Writing partners
Fifth-graders team with veterans on biographies of their experiences serving during World War II
South Milwaukee — Genevieve McKeag heard a whistle and looked up to see a soldier peeking through the door to her payroll office.
With no brothers old enough to serve, McKeag had enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps at 18 and left her Cudahy home for a military base in Walla Walla, Wash., because she wanted to do her part. She became a payroll clerk who made sure wounded and ill soldiers recuperating at an Army hospital got paid.
The soldier who whistled at McKeag helped her sort through the paychecks until she found his. Thirty days later they decided to get married and 30 days after that they exchanged vows in a pastor’s home.
“I’ve still got my wedding ring. It was a $20 wedding ring,” said McKeag, now 92, whose husband Robert died eight years ago after more than six decades of marriage and five children.
McKeag recounted that story and other memories of her time as a WAC during World War II to her biographer, Angel Wagner. Wagner, a fifthgrader at Divine Mercy School in South Milwaukee, interviewed McKeag, took notes and compiled a story of her life, which she put together in a handmade book with pictures and photos.
McKeag and eight other veterans at Oak Creek Place in South Milwaukee were paired with Divine Mercy fifth-graders for the unique project that brought together a generation who vividly remember the Pearl Harbor attack with a generation born several years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Over four Mondays this fall, students visited Oak Creek Place to interview veterans about their lives and careers. Monday morning the class will return to present books to each veteran at a gathering that will include the veterans’ families.
School officials worked with the students to compile a list of questions and prep them on working with older people who might have sight and hearing difficulties. The students learned interview and notetaking skills. They also gained life lessons.
“One girl said ‘I thought this was going to be boring, but it was very fun.’ So it’s breaking down stereotypes,” said Principal Liz Dworak.
At the first meeting, veterans and students played games together as an ice-breaker. Quickly they began pairing off as students sought out a resident who became, in essence, their veteran.
“I know each week they looked forward to it because they would ask when the kids are coming back,” said Susan Kubiak, community relations manager at Oak Creek Place. “It brings a smile to their faces.”
Kaylee Piparo, 10, and Erwin Stollenwerk, 89, who served on an aircraft carrier during World War II, became friends. Stollenwerk enlisted in the Navy when he was 17 after his brother was drafted into the Army “and from what he told me I didn’t want the Army.” He volunteered to work in his ship’s boiler room.
“Other guys said ‘You’re crazy, if we get hit by a torpedo, you’ll go down right away.’ I said no matter where you’re at on this tub, you’re
going down,” Stollenwerk recalled.
Piparo thought it was cool to meet a Navy veteran. She’s aware of World War II, but doesn’t know much about the conflict.
“I was a little nervous because I didn’t know him at first. But he’s funny and he’s nice and he pretends to be sassy,” said Piparo.
John Weisto, 83, spent more than two decades in the Army including 12 years in Germany and two tours of Vietnam as a logistics officer before retiring as a lieutenant colonel. The military sent him to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., to learn German before he was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Bonn.
Weisto bonded with Andrew Torres, 10, and enjoyed being his host.
“He was a very bright, charming, young man,” Weisto said of Torres. “Certainly they now have an idea of what a military person is like as a personality.”