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Veterans tell Long Beach students of their service

BY CARL MACGOWAN | carl.macgowan@newsday.com

8:38 PM EST, November 10, 2008

As a substitute teacher, Steven Paul is no stranger at Long Beach Middle School.

But it's not every day that he shows up wearing a U.S. Army uniform. Paul, 39, of Long Beach donned the olive-green garb Monday for his talk to seventh-graders about serving in Kuwait 17 years ago, during the Persian Gulf War.

"It was amazing because I talk to these kids everyday," Paul said. "A lot of them didn't know that I served."

Paul was one of more than a dozen veterans who spoke at the Lido Beach school the day before Veterans Day. They talked about their service as black-and-white photos of young soldiers and exploding bombs flashed on screens behind them.

Members of the school band played "Anchors Aweigh" as the veterans marched through a hallway lined with applauding students and teachers. Students rotated from one classroom to another to hear presentations about World War II and wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf.

Social studies teacher Joseph Hoffman said the veterans are able to teach lessons that students "can't get from a textbook." And he said students need to learn that military service is more than firing guns and dropping bombs.

Indeed, among the veterans was Leonard Cherlin, 89, of Long Beach, who played clarinet in the Army Ground Forces Band during World War II. And Daniel Steele, 80, a former Army chief warrant officer from Long Beach, told students about how he arranged a Christmas meal for soldiers at a Vietnamese orphanage.

Though students asked about weapons and medals, they heard very little about combat. Most of the veterans never had been in a war zone.

But one, Vietnam veteran Ronnie Amato, 59, of Long Beach, served with the Army during the pivotal Tet Offensive in 1968. He uses an electronic voice amplifier when he speaks because he lost part of his larynx due to Agent Orange, the toxic herbicide spread by U.S. planes in advance of bombing raids. Studies have linked Agent Orange to cancer and other health problems.

And Michael Panza, 29, of Valley Stream, a former Marine corporal, described the personal toll of serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"It wasn't fun," said Panza, a New York City police officer. "I lost a lot of friends over there."

Like other veterans, Panza said serving in wartime was worth the sacrifice.

"It made me grow up. It made me love America a lot more," Panza said. "Would I go back now? No. But I'm glad I did it."