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Austintown students view traveling mural wall 'Spirit of America'
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THE VINDICATOR || Ronald Smith, president of The Spirit of America’s Story, explains the organization’s 100-foot-long mural to Austintown Middle Schools students on Pearl Harbor Day 2016. The mural depicts scenes of America’s military involvement from the Revolutionary War to the war on terror.
AUSTINTOWN
Whenever Samantha Bachochin sees something about the military, she thinks of her dad, who she said is a veteran.
Her father came to mind Wednesday, when the eighth-grade student saw “The Spirit of America’s Story: The Wall,” a nearly 100-foot-long mural depicting U.S. military involvement since the Revolutionary War.
“I loved it. It’s really nice to see this whole wall put together,” said Samantha.
She was among about 1,300 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students who saw the mural, in addition to community members who came to a public viewing Wednesday evening.
The Spirit of America’s Story is a nonprofit organization that transports the mural across the country to educate Americans about the country’s military history.
“The traveling wall is to educate and inspire future generations about our country’s sacrifices through our military, police and fire,” said Patricia Sexton, a co-founder of the organization, whose husband died in the Vietnam War.
The traveling wall came to Austintown at the arrangement of middle-school history teacher Ron Johnson, who wanted to give his students “an appreciation of history and the veterans that made it.”
“I think this is something that’s really needed with the kids today, so they realize what people went through to keep this country safe,” he said.
The mural, which wrapped around a choir room at AMS, starts with a depiction of a Native American in 1775. It depicts scenes from the Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War and will soon feature the war on terror.
The mural is the work of artist Raymond A. Simon.
A group of eighth-graders who viewed the wall Wednesday were enthralled by it.
“I think it’s great,” said Ellis Jackson.
He was especially struck by the Revolutionary War scene, he said, because “it shows what we had to go through to break off from Britain.”
“I just thought it was amazing how they have all these wars and how they fought to protect America,” said Reggie Floyd.
Viewing the mural was an emotional experience for Emma Marek, she said, “Because of all the people who died just for us.”