Veterans that didn’t fight in war also deserve recognition. When my team at Messalonskee Middle School went to the Cole Land Transportation Museum to interview different veterans, I got to interview Marty Bell. He was a nurse and he saved many lives. Being a nurse is just as hard, emotionally, as being a soldier. Especially when you lose a patient or are in the process of losing one and know there’s nothing you can do to save them. Nurses are not nearly as recognized as heroes like soldiers, but they deserve to be.

In contrast, when our team invited Wally LaFountain, a World War II veteran, to talk about what the war was like, he talked about how even though the war was horrible, when he came back home, he and other soldiers got a ton of praise and respect. 

Everyone who went away from their families in order to help their country deserves the same amount of praise and respect. Nurses can have PTSD, too, especially if their station was in the line of fire.

I want to thank every veteran we visited, and every veteran that visited us, from the bottom of my heart, because their stories deserve to be shared. Because of these people, I can proudly say that I live in America.

Kaylee Dickinson

Grade 8