Army veteran Joe Fortin talks to students during a Veterans Day event Friday at Hall-Dale Elementary School in Hallowell. It was the third year that Hall-Dale teachers have brought veterans to read and talk to students, with 24 veterans in all visiting the school in advance of Veterans Day, which is Monday. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

HALLOWELL — Teachers at Hall-Dale Elementary School want students to know why they have Monday off from school.

So on Friday, guidance counselor Amanda Wilcox and education liaison Kelly Byron invited 24 veterans to the elementary school to teach students about Veterans Day.

“It felt like a day we glossed over and a day that we lost sight of what it meant,” Wilcox said.

For the third annual event, Byron said most of the veterans were family members of students and staff, but she also reached organizations including the Maine Veteran’s Home and the Travis Mills Foundation to find people who wanted to share their experiences with the students.

Air Force veteran Maureen Malley speaks to students Friday at Hall-Dale Elementary School in Hallowell. Malley says that she worked in law enforcement in Korea and the Philippines during her 1979-94 military service. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Wilcox said that when finding volunteers to come in, they additionally wanted to make sure they had female representation in what is considered a male-dominated profession. The event also could influence some students to enter the military as a career after hearing the veterans’ stories, she added.

The volunteers visited classrooms to share their stories and read books to students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Some even brought memorabilia to the classrooms, like their large, green backpacks, photos of them serving, or hats with their names and badges on the side.

“We call it an extended learning opportunity,” Byron said. “You can have a third grade teacher read a book, but to have the personal story, it’s more engaging for them.”

In one of the third grade classes, students compiled a list of questions for Joe Fortin, a Korean War veteran.

They wondered what he did for his training, how long he served in the military and what countries he visited. He shared that he spent two years in the service and 16 months in Korea and showed students his uniform. They were shocked to hear that he had to live in a tent for three months in Korea.

In a fourth grade classroom, U.S. Marine Corps veteran Iliana Lahaie brought coloring pages of the Marine Corps’ crest with crayons and a birthday cake to celebrate the Marine Corps’ 249th birthday on Sunday, Nov. 10. Lahaie explained the tradition in the corps that the youngest and oldest person in the room eat the birthday cake first.

She also brought the cake-based treat Devil Dogs to the students, which she explained is also a nickname for the Marine Corps.

Lahaie had the unique experience of presenting to her daughter Juliana Flores’ class. She spoke about her 13 years serving in the Marine Corps and read students a military-themed children’s book, “H is for Honor: A Military Family Alphabet” by Devin Scillian.

Marine Corps veteran Iliana Lahaie reads “H Is For Honor” to fourth graders, including her daughter, during a Veterans Day event Friday at Hall-Dale Elementary School in Hallowell. Lahaie says her favorite part of the visit was “seeing the excitement on the faces of the children when they saw my uniform.” Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

As she read the story, Flores, 10, sat next to her in front of the class and put on Lahaie’s camouflage jacket.

“I really enjoy working with children and enjoy sharing my love for the Marines with the children and community,” Lahaie said, adding that her favorite part of the visit to the fourth grade class was “seeing the excitement on the faces of the children when they saw my uniform.”

Even when Lahaie left the classroom, students came up to her in the hallway asking her questions, like how heavy her backpack was.

One student went up to her and said. “Thank you for coming in today. Did you get a Purple Heart?”

Lahaie told the student that, no, she didn’t, because she wasn’t injured while serving.