Longfellow Elementary Students Surprise Veterans at Fargo VA

They spent the week learning about Veteran's Day

FARGO, N.D. — Veterans at the VA hospital got a pleasant surprise from Longfellow Elementary students.

Kids gave thanks to veterans by giving them handmade cards after learning about the importance of Veteran’s Day throughout the week.

One veteran, Wade Hansen, remembers the first time he set foot in Vietnam. He served from 1966-1968.

“[Sergeant Major said] two minutes once you hit the combat field you’re dead. That’s your expectancy. Two minutes,” he said.

He said they didn’t have barracks.

“We just lived the jungle, lived the dirt, never had a roof over our heads. Never had a bed I slept in for 5 months,” he said. “It’s wonderful getting these cards from these kids. They’re so emotional and they do care. They’re young but they get it. They understand.”

“Makes me feel good. I like to see the young generation. That’s the reason we went out and did what we did was for the young generation. It wasn’t for me because I had number 12 on my draft card,” Wayne Uberto, who served from 1961-1965, said.

“I think it’s great, that’s pretty darn nice. They try and do a lot for the veterans, probably not what I remember coming back from Vietnam,” Darrell Stormoe, who served from 1964-1968, said.

For Hansen, the cards are one form of recognition that came much later. He was shot in the head in 1967 and was awarded a Purple Heart nearly four decades after being wounded.

“If you live through that two minutes, just think that every day, two minutes, if you live past that two minutes,” he said.

He survived the first two minutes, and the next, and the next… and for many more to come.