Souls of Shaler Area

**Thank you to our veteran's who were gracious enough to be interviewed during our annual veteran's breakfast.  We appreciate your service! Leonard Gebert is an Army veteran who enlisted into the service and stated that he was in the Army twice.   He does not remember any of his instructors, and said that he didn’t really have a problem with the food saying that, “If you were hungry, you ate.” He did not really travel anywhere or see combat since he was in the reserves.   To pass the time, they used to go swimming a lot and did not really do any pranks on each other.   After leaving the Army, he went to work and was not supported by the G.I. Bill.   He enjoys going to reunions when they come up.

**Thank you to our veteran's who were gracious enough to be interviewed during our annual veteran's breakfast.  We appreciate your service! Don Stultz is an Army veteran who was drafted into service and was stationed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.  He doesn’t remember any of his instructors, but he thought the food was fairly okay.  To help pass the time, he and his friends spent time listening to accordion music, and playing cards.  Sometimes he even went into Kansas City to enjoy the town.  After leaving the Army, he went to work for Duquesne Light, and he was not supported by the G.I. Bill.  He thought that some of the benefits of being in the Army were meeting new people and making lifelong friends from all over the country.  He just attended his 54 year reunion.

**Thank you to our veteran's who were gracious enough to be interviewed during our annual veteran's breakfast.  We appreciate your service! Diana Patel is an Army Veteran who enlisted in 1991 into the Army Reserves. She became commissioned in 1995 into the Army Nurse Corps, and was honorably discharged at the rank of Captain. She was stationed in different places such as Pennsylvania, New York, California, Texas and North Carolina. She and her friends passed the time by reading, playing cards and listening to music.   She said the food was so-so, and learned to like southern-style grits and making “ranger pudding” from brownie mix in the MRE packs.   The best things about joining the Army for her were seeing places and meeting people she wouldn’t have otherwise.   Life-long friends were made, and she was even lucky enough to attend a National Prayer Breakfast one time with the Vice President, and sit next to Bob and Elizabeth Dole.   She has not been...

**Thank you to our veteran's who were gracious enough to be interviewed during our annual veteran's breakfast.  We appreciate your service! Anthony enlisted in the Air Force because he just wanted to make his country proud and honor the United States. He was twenty years old when he started. He said, “I was scared because you are risking your life." Anthony served in the Vietnam War. He arrived in 1964 and left in 1965. He does not remember any times of having fun because "you were fighting for your life." To stay in contact with his loved ones he would write letters back and forth through the war. The food was edible to which he said: “[It was]...enough to take care of yourself.” When the war was fully over he said he was relieved and was happy to go back to his family. But now he is a 76 year old, proud veteran in Pittsburgh. Thank you, Anthony Weisser for proudly serving our country!

❤ Thank you to all the students who interviewed neighbors, friends of parents and other community members, past and present, to make this year's blog a continued point of interest for the community.  See you in the fall with more Souls of Shaler Area.  Happy Summer!  ☺

Tom Hydock, Fireman "A high point in my fire service career was meeting President Bush.  To me that was an honor."