Students and soldiers share fortunes

By SHARON SIEGEL

MATAMORAS — It began with a stack of plain red felt Christmas stockings that were donated to our school by a local merchant. In the middle of this stack of stockings were two embroidered with the names of U.S. Navy ships on them. The fifth grade computer club kids and television news reporters of Delaware Valley Elementary School (DVES) did some research and learned that one ship, The U.S.S. Sellers, had been decommissioned and most of its crew members had retired. This ship, they learned, is rusting away in the Philadelphia Shipyard. The other ship, The U.S.S. Enterprise, was set to sail again this past month of May, which it has.

Two weeks before Valentines Day, 30 letters were sent out to each of the ships. Since that time, our fifth grade students have been corresponding with the crew of the U.S.S. Sellers and have established relationships by mail and email with individual sailors. The letters that have been exchanged have shared amazing stories about the lives and experiences of the sailors and about things the students have learned about their own parents’ and grandparents’ experiences in wars. The sailors have given our students valuable tips on how deal with major issues that they will most likely face into their future. The crew members have been in many wars ranging from World War II, to the Korean War, to Vietnam. They have shared stories about their experiences in the war, as well as the good and bad times they shared on the ship. One even sent old military “barf bags” to show our fifth graders what they looked like. Every one of them expressed the pride of having been a sailor serving our country.

On June 12, 2001, at 2:00 p.m., the Delaware Valley Elementary School is hosting a reception for our students and “their sailors.” We will have coffee and donuts and are inviting local color guards from veteran organizations in our area. Many of the U.S.S. Seller’s crew have expressed an interest in coming to our Pennsylvania elementary school, from as far away as Texas, Virginia, Florida and even England. We hope others will be touched by the kindness and heartwarming connection between the U.S.S. Seller’s crew and our lucky students.