Westport records and writes veterans' stories while there's time

Students and teachers at Westport Middle High School collaborate on veteran story project; book coming out soon

By Ted Hayes
Posted 5/15/25

Vietnam veteran Ray Elias said it made him feel like he’d finally been welcomed home, 52 years later.

Earlier this year he found himself in a classroom at Westport Middle High School, …

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Westport records and writes veterans' stories while there's time

Students and teachers at Westport Middle High School collaborate on veteran story project; book coming out soon

Posted

Vietnam veteran Ray Elias said it made him feel like he’d finally been welcomed home, 52 years later.

Earlier this year he found himself in a classroom at Westport Middle High School, sitting across from fifth grader Zachary Bernier. Other students, eighth graders, stood behind a video camera, and the tape was rolling.

“Thank you for being here,” Bernier, his interviewer, said.

“Thank you for inviting me. I was in the United States Navy ...”

Veterans’ stories

Elias, who enlisted in 1967 and served two tours as a boatswain’s mate aboard the USS New Jersey and USS Preble, is one of about two dozen Westport veterans interviewed recently by students in Jonathan Bernier’s class, as part of an ambitious collaboration between students and teachers to record the memories of Westport veterans while they’re able.

It took them months, and the work will pay off soon with the publication of a book containing student-written narratives about each veteran interviewed. They will be available at town hall and the library, and all involved veterans will get a copy. Also, one story a week will be published in the Westport Shorelines, starting next week.

Though they’ve been at it since January, the idea came last November, when Westport Veteran Service Officer Carol Freitas stood at the podium during the town’s Veterans’ Day ceremony at Beech Grove Cemetery, and spoke about time, and service.

“Every veteran has a story to tell (but) once they go, their stories go too,” she recalled. “I said, ‘Those stories need documenting for posterity. So I proposed the idea — I said it hoping, but not really planning, on anything happening. So when Jon (Bernier) e-mailed me later, I was like, ‘Wow.’”

Bernier, whose son Zachary interviewed Elias, said her speech stuck with him:

“Both of my grandfathers fought in World War II,” he said. “We lost them before we really got a chance to tell their stories. I wish we would have.”

So he approached his students and fellow staff members, pitched the idea, and handed over the reins. As they went through the list of 20-odd veterans, students learned more than recent military history and the stories some of their neighbors have kept for decades, Bernier said:

“Myself and John Rezendes, a media teacher at the high school, were here after school for every interview.  We worked on interviewing skills, video editing, camera operation," he said.

“The writing part of the project was months of teaching, modeling, revising, editing, and formatting with the kids. Several teachers here in the middle school volunteered to proofread every paper multiple times.

The students and teachers also got help from the Westport Education Foundation, which provided a $1,500 grant to print the books.

Students said last week that they got as much out of it as the veterans — “Overall, for me I learned that it isn’t all just war and scary stuff,” Delilah Marcel said. “They made a lot of connections; there’s a lot of community and friendships in the military.”

Veterans’ appreciation

Freitas, herself a United States Marine Corps veteran who was interviewed for the project, tracked down veterans and asked them to participate. It wasn’t hard to find two dozen, but not all were sure about the idea at first.

“I was kind of reluctant” to participate, United States Coast Guard veteran Carla Lee Samson, who served from 1986 to 1991, said. “But we female veterans need to be represented too, so I felt it was my calling to show. The kids did an awesome job.”

Elias said that like many Vietnam veterans, he came home to a cool welcome and that’s one reason he was so impressed with the initiative. Though he is well known in youth sports, he hasn’t told his stories to many and felt honored when asked. 

“I think this is outstanding,” he said. “As a Vietnam veteran, we weren’t welcome anywhere when we came home. But this is positive stuff — I was almost in tears.”

 

 

 

 

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.