CHS Veteran's Day Breakfast

November 2018

On the morning of Thursday, November 8, students and veterans gathered in the CHS cafeteria to eat breakfast, converse, and listen to the speakers present at the event.

One such speaker was Major Tom Funderburk, a WWII Army Vet who piloted a flying fortress bomber plane. Funderburk described his experiences dodging shrapnel in the air and dropping food down to help people who were affected the worst by the war.

At 93-years-old Funderburk still has his pilot’s licence and flies airplanes out of the Rock Hill Airport according to CHS social studies professor and Interact Club advisor Jimmy Roach.

Roughly 40 veteran’s attended the breakfast and students had the opportunity to spend time with them during the event.

“They had that interaction of talking to them, asking them questions, talking about their experience when they were in the service,” said Roach. “I just think if we had more educational opportunities like this all over our country where kids have one time in their life where they can sit down and talk to some veterans, that we’d have more patriotism and appreciate our veterans.”

According to Roach, students were involved in numerous aspects of the breakfast from making the food to playing a medley of the service songs for the veterans and even speaking at the event.

Beau McGarity, a junior at CHS, said this event further inspired him to pursue his aviation goal and join the Marine Corps or the Navy after school.

“The veteran’s breakfast was a remarkable experience where I got to meet several very reputable veterans,” said McGarity. “Each one of them, that I spoke to, gave me the motivation and inspiration to join the military.”

Roach said the Veteran’s Day celebration has been growing for nine years, and it’s become something people look forward to.

"I just think that we’ve got good community support and I hope we’re able to continue,” said Roach. “And it makes me proud that it’s a big deal in our school. It’s one of the things that makes me proud to work here that it’s a priority district-wide.”