Thank you for your service

EASTON — Michael Feehley and Tom Carlson are on a mission.

The two veterans want young people to respect veterans and understand the sacrifices they have made.

On Friday, Feehley and Carlson, with the help of some students, put up dozens of flags along the drive at the Easton Elks Lodge.

The veterans replaced the weather-worn flag at the lodge. Carlson, a decorated veteran and member of the Elks, moved with quiet precision to attach the flag and hoist it. The two men worked together. This was not their first rodeo.

Feehley takes veterans of all military branches into the schools to teach the kids a simple message — thank you for your service.

“I really think that from after the Korean War, even though this country was in a few conflicts, to when the Gulf War started, veterans were lost in the shuffle,” Feehley said. “Nobody gave them any recognition that I think a veteran deserves.”

He is reminded of a famous saying: “All gave some and some gave all.”

“That all gave some is what I try to impart, which is why I started what we call a teach-in at the schools,” Feehley said.

At Easton Elementary School, he teaches that veterans are all around us.

“The veteran is their school bus driver. A veteran may be their teacher. A veteran is their mom or dad or sister, their brother, the next-door neighbor,” Feehley said.

Some veterans have a different rhythm than 9 to 5 workers. When it is time to serve, they go.

“But that veteran also was away from their family for a long time,” he said.

He and his team teach that some veterans have a tough time when they get back.

“That veteran sometimes didn’t have the same advantages they have today. They might not be able to take a shower for more than a week. They might not have had any opportunities to watch television or to listen to the radio,” Feehley said.

He teaches that the veterans’ families can go through loss.

“The veteran’s family had to do without their dad or their brother or their uncle or their cousin at the table or the family reunions,” Feehley said.

He tells students not to take the liberties they have for granted.

“They have the choice of what TV show to watch. They have the choice of whether to pack your lunch or get it at school. To have the choice of what clothes you are wearing today. If it wasn’t for a veteran, you might not have those choices,” Feehley said.

So how should his students and the public engage with vets when we see them? What can be said?

“When you are walking through the parking lot and you see a car that has a Coast Guard sticker on the bumper and you see the driver simply say, ‘Thank you,’ and they will know exactly what you are talking about,” Feehley said.

He says the young students are enthusiastic and engaged. He has members from each of the armed forces for each session where he acts as the moderator.

“I direct the question to a particular veteran. When the kids, who are in school, leave (our program) they are smiling. They can’t get enough. When the assembly is over, they still want to interact with the veterans up on the stage. Fifth graders, fourth graders,” he said.

It is not a recruiting effort. It is a lesson in gratitude.

He does what he does to remind people.

“Everybody who served in the armed forces gave something. Here is how we make your life a little better every day. Better than perhaps what it could have been. The kids love it. The teachers love it. The veterans hope they can come back next year,” Feehley said.

“I think the best part is to try and let the kids know what a veteran is and why to say, ‘Thank you.’”