Students at North Haven High School (NHHS) gathered at the school’s Patricia K. Brozek Theater to hear accounts from those who were ‘Eyewitness to History’ at the eponymous event on June 2.

The purpose of the ‘Eyewitness to History’ event is to provide NHHS students with firsthand accounts of major historical events in American foreign policy and culture, some of which are covered as part of the U.S. history class curriculum at the high school, according to teacher Federico Fiondella.

Fiondella organized the event 16 years ago to shed light on issues such as the Holocaust, World War II, and the civil rights movement through firsthand accounts.

Two of the learning objectives for the students as part of the event were to “formulate appropriate and insightful questions that elicit discussion” and to make real-world connections to history lessons and eyewitness accounts.”

Relating to those objectives, Fiondella encouraged students that beyond their assignments in history classes and the event, they always ask questions to “those all around you in life, your family, your friends, your teachers, members of your community,” he said.

First Selectman Michael Freda, who has attended the event each year of its holding, also had words of encouragement for the students similar to Fiondella’s, using his late father as an example of a “storybook” with access to critical moments in American history.

“He was a World War II veteran in the United States Navy; he served on a destroyer escort…I would hear some background conversations in our family about some of my father’s experiences, and I didn’t really pay attention…it dawned on me later in life that my father, as are each and every one of these fine people here, was a storybook - rich and filled with chapters of very provocative and poignant stories. After my father passed away, that storybook closed forever,” said Freda. “If you have grandparents that served in the military…never be afraid or never be distracted or uninterested to ask the questions, because when you ask the questions, the storybook unfolds with rich historical detail.”

The topics and the experiences guest speakers discussed were those centered around the Vietnam War, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, the Bosnian Wars, the Sept.11 attacks, and the Iraq War.

Speakers on the Vietnam War were veterans John Gilchrist and Don Deloge, the latter of whom was a former teacher at NHHS. The veterans spoke in vivid detail about their experiences in the conflict.

Deloge put in context for 21st-century students at NHHS what it meant for someone their age to be alive during the Vietnam War and the attitudes toward history occurring around them.

“Those of us in high school in the late ’50s lived in a different world: happy days. It was the height of the Cold War, and there was serious tension between America and its Western allies on one side and the Soviet Union and the communist block on the other.”

Delonge talked about his experience in the United States Navy during Operation Rolling Thunder, and Gilchrist recounted the devastation he witnessed while in the war. He summed up his experience in three words for the students.

“War is hell,” said Gilchrist.

Further first accounts of war came from Brent Heidenis and Steve Gifford, who spoke of their experiences in the U.S. Armed Forces during the Bosnian War and Iraq War, respectively, and the lessons to be learned from their experiences.

Peter Cosgrove recounted his experiences at the Woodstock festival in August 1969 as an example of a cultural touchstone during a turbulent decade in American history.

“If you weren’t for something, you were against it,” he said. “We were capable of putting a man on the moon, but we couldn’t find a way to solve our problems on Earth. Then came Woodstock.”

Four of the speakers focused on the attacks on Sept. 11, including former New York Stock Exchange broker Paul Vercillo who saw the World Trade Center collapse, and Paul DeMennato, a North Haven native who was an information technology officer at the Pentagon when the federal building was struck.

Considering one other learning objective of the “(a)rticulate the issues and obstacles facing the United States during the respective eras of U.S. history,” Vercillo spoke about the response of the American government in the aftermath of the attacks and encouraged students to think seriously about its ensuing global effects and if the United States should continue to try to navigate its way through the war on terror.

Also speaking at the event was Victoria Higley Pratt, whose late husband Robert was an insurance executive who worked and died at the World Trade Center on the day of the attacks. Her daughter Robyn Higley spoke about her father as well and the support she received from many after her father’s tragic death.

Higley Pratt referenced the current issue of school shootings as a reminder of the grief and violence that many Americans still suffer today, going back to her husband’s death.

“With every school shooting, with every small thing that happens in this country, we resort back to that morning. There’s nothing that gets us through the day without thinking about it,” said Higley Pratt.

Jalanne Metz, social studies coordinator for North Haven Public Schools, closed out the event with the following remarks.

“I hope you all realize they’re all ‘eyewitnesses to history’ and they all, someday, had stories to tell. Keep that in mind as you go out of here today: what we learn from these stories and others, how we keep oral tradition alive, and what it means to be a part of a community.”