On November 11th, Shore Regional High School held its second annual Honor the Veterans Day ceremony. Five American heroes visited room D-9 to discuss their time in the service and the impact it has made. All five veterans that came to D-9 fought in the Vietnam War, and shared incredible stories of recollection that left quite the impact.

The first of the veterans to speak was Mauro Bacolo, an E5 Petty Officer who spent 4 years in the US Navy. Bacolo spent 15 months in Vietnam, and during that time he worked on three different ships;  the USS Sylvania, the USS Hoist, and the USS Tanner. The second ship Bacolo worked on, the USS Hoist, located and salvaged an H bomb off the coast of Spain in 1966, which is depicted in the film Men of Honor. Bacolo also spent 19 days working to recover bodies from the attack on The World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001. ¨The first tower was struck at 8:46 a.m., and I was there at 2:30 p.m. that very day,¨ said Mauro.   

Joe Foster spoke next, and recalled his time in the Coast Guard.  Foster joined the Coast Guard in February of 1969, and was deployed to Vietnam in 1970. During his time in the service, Foster was assigned to the Andrew Mellon, which was a 378 foot High Endurance Cutter, which was on the most technologically advanced ships at the time. Joe also worked with helicopter gunships during fire missions and took medical teams to indigenous populations in certain regions of Vietnam. Prior to leaving the Coast Guard, Foster became a Quartermaster. Foster believes that any student that is considering the joining the military, should give it a fair chance. ¨If you’re interested, the service is a great way to go,¨ he said.

The next veteran to speak was George Carroll.  Carroll spent 6 years in the US Naval reserve, and went on active reserve in 1970. He spent 2 years aboard the US the aircraft carrier USS Lexington CVT-16, which is now in a museum in Corpus Christi, Texas. During his time on the carrier, Carroll’s mission was to train all Naval pilots, making sure they were fleet ready. Carroll spent four years attending monthly naval meetings with two weeks of active yearly duty.