Veterans tell their stories

Ed Armbruster served in the United States Army for 22 months and ten days during the Korean war. Armbruster grew up in a small town on a farm, and worked with cows and other farm animals up until the day he left. “I can’t tell you how many things I left undone,” said Armbruster. Armbruster decided to enlist in the military only months before there was a large draft. “I figured I’m out of sc...

Jolly Brown served in the Navy from 1951-1955 during the Korean War. Brown is originally from Alabama and moved to Illinois when he was sixteen years old. During his time in service, Brown was a radar man. “So I joined the navy and went to radar school, I wanted to be a sonar man because I had seen it in a movie, and in the movie it looked exciting to be a radar man, all these sounds, and disc...

The Riverside Brookfield High School's Veteran's Day assembly had a very special purpose to those who were able to attend the assembly. After the assembly, in room 151, a special forces soldier, Ken Curelo, told students of Danielle Delzotti's 2nd period his story. This is his story... Curelo grew up in LaGrange, Illinois and was drafted into the United States Army in 1969, he was a student at...

Terrance Farmer is an army veteran who fought in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970. He used to fight for our freedom, but now he is a normal Riverside resident. The RBHS Veteran's Day assembly is something that Farmer looks forward to each year. “Guys there was no internet, there was no cell phones. We actually wrote letters,” said Farmer. Letters are something that can be passed down from generati...

The veteran that visited Monahan’s second period was Richard Fields, the father of a teacher at RBHS, social studies teacher John Fields. Fields started off as a mechanic in his early 20s, working at an auto body shop before he made the decision to enroll himself in the military to help during the Vietnam War in 1966. He wasn’t used as a field soldier, but mostly worked with the auto and equi...

Charles "Bud" Fuller joined the Marine Corps at the age of 17 and served from 1964 -1973. He served in Vietnam and was in charge of the artillery and still suffers from hearing loss to this day. He fired rounds ranging from 105mm to 175 mm. “Your hearing is the first thing to go,” said Fuller He came from a military family and had an older brother in the marines. His older brother was the one w...

Vietnam War veteran Larry Grabowski grew up in Chicago, and attended University of Illinois at Chicago.  While attending, he obtained a finance degree, and returned later on to earn two Master's degrees utilizing the VI bill he was rewarded with for his service. Grabowski was drafted in 1968.  At the age of 22, he was out of college and among the older of those who were drafted, being primarily...

C.P. Hall, army veteran of the Vietnam War, remembers his days of service in vivid detail. In high school, he figured he would enter into service at some point. After graduating from high school in January of 1968, he was called up in April of the same year, and spent the rest of that year serving as a Lieutenant at Fort Lewis military base in Washington. Here, he was assigned to the 101st ai...

For many people, being away from home for more than a year can have a toll. But for one veteran, a ship called the Monticello was his home for a few years. Leigh Holzwart is a Vietnam veteran who was always considering joining. Although having a good chance at being drafted in, Holzwart decided to enlist instead. “I had a high draft number, which was 256,” said Holzwart, “but I enlisted rathe...

Henry Kannry is a veteran who is very familiar with Riverside Brookfield High School and the middle school Hauser Jr. High. He used to teach at RB and he also coached Track for a couple of years. He worked with other coaches in Track like Tim Olson and Larry Forberg. Not too long after, Kannry decided to volunteer to be in the military. He had to go through basic training from when he was in the mili...

Richard Korzyniewski is a veteran of the United States Army. Serving from 1966 to 1969, he quickly became a first lieutenant and led a troop of 140 when he was 20 years old. Korzyniewski had always wanted to join the military. The Chicago-born veteran had a brother in the Marines. This meant that he couldn’t be drafted until his brother returned. After he did, Korzyniewski signed up for Army Co...

Jason Lemaku enlisted in 2002 and  he was in service for fifteen years. He started off as part of the National Guard. Lemaku started in a place across from Soldier Field and he got to know the army there. But he didn’t like what he was doing there, so he signed himself up for active duty. From there he spent twenty-two weeks training in Kentucky. He graduated on September 12, 2001, a day after ...

Dennis Martinek visited room 222 this past friday talk to the students about his experience in the war. Matrinek served in the air force from 1961 to 1971, three years and seven months. “You’d think I wasn't counting, well of course!” Martinek said. Martinek went to boot camp in Texas. “It wasn't bad at all. It wasn't very hard other than it was so hot,” Martinek said. Martinek enlisted in ...

One of the best celebrations RB has is the one they have on Veterans Day. Veterans from all branches, old and young, gather in the main gym and the whole school gives them a heart-warming standing ovation for their service. After the assembly, students go back to their classrooms and have the pleasure to listen to a veteran talk about his or her experiences throughout their time of service. I was...

Veteran John Perry, Specialist 4th Class, served in Egypt and Korea during peacetime. Perry went to both Morton West and East, and graduated with a GED. He decided to enlist after high school, as there were few jobs available and most shops were closing. Perry had begun to run with a bad crowd, and needed a change. Perry states, “There was no work left, and I needed to do something, so I thought ...

On Friday, at Riverside Brookfield High School, after the Veteran’s Day assembly, veterans Sean Kelley and David Ramirez shared their experiences in the military. Math department teacher Mrs. Kelley is the daughter of Ramirez and is married to Kelley. Ramirez was in the army corps of engineers during The Vietnam War. After high school, Ramirez was inducted into the army. He took many science ...

Greg Saganich, now living in Riverside as a part-time cop with a wife and two kids, served in the army beginning at the age of twenty-one. “Early on, I knew I wanted to get into the service to pay back America for what I was given. I went to a great college, a great job right out of school, and I decided since I been blessed with so many different things that it was time to return some of that ...

Michael Sammon, an Army veteran who served in the Vietnam War for a year, was attached to the Marines. Sammon went to law school, but in law school he was commissioned, so he had a two-year commitment to the army. When he was 24 years old, Sammon went on active duty as a lieutenant. He ended up being stationed in Georgia. During his first eight months, he spent a lot of time as a defense attorney i...

Charles St. Clair was a medical laboratory specialist in the United States Army. He joined the army in 1984, and eventually retired in 2008.  He was involved in the colorguard, he had the opportunity to be a general's aide, and he became a staff sergeant.  He was 18 years old when he had made the decision to enlist. He decided to enlist because he had recently graduated high school, and did not have t...

There are some RBHS staff who have served in the military; a prime example of this is Sergeant Brian Sanchez, a Para educator in the Special Education Department. Sergeant Sanchez is a man who never takes anything too seriously. Enlisted in 2001 at 17, Sanchez has a very positive view of his time in the military. “I loved the brotherhood that we all shared.” said Sanchez. Sanchez was i...

Veteran Bruce K. Troyer was drafted into the U.S Army which was a painful and hard experience for him. He explained his struggles and his good times while serving in the Army. He also explained how he got drafted and how it felt. “The branch I served in was the U.S. Army,” said Troyer. Troyer was drafted into the Army in 1970 and his feelings were full of anger. “I was sitting home ...

William Sprague is a World War II veteran and served for almost two years. Sprague was not deployed to any other country, he was able to stay in America.   Even though he stayed in the U.S. he still learned new things and encountered new experiences. Just in case he had to go overseas, he had to learn Russian and Chinese. Not only did he have to learn new languages, but he also learned how to ...

Dick Vabro is an American veteran of the Korean War which began in 1950, when North Korean communists invaded South Korea, and lasted until 1953, when a ceasefire was signed. However, according to Vabro, the historical event should not even be labeled as a war. “I am a veteran of the Korean conflict. I am using the word conflict simply because our government never did declare a war against North Ko...

Stan Van Nice served in the United States Navy, and he shared some of his experiences and thoughts from the service. He started out working at a pizza place right out of high school, and felt like doing something else and the military came up. For Van Nice, his time in the military was fun and difficult at times. He got to see many interesting places and meet a lot of great people. “My o...

Veterans are very respected, and our country is grateful for what they have done to protect us. Veterans Day is a great way to express respect for U.S. veterans, and the assembly that took place in the main gym was an amazing experience. After the assembly, the veterans that came went up to assigned classrooms to talk with the students about their war experiences. Kevin Turk, a part of RB staff, was o...

Thomas Vargas was drafted to Vietnam in 1968 when he was in vocational school, working at a print shop. Vargas’ initial response to receiving his greeting was optimistic in that he would get to go somewhere and see new things, but then he realized that he would be away from his family and would be fighting in a war. “I smiled at first and said ‘This is great, I’m gonna go someplace’... but...

Doug Whiting was drafted into the United States Army in 1969. He served in the Vietnam War from 1969-1971. On Veteran’s Day of this year, Whiting told his story to a senior math class. “There’s something that all high school seniors kind of anticipate, and that’s a letter,” said Whiting. “You seniors are all looking forward to that letter of acceptance from your college of choice, and ...