateful for the courage, honor, service, and sacrifice of not only Jerry and WWII veterans, but all of the American military veterans.
Access an excellent lesson plan activity for your history, social studies, or civics class by clicking here:
Stay tuned Global Travelers!
We have more podcasts planned for the 2015/16 school year so please check back soon. COMMENT BELOW to share how you used this resource to teach your students about the destination(s) they’re traveling to, or to request other lesson plan resources.