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An eye-opening journey: N-P instructor takes part in program that remembers WWI soldiers

Nashua-Plainfield High School instructor Suzy Turner reads a “eulogy” for Frank G. Dann, a Nashua man who died during World War I, at his gravesite in a French cemetery. Photo courtesy of Suzy Turner
Nashua-Plainfield High School instructor Suzy Turner reads a “eulogy” for Frank G. Dann, a Nashua man who died during World War I, at his gravesite in a French cemetery.
Photo courtesy of Suzy Turner
By Bob Fenske, Nashua Reporter

Suzy Turner stood next to the grave of Frank Dann at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in France and prepared to deliver a short eulogy on the Nashua man who made the ultimate sacrifice for his country during World War I.

And at that moment, she thought of the mother of that long-ago private.

“I felt a responsibility to honor this person and the importance of honoring this person properly,” the Nashua-Plainfield High School instructor and National History Day advisor said. “And I thought of his mother, sitting in a farmhouse in Nashua 100 years ago and knowing she had two sons who were over here.

“The whole trip was good, it was very eye-opening, but that moment was really powerful for me,” she said.

Turner was in France earlier this summer to take part in a program sponsored by National History Day, the American Battle Monuments Commission and the World War I Centennial Commission.

Nineteen teachers from around the United States were part of two groups that traveled to Belgium and France to learn more about the “war to end all wars,” and to research and honor a veteran and a fallen hero.

In many ways, the program was similar to the Normandy: Sacrifice for Freedom Albert H. Small Student and Teacher Institute program that Turner and Nashua-Plainfield student Caleb Lines took part in during the summer of 2016.

But instead of focusing on World War II, Turner’s latest journey dealt with World War I, which ended 100 years ago this November.

Turner was part of a second cohort that was selected late in the process so her work is far from done.

She, with the help of her Nashua-Plainfield students, will continue to research both Dann and Carl Demro, another Nashua man who fought in World War I and returned home to become a mason and a plasterer.

In Europe, her group toured battlefields and visited five American cemeteries, and though the war ended almost a century ago, those visits were sobering affairs, she said.

“When you realize a whole town was blown away and you look at the trenches where these men lived, it’s — I know I keep using this word — powerful,” she said. “Where Frank is buried are probably 15,000 American graves. That leaves an impression on you. It makes you think of the lives they might have led.”

She said she has had help from both families as she researches Dann and Demro. One of her good friends, Jerry Adelmund, is the great-great nephew of Dann and the Demro family has a Facebook page where Turner is reaching out to get more information about Carl.

The other plus that came with the trip was a chance to talk with other teachers and National History Day advisors.

“We pick each others’ brains a lot,” Turner said with a laugh. “We talk about what works, what doesn’t and how we can take what doesn’t and make it work, if that makes any sense. You’re around a group of people that has the same passions you do. That’s a huge plus.”

Her arrival home on July 9 didn’t really end the journey, however.

She is preparing lesson plans that will be online. She is continuing her research on her two soldiers and she will speak to groups and organizations about her experiences. And she and her students will prepare web profiles of both Dann and Demro.

“I feel like I’ve just scratched the surface,” Turner said. “Some of that is I was in the cohort that was selected so late. But I want to know more about them and what they were like, how they lived their lives. To me, that’s the power of this whole experience because we can learn so much from these personal stories.”

 

 

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