Back in September, Dean Johnson, a Holliman Elementary parent and a veteran, donated a flagpole and flag to the school. Holliman previously had a flagpole, but because it is located in the back courtyard it can’t be seen from the front of the school.

To commemorate this gift as well as recognize the sacrifice made by all veterans, Holliman held a flag-raising ceremony on Tuesday afternoon. Students in the 5th and 6th grades interviewed veterans, generating small speeches that they shared at the ceremony.

Several dignitaries attended the ceremony, including Superintendent Philip Thornton, Director of Elementary Education, Lynn Dambruch, and Councilwoman Camille Vella-Wilkinson, a veteran herself.

“It was also a powerful, real-life learning experience for our student speakers and audience,” Principal Joseph Coffey said.

The students were Lily Dewar, Ayden Whalen, Marco Amaral, Olivia Kinsley, Peter Masse, James Salisbury, Aaron Sullivan, Kaylee Collins, Thomas D’Andrea, Grace Forrester, Zara Howland and Alicia Ponte. Their interviews were with parents, grandparents, other family and friends and spanned across every military branch from the Vietnam, Persian Gulf and Iraq Wars. James Dubois, a Holliman staff member, was also interviewed for his service in the Army during the Vietnam War.

Aaron Sullivan interviewed his grandfather, Jerome Maher, who served in the Navy between 1961 and 1976 on three separate submarines in Guam and during the Vietnam War. In his brief speech Sullivan said that the American Flag represents freedom, the protection to grow up safely and the “responsibility to honor those servicemen and -women who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect the country.

Sullivan said, “I am proud to say that this ‘veteran’ is not only my grandfather but my hero.”