As the lights came back up and the auditorium flooded with color, Clayton sophomores turned their attention to a man in black walking across the stage. From the moment veteran Barry Romo spoke, the sophomores hung on every word, every sentence, as he painted the horrors of the Vietnam War and his own painful memory of a Vietnamese girl slowly dying in his arms.

The girl had an explosive in her arms, accidently she dropped it, and it exploded, killing everyone around her and leaving her burnt completely from head down.

When Romo closed his speech, he asked the sophomores for one favor.

“Today, I want you all to put yourselves in our [veterans] position,” he said. “Feel empathy for us.”

Romo was not the only veteran that helped in this year’s Vietnam Day on Mar. 16. Throughout the day, there were breakout sessions where veterans would talk about their experiences from the war. The veterans played a large role in this event and helped the sophomores learn more about the war from primary sources.

“The funny thing is they [veterans] seem to come to us,” history teacher Josh Meyers said. “Two of our recurring veteran guests were brought in because faculty knew them, after that it became a word of mouth thing, and we have had veterans asking us to participate.”

The students enjoyed the sessions with the veterans and the new way of seeing the war.

“I really received a different point of view on the war, other than the facts in our history books,” sophomore Sarah Aiello said. “I really enjoyed hearing from the veterans.”

Sophomore Adam Zoll agreed with Aiello.

“The interactivity of the whole day really made it worthwhile,” he said. “In a couple a years, there may not be many more Vietnam veterans still alive, so we were very fortunate to be able to hear the stories from so many veterans.”

Sophomore Abbie Kohmetscher also thought that this day was worth the time.

“The Vietnam War is so often forgotten and to be able to talk to veterans that had gone through the war is a rare experience,” she said.

Overall, teachers thought that the event ran smoothly.

“It was great,” history teacher Paul Hoelscher said. “Attendance looked good. The speakers enjoyed their time with students and many students commented throughout the day that they appreciated this opportunity to learn.”

Students also think this is an event worth having every year.

“I think we should continue with this event because it gives students a whole new experience by actually talking to different vets and seeing it through their eyes,” Aiello said.

Zoll also sees this event as something special because it is an experience no student could ever gain sitting in a history class or reading sections in a textbook on Vietnam.

“Words in a textbook give facts,” he said. “Words from veterans give emotions.”