By Torben Heinbockel ’26
It was the idea of Mr. Jason Coleman, Upper School World History teacher at St. Paul’s School for Boys (SP), to reach out and connect with one or more retirement homes in the surrounding community to interview aging veterans who had served in the Vietnam or Korea wars to help SP students learn and record their stories. Little did Mr. Coleman know that Ms. Dena Schrier, Activities Director at the Atrium Village Senior Living Community (AVSLC) in Owings Mills, was also trying to partner with a private school to create a unique inter-generational project for veterans living at the AVSLC. It was almost like someone was reading Mr. Coleman’s mind. As soon as SP received Ms. Schrier’s email request, she received a response from SP indicating an interest in participating in such a partnership. Ms. Schrier learned more about SP’s idea to create the Veterans Legacy Project (VLP). The idea of forming a student-run film project or “movie” to display veterans who had served in either the Vietnam or Korean wars was precisely what Ms. Schrier and Mr. Coleman were looking for. What a coincidence and perfect timing! The Facility Director of AVSLC, Mr. Mark Heur, was ecstatic about involving veteran residents with the opportunity to speak with SP students and educate them through the veterans’ fascinating stories. One of Mr. Heur’s goals had been to build a social community for veterans at AVSLC so that they could share their stories with each other and develop friendships among themselves.
Based on the mutual interest in the project, the Veterans Legacy Project (VLP) was off to a good start. Mr. Coleman sent out a communication to students at SP who had expressed interest in the project. The commitment would involve 3-4 hours on three Saturdays in October and early November. In the end, 15 students expressed an interest in the project. During week one, a handful of students met with some of the veterans from the AVSLC and carried out introductions and some initial interviews with the veterans. During the second week, four veterans living at the AVSLC shared their service-related stories with three students to carry out the interviews and create a filmed documentary. AVSLC staff provided a fully furnished vacant apartment in the housing complex where the interviews took place. The boys carried out two sets of interviews. The first set featured Robert Merritt and Francois Taylor, and the second set involved Rosemary Woods and Marty Zuckerman. Torben Heinbockel (SP ’26) conducted the interviews with the selected veterans, while Ryder Reese (’27) and Owen Woolley (’26) video-recorded the event. Mr. Anthony C. Hayes, a journalist from the Baltimore Post-Examiner, was also present to document this event more formally for publication in the Baltimore Post-Examiner.
In the first interview, Robert Merritt shared with the interviewer that he served in Vietnam as a ship-bound communications specialist and referred to his role as “just a job with a lot of rules.” His interaction with Vietnamese civilians was very minimal. Francois Taylor, on the other hand, served as a cook on the mainland in Vietnam. Both Robert and Francois were told not to wear uniforms when they returned home due to the open hostility that they could expect. They both recalled that following their service, they did not really feel like the same person that they were before their service. They attributed this to the psychological issues that come with participating in such an event, such as post-traumatic stress disorder. They described how each of them had experienced stress and fear. The situation was exemplified by Robert, who mentioned that he had difficulties interacting with his girlfriend after he returned home because he did not feel safe. During their service, both veterans described having feelings of longing to return home when they heard songs like “Leaving on a Jet Plane” and “I’ll Be There.”
Vietnam veterans Francois Taylor (left front) and Robert Merritt (left back) being interviewed by Torben Heinbockel (’26) (sitting) and video-recorded by Ryder Reese (right front) (’27) and Owen Woolley (right back) (’26). Photo credit to Anthony C. Hayes, Baltimore Post-Examiner.
In the second interview, Rosemary Woods described her decision to join the U.S. Army as ambiguous, since her mother opposed her decision and felt uncomfortable to see her in uniform. Rosemary ended up serving as an army X-ray technician. She was the only woman to take part in the VLP project. She described that she is still angry, even today when she thinks about the racial segregation that she experienced in the U.S. Armed Forces. She mentioned being treated like a “second-class citizen” when she came home. In contrast, Marty Zuckerman was a Reserve Transportation Officer who joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps at the University of Maryland. At the time, Marty was finishing high school close to the end of World War II and was too young to enlist. Both Rosemary and Marty served in the Korean War era.
During the third week, SP students reconnected with the veterans in the AVSLC lobby and celebrated the project’s success. They all played veteran trivia drawing on questions pertaining to WWI, WWII, Korean, and Vietnam wars. As a result of the interview project, a 6-minute film premiered on November 11 at a party at AVSLC. Longer segments of individual interviews will be available to each veteran and their families upon request.
All in all, the experience of hearing the veterans tell their stories allowed the three students to learn about the veterans’ experiences. In addition, the students might better understand and identify with stories that they may have heard in their own families. One of the student’s (Ryder Reese) grandfather served in the Vietnam War. Another student’s (Owen Woolley) great-grandfather served in WWI in the Argonne Forest. Another student’s (Torben Heinbockel) grandfather experienced WWII as a young boy, while his dad (Torben’s great-grandfather) was lost in action during the war. Torben’s own father served in the West German army before the fall of the Iron Curtain between East and West Germany. Interestingly, this same student’s maternal grandmother served in the Polish military as an Officer, as did her own father. Mr. Coleman had his own stories to share, as he served in the Marine Corps in Iraq. He mentioned that he had spent a lot of time with his paternal and maternal grandfathers talking about WWII. Mr. Coleman reflected on the importance of taking more time and learning more about the participation of one’s ancestors in the war(s) (e.g., WWI, WWII, Vietnam, or/and Korea). The overall experience at AVSLC has pushed each student to want to discover more and dig deeper into their roots.
(Above) Korean War veterans Rosemary Woods (left front) and Marty Zuckerman (left back) being interviewed by Torben Heinbockel (’26) (sitting).
(Below) From L to R, Torben Heinbockel (’26), Owen Woolley (’26) and Ryder Reese (27). Photo credit to Anthony C. Hayes, Baltimore Post-Examiner.
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