MASSENA --On Thursday, Nov. 8 Nightengale Elementary sixtth grade class created a Wall of Honor for area veterans.

Carolyn Frazier, a 6th grade teacher at Nightengale Elementary, has been talking with her students about different contributions veterans have made throughout history. They have discussed World War I, World War II and the Civil War so they could compare them to different wars in the Eastern Hemisphere.

To tie the history lesson in with English Language Arts curriculum, they read the book America’s White Table by Margot Thesis Raven. This book talks of a newer tradition in which you set a table with very specific symbols to represent POW or MIA service members after the Vietnam War.

Outside of the classroom Ms. Frazier set a table just as the book described with a spot on the wall reserved for the veterans.

“After we read the book, they (the students) had to go out and research family and friends and make a 3x5 card that had at least the veteran’s name on it and that’s what will go up on the veteran wall,” said Ms. Frazier.

The students were eager to share what they had learned about from their family and friends. Here are some of the interesting facts they had to share:

“That I have a great-great-great-grandfather that was in the Grand Army of the Republic during the Civil War.” -Nadine Coleman.

“My grandpa was in the Navy a long time ago; he was on one of the big battleships.” - Jarrett Reed.

“That my dad was in the Marine Corps and that he was a sniper.” - Stephon Babb

“My grandfather was in World War II and was a Captain tank commander.” - Octavia Viskovich

“My great grandpa fought in World War I and won a purple cross from the Italian side.” - Allie Convertini.

“The unit in Afghanistan that my uncle is in is the one that got attacked. My uncle is ok though.” – Cassandra Arno

After all the students had a chance to share their newfound information, Ms. Frazier pulled her father’s uniform out of her closet to show them. “This is my father’s World War II uniform – he was in the Army Air Corps (before there was a U.S. Air Force). He ended up being stationed in Iceland, of all places,” she explained.

Once the students started putting their cards up on the Wall of Honor it was clear that a lot of them learned quite a bit about their family and had discovered that many are related to veterans. Nadine Coleman put 16 cards on the Wall of Honor. “They are mostly my aunts and uncles – but one that was really interesting was my great-great-great-grandfather,” she said.