Videoconferencing Out on a Lim

Today we have another session with our World War II veterans, as part of our Lest We Forget series. Today’s session was extra poignant, because we lost one of our usual panelists last week. These moments with our World War II veterans are precious and treasured by teachers and students alike.

After reading Ashton’s blog and looking at her pictures, we decided to include the name tags as she did. This worked out fairly well and our veterans appreciated it. I think I still need a bigger font! Maybe folding lengthwise with landscape will work better than a traditional 2 fold name tent.

This was also our first program with our new blue curtain/backdrop. It’s mobile so we can move it to whichever distance learning room we want to use it in. I also used presets to zoom in on specific veterans instead of using just the shot of the four panel members. I think this presented a better picture for the participating classes.

Here is a sampling of the questions from the students today.

• During the war, did you know about the Holocaust?
• What was victory day like?
• How would you compare your equipment to that of soldiers of other nations?
• If you have seen any movies on World War II, do you think they did justice to what you experienced?
• What did you do for fun during your time in the military?
• Do you ever keep in touch with anyone you were in the war with?
• What personal items and artifacts did you have with you?
• Have you ever returned to the site where you served or fought?
• If you knew someone going into a war, what advice would you give them?
• How did your families feel about you going into the war?
• Did you have any plans before the war that had to be changed?

As always, this was a great experience for everyone involved. I recorded it and hope to be able to edit it so that we can share online without the students’ faces. A couple of the schools can’t get parent permission, so we can’t show the whole program. The veterans were very glad that I was recording. After we finished the last session today, I said, “See you in March.” And they responded, “If we’re still alive!” It’s sobering, but they are very appreciative of the opportunity to record and share their stories with future generations.

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