Living History: Gainesville Middle School students listen to veterans

GAINESVILLE - Gainesville Middle School sixth graders Tuesday experienced history first hand from military veterans who helped make that history.

It was a joint project of the Northeast Georgia History Center and the school to bring history out of textbooks and make it real.

Around 39 Gainesville veterans recounted their experiences. One of them was O.Z. Rowe, a bomber crewman from World War Two.

"You hear that maybe they're not teaching much about it now as they used to," Rowe said. "I don't know, maybe we can tell them and give them some idea of what has gone on in the past."

Rowe, now 85, flew 29 missions over Nazi occupied Europe as a radio operator aboard a B-17 with the Eighth Air Force.

"Sometimes you have to go war," Rowe added. "You do the best you can and follow your orders, stay safe and come home."

Students listened, took notes and asked questions as Rowe, along with Gates Scoville, an army Vietnam veteran, Leonard Parks, a Navy Vietnam vet and Art Kunzer, a Cold War Naval Reserve veteran, spoke of their roles in history.

Sixth grader Brinkley Frankham, 12, Kunzer's granddaughter, said she liked to listen.

"I really enjoy their stories and what they have to say about it," she said. "I'm really proud of my grandfather for being in the Navy."

"It's pretty cool to hear about what actually happened and it makes it seem more realistic," 11-year-old student Parker Hicks said.

The veterans visited Haynes Kaufman's class Monday and Tuesday. She said her students would write down what the veterans told them for a future exhibit at the History Center.

"We were so thrilled to meet them while they're still healthy and available to talk to us," Kaufman said.

Northeast Georgia History Center Administrative Coordinator Julie Carson, a former Gainesville Middle School teacher, said the goal was to obtain an oral history of each veteran.

"It's history coming alive," Carson said. "We've had veterans from World War ll, Korea, the Cold War, Vietnam and Iraq who have come to tell of their time of service and we've had Army, Air Force, Marines and Navy."