CC JROTC cadets take part in “Living History” exhibit

LTC Vernon Peters, CDR Paul Galanti, Cadet Nicole Subley, Cadet Jessica Traynor, and Mrs. Phyllis Galanti pose after their participation in the “Living History” exhibit sponsored by the Virginia War Memorial.

Two Charles City High School JROTC cadets recently participated in a “Living History” seminar sponsored by Virginia War Museum.

Cadets Jessica Traynor and Nicole Subley were given the opportunity to attend the February seminars. During these seminars, students and teachers gained accurate knowledge, discussed events, and engaged in conversations with people who were present at American history changing events. During the seminars, students connected with the struggle of veterans on a more personal level.

“It was indeed a unique experience to listen to guest speakers from the Vietnam war era and meet some Vietnam War veterans to look back on what they and others went through and did for our country,” said Traynor.

“It was also a privilege to hear Mrs. Hoa McNabb explain how she was born and raised in Vietnam but moved to America when the country split in two during the conflit,” added Subley. “She told us her story of how she married an American soldier and how she tried to go to visit her family as much as possible, but the country’s leaders found her and her family to be traitors because she had married an American.

“At one point she had not seen or been with her family in 20 years,” Subley concluded.

Another speaker to the group was Mrs. Phyllis Galanti, whose husband, Commander Paul Galanti, was a Naval aviator of an A-4 Skyhawk and was shot down after a bombing run on June 17, 1966. He suffered deprivation and torture as a prisoner of war in the infamous Hanoi Hilton for the next 6 ½ years in North Vietnam.

Mrs. Galanti started a worldwide campaign to push for the release of all POW’s (Prisoners of War) and she diligently petitioned U.S. Congressmen, senators and President Richard Nixon for the release of all 591 POWs.