MJHS Social Studies Vietnam War Presentation

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

Recently here at Mapleton Jr. High, our students had a fantastic opportunity to learn firsthand about the Vietnam War while in Mrs. Halcrow’s geography class.  It all started with Jake Dixon a student here at MJHS who is in Mrs. Halcrow’s class.  In class, Jake heard Mrs. Halcrow explaining some of the details of the Vietnam War and thought to himself: “I should have my grandpa come in and talk about his personal experiences from the war.” He arranged with Mrs. Halcrow to have this happen and on Wednesday, March 21, 2012 Jake’s grandpa, Richard Dixon visited MJHS. 

Jake tells in his own words some of the details of his grandpa’s visit and how the experience was received by the students.

The room was packed from front to back with people squished together as my grandpa (Richard Dixon) told his story. My grandpa was about to go pro in baseball and was going to play for the Yankees or the Dodgers, but then he got called to go to the Vietnam War.  During the war he was the only one that survived from his platoon. He got shot many times and told a cool story about how he was the only one alive while he tried to shoot at the enemy. My grandpa is a real hero and was able to stay alive while fighting for this country. He was awarded the Purple Heart for his service to our nation.  It was a really cool experience and lots of students told me how cool they thought it was!

What a great opportunity this was, to learn from a real person who experienced the war himself.  Our students will long remember the experiences shared by Richard Dixon, and the sacrifices of the brave men and women of the Armed Forces in defending freedom during the Vietnam War.