Guest speaker Tom Lacey discusses his experience serving in World War II

On Veterans Day, World War II Veteran Tom Lacey came to East during second hour in the auditorium to talk about his ecperiences in the military. The event, organized by Lacey’s granddaughters, senior Sophie Sun and junior Sienna Sun, along with U.S. History teacher Brenda Fishman, was used as a chance for students to hear what they’ve learned about, regarding war, in the classroom — dates, names, battles and facts — for years from a direct, living source. 

The event began with Sophie and Sienna introducing who Lacey was, followed by a 14-minute video presentation — an interview-style video of Lacey telling his stories — and a 20-minute interview with prepared questions from the granddaughters.

“It’s living history. I don’t know that we have too many opportunities to talk to someone who’s someone who actually fought in World War Two,” Fishman said. “It’s not going to be physically possible for us to be able to [hear] that much longer.”

Lacey spoke about the pride he had fighting alongside certain soldiers and told stories of battlefields — all of which were highlighted in his first six books. He discussed the challenges of fighting in the cold weather, mostly in Belgium, and what he learned about his views on war coming out of it.

One of the challenges highlighted in the video presentation was trench foot — a medical condition caused by prolonged exposure of the feet to damp, unsanitary and cold conditions. Standing in snow-filled trenches every day, the soldiers put so many socks on their feet that circulation was cut off in order to keep them dry and warm.

Lacey, like most soldiers, experienced trench foot — however not to the extent of amputation.

For the interview portion of the event, Sophie and Sienna sat with him on the stage, asking questions ranging from where he fought to how he felt about the war to what his inspiration was to write his books.

One of the many personal opinions Lacey revealed was that, along with many other veterans, he actually doesn’t support war. According to him, the diplomatic way to settle international conflict will always be better.

“You see all these conflicts and wonder afterward… really who won,” Lacey said during his speech. “Such a loss of life, so much tragedy, it just doesn’t make any sense. I really hope that we’ve fought our last war.”

The crowd was filled with some extra creditors, some who were genuinely interested, but everyone came out with a new perspective on war that most won’t ever have due to the decreasing amount of living resources.

History and Economics teacher Robert Bickers was particularly adamant about canceling class for his students. He believes that living WWII Veterans are a limited resource we are running out of, so the importance is great.

“It helps us understand the perspectives of the people in the moment,” Bickers said. “We’re running out of World War Two Veterans, we’re running out of people who experienced this. It’s all the more important for all of us.”

Senior History student, Margaret Veglahn had a similar point of view on the subject in relation to Veterans Day.

“Veterans day is something that sometimes we got off school, we see posts on Facebook about people with an American flag,” Veglahn said. “I think to materialize that into something that we can actually see and hear the experiences of someone really was a really good way to honor the holiday.”