Fresh flowers and patriotic placemats helped turn the Alumni Lounge of Riverside Brookfield High School into a posh dining room Nov. 11. The school was abuzz with anticipation of welcoming 85 veterans of various conflicts to breakfast with Superintendent Jack Balderman and members of the RB staff, who had the honor of serving the returning veterans.

Dennis “Catman” Wood, who uses a wheelchair, was the first veteran to arrive. He is a member of the Brookfield VFW and the American Veterans Motorcycle Riders Association. He was soon joined by other enthusiastic veterans. Young or old, the vets came with sparkling eyes, each anticipating meeting buddies or visiting with fellow military men, belonging to that exclusive organization — former members of the Armed Forces of the United States of America.

Breakfast was the preliminary focus of the gathering. The guests enjoyed orange juice, scrambled eggs, sausage, English muffins, pancakes, sweet rolls and coffee or tea; the “guys” cleaned their plates. Bill Jirkovsky, retired chairman of the social studies department, organized the salute to veterans, as he has done since 1999.

The veterans then moved to the school gymnasium where they were joined by the entire student body. The entire music department performed, stirring the patriotic fervor of both the student body and veterans.

Each veteran was assigned to a classroom, to discuss their experiences in the service of our country, and to tell what America means to them, the liberties we enjoy and the opportunity to learn from those who survived fighting to protect those liberties.

Memories of the years spent fighting for America are varied. John Ross of La Grange, who was pressed into service as a cameraman at the breakfast, told of his experience as a first lieutenant serving in Vietnam.

“I lost 70 pounds the first month I was there. The weather was very hot, the mountainous terrain made maneuvers difficult, and we lacked supplies. We ran out of food.”

Now 62, he said, “My experiences in the war gave me another outlook on humanity.”

He is a “Padrino,” or a Hispanic godfather, and is a friend to young people, serving as a mentor or adviser.

George Havelka of Stickney served in France, Luxembourg and Germany during World War II. An infantry man, he recalled an infantryman’s inside joke, relative to the marching done by that branch of service.

“We ‘aggravated the gravel’ from 1942 to 1945. I had been wounded on Thanksgiving Day and was in the hospital when we learned the Battle of the Bulge had begun. It began on Dec. 23, 1944, when our troops stormed the beaches in Normandy.”

Leah Armbruster, originally from Berwyn, was the only female veteran at the breakfast.

“I spent four years in the U.S. Navy as a radio operator, from 1961 to 1965, when I retired.”

Armbruster served as a study hall supervisor at RB for five years and before that she was a part of the security department at Morton West High School for 13 years after her service in the Navy.

Unlike the famed five Sullivan brothers of World War II, who all perished in fighting, the Sullivan brothers from our area who attended the breakfast are Irish to the core and quite happy to be able to share their experiences with the students.

Jim Sullivan was born on St. Pat’s Day and given the middle name Patrick in honor of the occasion. A Marine, Jim saw service in the Pacific Theater of War.

“I got the greatest feeling when I came back and saw the San Francisco skyline,” he recalled.

His brother Dennis, who sat next to Jim at the breakfast, served in Germany in the Navy, on the North Sea at Bremerhaven and spent five months cruising the Mediterranean.

“We had another, brother, Ed, who served in the Navy, who is no longer with us,” Jim said.

The Sullivan family also includes John Maher and Dan Hull, a girls’ softball coach at RB.

Stan Horonzy of Brookfield served with the 3rd Marine Division in the South Pacific during World War II and was involved with the invasion of the islands of Guam and Iwo Jima. He spent several years working with School District 102 and is now retired.

Joseph Tusek’s picture graces the main floor hallway at RB as one of the Alumni Medal of Achievement honorees, class of 1948. does not fit starting here. thanks. bb He served in the Korean conflict in 1950 and is the holder of the third highest medal awarded by our government honoring Americans — the Silver Star, awarded for “Gallantry in Action,” and otherwise described as “gallantry beyond the call of duty.”

“I was given a battlefield promotion from private to first lieutenant while serving in Korea,” he said.

He married a former RB student, Betty Mealer, and makes his home in Downers Grove.

The youngest serviceman at the breakfast was Adrian Acevedo of La Grange, a graduate of Lyons Township High School. Acevedo has already served in Germany for three years and spent 18 months in Iraq as a cavalry scout. He is now graduating from Illinois State University with a degree in criminal justice, earned under the G.I. Bill.

“I have five sisters, no brothers,” he said, laughingly denying his sisters were the reason he enlisted in the army.

One of his sisters, Margarita Acevedo, teaches Spanish at RB. He will become a second lieutenant in December, then leave for Fort Knox, Ky.

Each of the 85 veterans have their own memories, including Robert Marshall of North Riverside. A former member of the VFW post in North Riverside and now with the Berwyn Post 6869 (a combination of the North Riverside and Berwyn posts), he explained, “It was my job on Iwo Jima and then in Japan to follow communication wires laid by our troops. Of course, there were no cell phones then so the Japanese would put a pin in the telephone wires laid on the ground, and when we found the broken connection, the wire men would be killed.”

Besides the assembly, RB does another thing to commemorate Veterans Day. According to Betty Sharp, assistant to RB’s superintendent, veterans of all wars are remembered on the 11th month at the 11th hour by the RB faculty and student body by a student sounding taps on a trumpet carried throughout the school’s audio system.