At our council meeting last night (March 8th 2010) we were honored to be part of an effort to try to get a long overdue Purple Heart for Russell Anderson. Below is a copy of the staff report for the effort.
Recently, on Veterans Day, fifth grade students from Weaver Elementary honored Infantryman Russell Anderson for his service in WWII. In preparation of honoring Mr. Anderson it was learned that he served two tours in WWII and was injured by enemy shrapnel on D-day. After being hospitalized for nine months, he was honorably discharged. Mr. Anderson, now 93 years old, has never received a Purple Heart for that injury. Weaver Elementary Grade 5 teacher, Ms. Sara Paul and the following students made a commitment to work on Mr. Anderson's behalf to get his long overdue recognition in the form of a Purple Heart.
Kayla Anderson, Robert-Noel Anihbogu, Makda Araya, Nathanael Arnquist, Jeni Barrera-Marin, Tyler Bayers, Anthony Benitez, Madison Brenhofer, Kevin Clothier, Cory Griffin, Jada Harthan, Miftah Hassan, Ashley Hermann, Nicole Jensen, AmberLea Johnson, Brandon Johnson, Mariah Larson,Brandon Lee, Zoo Nkauj Lee, Olivia Mortenson, Jeffrey Munter, Emma Nelson,Hayley Ness, Gabriel Rodriguez Donch, Peterson Thao, Naree Vue, Tianna Welk, Ethan Yang, Kevin Yang, Elizabeth Zoya.
Russell and all of the other veterans who have served our country throughout history are of course the heroes we need to honor, but sometimes it takes the kids to point out the obvious. It was this class of fifth grade students who, after their Veterans Day celebration, said "we need to honor our veterans every day, not just on Veterans Day". They also were the ones who, upon learning that Russell had never received the Purple Heart that he deserved, said "why don't we get the medal for him?" They produced this video as part of their effort.
[Linked to video on external animoto website, not embedded]
They also sent out information to any elected officials or government units they could think of who might help in their effort. They have gotten the attention of Maplewood, Oakdale (Russell's home town), State Senator Wiger, Representative McCollum, and Senators Franken and Klobuchar. There may be others of whom I am not aware.
Their efforts also have gotten the attention of some of the media. I was interviewed by WCCO radio yesterday and KARE 11 covered our meeting last night, KARE 11 has this news item posted on their site. They also ran this news story on the 10pm news.
I am glad that Maplewood was able to help the students efforts and I am hoping that their work is rewarded. But if not at least Russell Anderson has a permanent place in local history as a reminder to everyone that we would not enjoy the quality of life we have with out him and everyone like him.
1 comments:
Good for Russell and good for Maplewood for honoring him. We should NEVER forget our veterans of ALL wars.
Post a Comment