In conjunction with the International Baccalaureate (IB) English classes' study of Tim O'Brien's fictional Vietnam memoir, The Things They Carried, Cherie Rankin from the Veterans Education Project visited SBS to share her experience as a Red Cross volunteer during the Vietnam War.

 

During the war, female Red Cross volunteers were charged with providing moral support to the troops, and witnessed firsthand the psychological, physical and spiritual effects of combat on soldiers. Cherie is considered a "civilian veteran" (as opposed to a military veteran) and is now very involved in the effort to construct the Vietnam Women's Memorial.

 

The Veterans Education Project (VEP), founded in 1982 by Vietnam veterans, is an independent non-profit organization based in Amherst, Massachusetts. VEP trains and supports local military veterans to share their personal stories of war and homecoming in Western New England schools and public venues. The organization has about 35 volunteers of varying age and military era, from World War II through Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan.

To learn more, please visit the VEP website.