Those attending a Memorial Day ceremony in Westville got a history lesson Monday. Main speaker Paul Shannon told the crowd about the Doolittle Raid during World War II. He said it was a secret raid using 16 bombers to invade Tokyo and other areas of Japan to retaliate for Japan’s earlier attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Shannon said 80 men volunteered for the extremely dangerous Doolittle Raid….
{Audio: ”Would you get 80 men today with the conviction to do what those men did? I hope we would, but in the meantime we will honor them men, and we will remember them. And we need to teach our children how it is we got where we’re at in this country.”}
Shannon added the morale of U.S. and Allied troops rose following the Doolittle Raid.
(Shannon (at podium) speaks to the crowd during Monday’s ceremony).
The crowd also heard the history behind wearing poppies on Memorial Day. The Memorial Poppy honors the dead and helps living Veterans.
Shannon is afraid that many young people are unaware of the heroes of America’s past….
{Audio: ”And that falls directly on the responsibility of our education system. That we do not teach the level of history that we should teach to our young people,” said Shannon. ”Because how else are they going to know how we got here – how successful this country has been – how great this country is? And that needs to change.”}
(Part of the crowd at Westville’s Zamberletti Park for the ceremony.)
Shannon served in the U.S. Army from 1967 to 1970 in which he had three tours of Vietnam. He was an Army helicopter Crew Chief and says he enjoyed it very much.
