Veteran speaks to English classes

Veteran view--
Third period sophomore English students get a history lesson from veteran Bill ONeill. The guest speaker helped enforce lessons learned from The Things They Carried.

Aaron Espinoza

Veteran view– Third period sophomore English students get a history lesson from veteran Bill O’Neill. The guest speaker helped enforce lessons learned from “The Things They Carried”.

Sophomore pre-AP English students got first-hand information on April 27 as a Vietnam veteran spoke to their classes.

Sophomore English teacher LaShay Ellis met veteran Bill McNeill at a veteran’s appreciation night at a Rockhounds baseball game.

“I asked him if he spoke at schools,” Ellis said. “He said he did in Midland and Odessa schools, so I asked him if he would come give my kids perspective since he was smack dab in the center of that war. It turned out really well.”

The English students are reading The Things They Carried, a collection of short stories based on author Tim O’Brien’s experiences in Vietnam with the 23rd Infantry Division.