COEUR d'ALENE - Bob Eachon attended Winton Elementary School more than 80 years ago.

The 88-year-old World War II veteran returned to the school Wednesday as one of the guests of honor at Winton's annual Pearl Harbor Day assembly.

Eachon, a U.S. Navy Seabee, entered the service in 1943, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He spent more than two years in the South Pacific, and helped build the Tinian airstrip that became the take off point for the Enola Gay when it dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945.

There were 35 guests of honor at the Winton assembly - veterans and some spouses, representing the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard. Eachon was among seven World War II veterans in attendance.

"At different times, I get teary-eyed," Eachon said. "Then, it kind of bothers me, because, well, I was just doing my job."

The students treated their guests to a celebration of the flag and freedom. The children sang and danced, and showed the veterans their gratitude for their service.

Using an old-time radio show format, the students shared what they have learned about the events of Dec. 7, 1941.

"At 7:59 a.m. the peace of that beautiful Sunday morning was broken by the sounds of Japanese fighter planes, bombers and submarine torpedoes ... This was the moment the United States officially entered World War II. This was the day our Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines said no one would come to our land and harm the people living there," said student Bryce Rosenberg, one of the radio announcers.

One of the highlights of the assembly was when three fifth-grade girls - Sarena Kaschmitter, 11, Isabelle McAfee, 10, and Carlee Piekarski,10 - impersonated the Andrews Sisters, lip-synching and swinging to the group's 1941 hit, "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy."

Teacher Nancy Mueller has helped coordinate the school's Pearl Harbor Day events each year since 1994, when she was a third grade teacher and it was part of the curriculum.

Through the years, Mueller has taken students to local VFW halls to visit the veterans, and said she has developed relationships with many of the vets.

During that time, Mueller's own father, Neil Dammarell, began talking about his own World War II experiences. Mueller said her dad asked her if she realized that if the U.S. hadn't dropped the atomic bomb, she wouldn't be here.

"He was on a ship, on his way to the occupation of Japan when that happened," Mueller said. Neil and Mueller's mother, Margaret, now in their late 80s and living in Lewiston, were unable to attend the Pearl Harbor assembly, but they played a big part in it.

Much of the presentation was penned by Mueller's mother, Margaret Dammarell.

Students read Margaret's recollection of wartime, originally written for her children. It provides the perspective of a young Idaho woman at home during World War II.

Margaret worked in 1944 as a file clerk at the 13th Naval District Headquarters in San Francisco. Because her brothers were sailors in the Navy, she had to go to work on her father's farm, driving horses and helping cut and stack alfalfa hay. She recalls rationing and the years following the war's end. She met Neil, her future husband, when they both attended the University of Idaho.

The 1940s was a busy time for young people, wrote Margaret: "Now, 70 years after that fateful day at Pearl Harbor some memories are still quite fresh for many of us who are 85 years or older."

Christmas for All

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