For years, City High social studies have had war veterans come in to speak about their experiences. Nathan Hellwig, City High alum and child of retired Air Force officer Richard Hellwig, remembers having veterans coming to speak when he was a student at City.

“When I was here it was primarily World War Two but we did have a guy who brought in World War One stuff once when I was a student here at City.”

Although City hasn’t had a World War Two veteran in close to 10 years, the veteran program is still going strong.Two Vietnam war veterans, Richard Hellwig and former navy officer Robert Misenkowski, were in the Little Theater to speak with both American Studies and AP U.S. History classes on Thursday.

The two men spoke of their deployments, their reasons for enlisting, and even stories from their days in action.Richard Hellwig retold a moment from his time working in an ammunitions shop in Vietnam during wartime when it came under enemy fire.

“I said ‘We should probably go find some cover,’ “ Hellwig said. “He said, ‘Where are you going to go man? We’re in the middle of a bomb dome.’ ”

Misenkowski spoke briefly on the recent missile strike on Syria.

“I can tell you from dropping bombs that it’s a hard thing to do,’ Misenkowski said. “To have the success that those missiles had.That makes me feel very well.”

To get more information on the Veteran visit program, students should contact Mr. Hellwig.