by Jim Boyle
Editor
Peyton Klein knows about the kinds of sacrifices that go along with your father’s deployment to a far off country for a far off war where people’s lives and America’s freedom are at stake.
The 10-year-old fifth grader at Twin Lakes Elementary School and her brother counted down the days of their dad’s nine-month deployment to Kuwait.
Trevor Klein, a member of the Minnesota Army National Guard who has been deployed to Kuwait for nine months at a time, spoke of how he was touched by the Veterans Day program he attended with his daughter, Peyton Klein, who read an essay she wrote.
Classmate Tristan Hill was not so lucky. His father never made it home.
Hill and Klein punctuated an exhilarating Veterans Day program at Twin Lakes Elementary School in Elk River, helping illustrate the sacrifices of soldiers today — and long ago.
Similar programs played out at several elementary schools throughout the Elk River Area School District.
Other students to read essays were Emma McCauley, Olivia Marquesz and Lauren Gregory.
Peyton Klein’s essay
Each day Peyton or her brother would pull a jelly bean from a glass fish bowl and eat it. The next day the other would. They took turns every day while their father, Trevor Klein, was away.
“Every jelly bean we ate stood for a day that Dad was gone,” Peyton told her classmates and more than 135 veterans who gathered Nov. 11 at Twin Lakes.
In between jelly beans, they would communicate via modern technology. Soldiers in the past waited months.
“She has real vivid memories of me reading to her over the computer,” Trevor Klein said. “It’s better that way now. They feel safer. They know Dad’s OK.”
Trevor took video of where he was to aid that comfort. But it was still dangerous.
“They feel more of what I’m feeling,” he said.
And when only a couple of colored candies were left, it was time for Minnesota Army National Guard member to come home. Dad got to eat the last one.
“That was how we honored him,” Peyton said.
Twin Lakes Elementary School honored all veterans and their families at the school on Nov. 11. More than 900 students as well teachers and staff crammed into the gym for a program. All 120 chairs set out for the veterans were full and some were scattered around the edges of the gymnasium, too.
This year a couple of veterans served as a guest speakers inside the gym. Bob Moos and Bob Petron answered questions prepared by Twin Lakes students, which were then asked by their granddaughter Gracie Moos.
Gracie’s paternal grandfather is Moos, a Navy veteran who served between 1962-1966. He was on the USS Talidaga, a carrier that transported troops and cargo to Vietnam.
Minnesota Army National Guardsman Trevor Klein gave his daughter, Peyton Klein, a hug after she read her essay on ‘What Veteran’s Day Means to Her.’
Her maternal grandfather is Petron, Marine veteran who served between 1952-1954 . That was during the Korean War. He was stationed in five states across the United States. Gracie’s sister Chelsey Moos is now serving in the Navy. She is stationed in San Diego, California. At this time, she is at sea, going “around the horn” to the east coast of the United States.
During the program in the Twin Lake’s gym, there was patriotic music, student essays read and a chance for all veterans to say who they were, who invited them and what branch of the military they served.
It’s a tradition at the school that takes awhile to get through, but Principal Dan Collins said if it took all day, he would allow it.
“The students would probably like that, but I think it’s that important,” he said.
Afterward a couple more student essays were read and the veterans formed a receiving line so students and staff could shake their hands and say a word of thanks.
“It means a lot,” said Rachael Hill, who cried through her son Tristan’s essay on “What Veterans Day Means” to him. “I was touched and humbled by the program.”
Tristan’s dad and Rachael’s husband, Capt. Jeffrey Hill, a C-17 pilot, was one of the crew members killed in a C-17 plane crash on July 28, 2010, on Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.
Hill and her son recently moved to Minnesota from the Alaskan Air Force base. She had no idea what to expect but was blown away.
She’s working to make sure her husband leaves a legacy. A memorial scholarship has been created in his name for cadets participating in Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps detachments throughout the United States.
“To me, Veterans Day is a time to honor the sacrifices they have made for us,” Tristan Hill said in his essay. “I feel a lot of pride living in a country that is free. Some people take privileges for granted.”
For more on the scholarship, visit http://www.jeffhilllegacyfund.com.