The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Vinal Tech students post flags at Iwo Jima Memorial
MIDDLETOWN — More than 30 sophomore and junior students from Vinal Technical High School in Middletown posted 100 flags at the National Iwo Jima Memorial in Newington April 20.
“A cold wind didn’t seem to dim the spirits” of the students who pitched in with the annual spring clean-up at the monument located on the New Britain-Newington line, adjacent to the Iwo Jima Memorial Expressway, according to a press release from Linda D. Kozaryn.
Students visited the site for the 77th annual flag raising in February, David Cruickshank, department head of the school’s Criminal Justice and Protective Services Program, said in a prepared statement. “It was so meaningful for the students that they actually asked to come back here to help. We plan to come back every year now.”
The monument sits on land donated by Central Connecticut State University, just off Route 175 in Newington.
Program instructor Joe Linskey said the group made good connections during their earlier visit to the site, and wants to maintain a good relationship and provide support.
“We want to let them know we’re always here to help out for the sacrifices these men and women made before us,” he said. “We’re happy to be out here. It’s the least that we can do. Many hands make light work.”
The students picked up sticks, raked leaves, pulled weeds and posted flags, one for each of the 100 Connecticut residents who died on Iwo Jima during World War II. Name plates of the fallen service members rest on the black fencing defining the site. The flags are posted above each name from spring through fall, the news release said.
The students love coming out to the site, Linskey said. “We spend a good amount of time in our classroom covering theory and different things within our trade for criminal justice and protective services. This is something altogether different, because it covers a little bit of the historical value of some of the things we teach in trade.”
Sole Law, a sophomore who aims to become a trial attorney for family law, said she enjoyed visiting the monument. Her grandfathers served during the Vietnam War. “It’s really nice to know that we’re helping. It’s really nice out here, the flowers and the scenery. It’s really pretty.”