Living history makes an appearance to high school students.
Charles Don Lee, a 98-year-old World War II veteran, visited Russellville High School on March 15 to discuss his time in the service as well as share his poetry inspired by his memories of the 1940s.
As students filled their seats, Lee recounted his final moments in service during World War II.
He said after a career of flying airships (blimps) for the United States he soon began trying to pilot Navy airplanes. This order came from his superiors as they prepared for further conflict with Japan after Germany's defeat.
In his poem he wrote, "We in Army, Navy and Marines were resigned, to embark on a plan that was designed, to move onto the fortified Japanese shore, to put an end to Pacific's ongoing War."
However, his training came to halt when President Harry S. Truman decided to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Lee said he was trainman in Grand Prairie, Texas with his fellow troops when they heard the news of victory over Japan on Sept. 2, 1945.
"We were pretty happy but because we now knew that we weren't going to have to go and invade Japan, because they gave up after they dropped the bomb," Lee said. "Although I'm quite sure that if Truman hadn't decided to drop the atomic bomb, there would have been a lot more people killed at the invasion, including a lot of our people, including maybe me."
Although Lee would not be flying planes against Japan's forces, he did have a lot of adventures during his training. He detailed a story where he almost fell out of his training plane's open cockpit after his partner mistook his movements as a signal to perform a slow roll maneuver, rotating the aircraft.
"I went ahead and finished training...," Lee said. "I got 300 hours in diesel to open cockpit stearman trainers and then I had enough points with my other service to take leave from from the Navy. I took inactive duty on the first of January, 1946."
He later enrolled in the University of Missouri on the G.I. Bill, where he would receive a degree in journalism with a major in advertising. He moved to San Jose, California, married his wife Dorthy and returned to the service after he discovered the navy was forming an organized reserved unit of airship pilots.
Lee had footage of his time flying airships during the '50s and '60s transferred onto a dvd to show to students. He took the time to narrate his experience traveling to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and showed photos of airships to illustrate their importance in the navy. As they monitored the seas for enemy U-boats.
Although Lee said he joined the navy to get ahead of the draft for World War II, he found a passion for airships. He told the class when he was 5 years old he saw a zeppelin fly over his home and entering the Navy he was given the option to do something that would come close to operating such a vehicle.