BENTONVILLE -- One by one, Central Park Elementary School students shook Lavon Chandler's hand and thanked him as they left the school's Veterans Day assembly Tuesday.
Chandler, a 91-year-old World War II veteran, responded with warm greetings.
Chandler was the school's guest of honor at Tuesday's assembly. He's the father of Central Park kindergarten teacher Deborah Baldwin.
Chandler spent part of the assembly answering questions posed by Jordan Diehl, a Bright Field Middle School fifth-grader who had chosen him as the subject of a social studies class project.
Jordan asked Chandler what he did during his time in the Air Force and Army.
"I goofed off some," he said, eliciting laughs from the audience.
"Knowing my dad, that's probably very true," Baldwin said.
Chandler got more serious, however, during a brief presentation he delivered to the students. He recalled being told, while stationed at Sioux City, Iowa, he was about to get on a train headed for Texas, where he would get six weeks of training in preparation for deployment to Europe. He later fought in the Battle of the Bulge, one of the most famous battles in U.S. military history.
The life expectancy of a soldier on the front lines in the Battle of the Bulge was 48 hours, he told students. Chandler didn't delve much into his own experience, but he spoke glowingly of his brother-in-law, Laron Smith, whom he called a "real war hero" for killing dozens of German soldiers while guarding a hill.
Smith's machine gun had stopped working during an attack, but he repaired the gun in the dark -- a skill Smith taught himself, Chandler said.
Two students presented him a bouquet of roses. The students gave him a standing ovation.
"Let's remember veterans all day today," Baldwin told the crowd.
Chandler left the students with some advice: When given a task, do a little more than is expected of you. It's a maxim he's tried to live by since elementary school.
"I was in the third or fourth grade and we were expected to learn the multiplication table through 12. I learned it through 13," he said. "So often we do something, and if we just did a little more, we'd be much better off."
Chandler called the Central Park assembly "very humbling."
"There are so many more veterans worthy of the recognition," he said.
Jordan designed a poster board about Chandler on display at the assembly. Jordan's mother, Sarah Diehl, is a kindergarten teacher at Central Park and found out about Chandler through Baldwin.
Jordan's favorite part of the project was "just getting to talk with (Chandler) and learning more about him," she said.
Also on display at the assembly were Chandler's Army jacket and a portrait of him as a young man. Chandler was part of the occupation forces in Nuremberg, Germany, at the war's end in 1945.
Chandler, a Louisiana native, moved to Bentonville last year to live near his daughter. Martha Chandler, his wife of 70 years, died in February.
Also at Tuesday's event, 6-year-old Avalon Reaves recited a poem titled "On Veterans Day." Paula Wells, Avalon's mother, said Avalon memorized the poem and practiced it at home.
"She was honored to participate," Wells said.
NW News on 11/12/2014
At A Glance
Battle Of The Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was the final major German offensive of World War II. It lasted about six weeks starting in mid-December 1944. Germans struck in the Ardennes Forest in northwest Europe. U.S. forces suffered heavy losses, but ultimately held off the Germans. World War II ended in Europe about four months later.
Source: Staff Report
Battle Of The Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was the final major German offensive of World War II. It lasted about six weeks starting in mid-December 1944. Germans struck in the Ardennes Forest in northwest Europe. U.S. forces suffered heavy losses, but ultimately held off the Germans. World War II ended in Europe about four months later.
Source: Staff Report
Pretty Awesome!
