By Anita Curtis
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

When Highland Springs residents Clyde Jackson and Tom Watkins shared their World War II stories with students at All Saints Catholic School in Dallas,  history class suddenly became a reality, not just something on the pages of a textbook.

The flag at Iwo Jima
Jackson told students the story behind the famous photo when Marines planted the American flag at Iwo Jima. After all, he observed firsthand what happened  that day. One student asked about the emotional impact of being there for that moment in history and how it affects Jackson now when he sees the photo.

Jackson said the impact came later. At the time, he and his peers were tired, dirty, and sleep-deprived—which the photo did not reveal. Sleepless nights in foxholes, seeing their comrades fall around them, plodding through volcanic ash, and dodging Japanese fire for five days left them drained emotionally, he recalled. When the photographer asked him to step aside for what later became the famous photo, Jackson simply followed orders, never expecting what title would be bestowed on him by others: a hero of Iwo Jima.

Why school matters
Fellow resident Tom Watkins shared a different view of World War II, as a naval officer on a destroyer.

“Our job was to fire torpedoes on the enemy and to leave quickly, to detect and shoot down airplanes before suicide bombers hit our ships,” he told students.

Watkins explained that because he had studied calculus in college before joining the Navy, he was assigned the job of calculating relative motion of a torpedo to a moving ship. This ensured that his crew stayed on the moving target at all times.

“So when you don’t understand why you need to take this course or that  course in school, now you know why—it helps you later in life, as it did for me in the Navy,” he said.

Staying connected
“As far as World War II veterans, we’re dwindling in numbers,” said Watkins,  so we’re more than happy to share what we know with the younger generation.”