veteran picture

Picture by John Reidy

As the sun reached the middle of the sky on Tuesday, September 15th, twelve students from College of the Ozarks flew out of Springfield Missouri to embark on an adventure of our lives. We flew from Springfield to Chicago, which is which is where we met up with our veterans. As students who love history, we were all extremely thrilled to meet our heroes who fought in World War II.

We were amazed to find out how quickly we connected with the veterans. Although we were greatly honored to be with the heroic veterans of World War II, we were also humbled to realize that they were equally excited to be with us. Our first reactions of meeting the men we had been dreaming about all summer were reactions of joy, astonishment, and wonder. All of the veterans were in great shape and ready to cross the ocean to revisit the battlefields of the past.

We arrived safely in Amsterdam, and we immediately headed to the American Embassy for our first adventure. As we entered the embassy, we were amazed at the cheering staff members. All of the veterans were held in great honor as people lined up to get the opportunity to simply speak with them. After a few hours of conversing with the staff members, we departed so our veterans could get some well needed rest.