Program Tuesday at 7 pm at P-C auditorium
The traveling photo exhibit, Remembering Our Fallen, is on display at the Paton-Churdan school in Churdan through Tuesday. The public is invited each day, including Sunday, from 4 to 7 pm. The exhibit will close with a program Tuesday at 7 pm in the school auditorium. It honors the 89 Iowans killed in military service in Iraq and Afghanistan during the War on Terror.
The Tuesday program will be preceded by a spaghetti supper at the school from 5 to 6:30 pm. A free will donation will be accepted, with all proceeds going to the Churdan public library’s building fund.
The exhibit opened with a program Thursday morning, Patriot’s Day. “We all remember where we were and what we were doing the first moment we heard about the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and Flight 93 in Pennsylvania,” Churdan library director Shari Minnehan said in opening the program. She talked about the strangeness of seeing no vapor trails in the sky that day, as all air traffic was grounded. “At that time we knew so little, but we knew that our country was changed forever.
“The men and women we honor with this display all felt something that day that drew them to serve their country and to give the ultimate gift, their greatest sacrifice,” Minnehan said.
Former P-C principal Chet Wisniewski was the guest speaker. His son, Air Force Capt David Wisniewski, did seven tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Capt Wisniewski was a helicopter pilot. He was shot down by an RPG in the mountains of Afghanistan on June 10, 2010, just six weeks before he was to be married. He died at Bethesda Naval Hospital on July 3, 2010.
Chet Wisniewski told stories of his family’s time at Paton-Churdan. David attended school there from sixth through eighth grades.
He also introduced Nelson and Marie Carman of Jefferson, parents of Lance Cpl Ben Carman, killed in action in Iraq on April 6, 2004.
Wisniewski, like Minnehan, referred to Sept. 11, 2001, as a day that changed our lives. He recalled that he and his wife Beth were on their way to Parents’ Weekend at the Air Force Academy. It was David’s senior year at the academy. His was the first class to graduate from the academy during the War on Terror.
He graduated second in his class at the Air Force Academy and was sent to pilot training at Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio, TX. He graduated first in his class there and had his choice of flying F-15s, F-16s, or F-22s, his father said. He chose to fly helicopters because he wanted to do search and rescue missions. That’s what took him to the mountains of Afghanistan.
“There’s one thread that holds our fallen heroes together. It’s commitment – commitment to our country, commitment to our president, commitment…. They are the heroes. They are the true heroes of our country because they died for what they loved to do, and that’s protect America.”
He said that his son closed every letter and every email he sent his parents, “PS – I do this so you can sleep at night safely.”
Capt Wisniewski, Carman (KIA April 6, 2004, in Iraq), Capt Matt Nielson of Jefferson (KIA June 29, 2011, in Iraq), SPC Shawn Muhr of Coon Rapids (KIA Jan. 29, 2011, in Afghanistan) and SPC Daniel Sesker of Ogden (KIA April 6, 2006, in Iraq) will be honored at the Tuesday evening program.
Remembering Our Fallen was brought to Churdan by the library in cooperation with the school, with financial assistance from the Jefferson Rotary Club, United Bank of Iowa- Churdan, and Community State Bank of Paton.
