Forest Brook Elementary Students Honor WWII Veteran's Voices

On Wednesday, March 6th Hauppauge School District’s Forest Brook Elementary hosted Veteran’s Voices, an intergenerational program that brings students and veterans together. Florida HS student Benjamin Mack-Jackson founder of the WWII Veterans History Project did a presentation for the students.

Now in its second year, the Forest Brook Veterans Voices program was developed by school nurse Deborah Wissmann, RN., “The idea for Veteran’s Voices stemmed from a project my son had done in 6th grade. His class had to videotape an interview with someone who was a hero to them.  My son chose his grandfather, my father. A few years later when my father passed away, this became a cherished keepsake.  In college my son formed a club called “Heard at Geneseo.” They  recorded the history of residents living in the town for decades.   These ideas, along with Principal Kristen Reingold’s dedication to honor Veterans became “Veterans’ Voices.”

Programs like this need a lot of support. School board member Gary Fortmeyer attended the assembly which was funded by a grant from the Hauppauge Educational Foundation (HEF). 

The March 6th event was the culmination of fifteen weeks of work. 4th and 5th grade students interviewed, recorded and photographed their interviews with veterans. The students then created keepsake books for each of the people they interviewed.

Principal Reingold and Medha RaoThe students and veterans speak with pride about how much they enjoyed interacting with each other. Medha Rao a 4th grader shared her experience with Smithtown Matters. “I talked to two veterans Dennis and Michael who were very funny to talk to. Michael is a WWII who liked school a lot and said he was born under a desk he was a principal for a high school, middle school and elementary school.  Dennis was funny, he told stories that were easy to understand.”


Benjamin Mack-Jackson

Medha who thinks she might become a journalist and an author said she doesn’t want to join the military because there is a lot of violence. “But I like learning about it. I think students should join Veterans Voices next year because it is a good way to learn about the veterans.” 

Ms. Wissman and Principal Reingold acknowledged the many benefits of the program including the significance of carrying on the tradition of oral history, communication with a different age group, developing and asking appropriate questions. But, it is not only students who benefit from the interactions the veterans who traveled from the Arbors Assisted Living facility were beaming as they posed for pictures with the students and looked through their keepsake books.  

Benjamin Mack-Jackson’s presentation was all about respecting, honoring and giving back to veterans. He is a 16-year-old Florida resident who developed a fasination with WWII. At the age of 13 he began researching WWII and realized he wanted to learn more and began interviewing veterans. He now travels throughout the U.S. with his museum in a box which contains WWII artifacts. His stated goal is to help educate his generation as well as future generations the importance of WWII and the people who served during the war. 

Ben explained, in age appropriate language, how many countries fought in the war, the significance of newspapers for communication,  the difference between the beginning of WWII and the date the U. S. entered the war. He discussed D-Day when 5,000 plus Americans lost their lives and the meaning of V-E day and V-J day. 

The students then donned gloves and began to examine the artifacts. Kudos to Forest Brook.