Calvert Catholic High School honored veterans with a series of performances, speakers and songs Monday.
Paul Jones' ninth-grade class put together the program, featuring Calvert Alum, Lance Cpl. Ed Kimmet.
Kimmet, of Tiffin, graduated from Calvert in 1967. A year later he enlisted into the United States Marine Corp. He served 13 months in Vietnam and earned a Purple Heart and a Navy Achievement medal.
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PHOTO BY NICOLE WALBY
Lance Cpl. Ed Kimmet showcases his medals, The Purple Heart and Navy Achievement.
"I'm not a hero," Kimmet said.
He was awarded the Navy Achievement medal after he was discharged.
"I did not want to accept the award because the two men that were there with me that day could not make it," Kimmet said.
Kimmet struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and cancer he said he contracted while in Vietnam.
"PTSD sticks with you and is hard to talk about," Kimmet said.
"Vietnam was a bad war and we were just doing our job that our government told us to do. I just hope that we won't have to go through it again," he said.
Students watched a video that included "Amazing Grace," Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A.," Alan Jackson's "Where Were You" and taps.
Superintendent Hank Elchert gave the closing remarks thanking veterans and the students.
"In Calvert, we still respect our veterans and people for who they are," Elchert said.
