VETERANS
The Norden Bombsight — America’s “secret weapon” that helped the B-17 bombardiers hit their targets — was a particular hit.
Principal Jason Fine told the students they were in the company of greatness, and to soak in all the history and knowledge around them.
“This is an opportunity for you to press pause, put your phones away, close your laptops and have a personal conversation with our heroes,” he told the kids. “You get to learn from the best today. You get to learn from true, real-life heroes and legends who have a story to tell.”
The veterans represented WWII and every war since. Each was “hosted” by groups of two to four students. Leibbrand, who served with the Army’s 110th Infantry Division, told his group of how he spent four months as a prisoner of war. Three small potatoes a day was all he got to eat, he told them, and he dropped from 168 pounds to just 98. He was never certain he’d leave the German POW camp alive.
So Harry and Jacob asked Ninety-nine veterans attended the 16th annual Veterans Day luncheon in Upper Arlington.
him about courage and about sacrifice. They asked him what those words mean to him.
And he told them: “Sacrifice means that if I
had the chance, I’d do it all over again. And courage? “Courage is what’s in your heart.”
Jacob said listening to
Leibbrand’s stories helped him realize just how much veterans give while serving.
“And he said he’d do it again,” Jacob said. “That’s pretty amazing.”