Honoring Our Veterans

Inland Empire Girl gave this week's sibling assignment. The assignment is:

In honor of Veteran's Day: A Tribute to a Veteran.

IEG's post will be here, and Raymond Pert's will be here.

Kellogg Middle School did a great job at their annual Veteran's Day Assembly last Wednesday. It gives the students a chance to focus on what the Veterans of our community have done for our country.



Z2, as 8th grade class president, was nervous because she had to introduce the speaker for the assembly. The speaker was Jimmy Lewis, a teacher at Kellogg High School, whose story was very interesting. And what I liked was the connection I had in little ways to his story. That is one of the beauties of returning to my hometown. I love hearing other people's stories, and the connections I have with them.

Jimmy Lewis, U.S Army Veteran

I'll try and tell as much as I remember of Jimmy's story. He moved to the Silver Valley when he was two, and lived in Smelterville. He attended elementary school at Silver King School, and had my mom as his second grade teacher.



He talked about not really liking school all that much, and not really applying himself all that much. When he turned 18, he had to register for the draft. It was 1972, the year he graduated. He graduated with my brother, Raymond Pert. Whereas Raymond Pert had a choice about his future, Jimmy's future was decided for him. He was drafted into the Army after high school to fight in the Vietman War.



Jimmy shared about traveling many places while in the Army. And, at one point, he was given the opportunity to learn how to be a helicopter pilot. He decided that would be something he would like to do. But he had to take a written test, and score a 90 on it. He took the test, and only scored a 88. But his superior officer must have seen something in Jimmy, because he asked him if he really wanted to learn to be a pilot, and Jimmy said yes, so the officer changed the score, and Jimmy became a pilot.



He shared about many different kinds of aircraft he piloted in his years in the Army. He retired in I think it was 1997, and he hasn't flown an aircraft since then. He compared this to a truck driver retiring, and never going out and driving a semi-truck again once he was retired.



Jimmy told the students how the Army helped him, and how he got to see a lot of the world, and how, for someone from Kellogg who had never really seen much of the world, and really thought much about life outside the Silver Valley, it was a good experience for him. Even though it wasn't really a choice he got to make, he was glad he had the experience.



PKR and Jimmy are both co-workers at Kellogg High School. The Princess really enjoy Jimmy and Jimmy understands The Princess and some of her struggles, and has helped her during her years at KHS.



His son Andrew and The Princess have a special friendship, and he was over here the other night watching cheesy scary movies with a bunch of kids.



His wife teaches 5th grade at Sunnyside Elementary, and, even though she wasn't Kiki Aru's teacher last year, she still means alot to Kiki Aru.



I liked hearing Jimmy's story, and am very thankful for the men and women who, either by choice or not by choice, defend our country.



I do not understand war, and I don't agree with war, and wish we didn't have to have wars, but I do respect and honor those who put their lives on the line each and every day for their countries.