A welcoming committee of historical icons will greet nine Gilroy
High School juniors and history teacher Darren Yafai when they
touch down in Washington, D.C. this Memorial Day for a weekend of
festivities.
A welcoming committee of historical icons will greet nine Gilroy High School juniors and history teacher Darren Yafai when they touch down in Washington, D.C. this Memorial Day for a weekend of festivities.
Ernest Borgnine, the 92-year-old World War II naval officer cum Hollywood leading man, and Edith Shain, a woman whose liplock with a sailor in Times Square on V-J Day will be forever immortalized by the famous LIFE magazine photo, will receive Yafai and his crew as co-spokespersons for Stories of Service, a program run by a national nonprofit that mobilizes young people to produce short digital films about war veterans.
Last Memorial Day, Yafai’s sophomore classes showcased 26 Stories of Service videos at Gilroy’s City Hall, profiling 26 local members of the “Greatest Generation” – men and women who fought for their country during World War II. It was the largest project taken on by any one teacher in the history of the program. In honor of their feat, nine of Yafai’s students will travel to Washington D.C. for an educational trip that will culminate with them marching on the Washington Mall in the Memorial Day parade. Their veterans will join them in spirit, and in the photos the students will carry with them.
Though many of Yafai’s students are only familiar with Borgnine for his role as Katczinsky in “All Quiet on the Western Front” – an Academy Award-winning film based on a novel depicting the horrors of World War I – Yafai pinpointed Borgnine as one of his heroes as an actor and a veteran.
“It’s pretty exciting,” he said. “My students may not be as excited and I am or their parents are yet but they’re getting there.”
At 90, Shain, who Yafai has met before through Stories of Service, is still as sharp as he imagined she was 60 years ago. Standing at less than 5 feet, the petite nurse still draws the attention of many WWII veterans at Stories of Service gatherings, Yafai said.
“All the WWII veterans flirt with her,” he said. “They all want to dance.”
With the help of their guides, Yafai and his students will march in the Memorial Day parade, tour the Congressional and Senate offices and attend a Memorial Day ceremony at the Capitol’s WWII memorial and a banquet hosted by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki.
By that time, Yafai’s current sophomore class should be wrapping up their own round of Stories of Service projects back in Gilroy.
For now, Yafai’s sophomores are still recruiting local veterans of WWII and the Korean and Vietnam wars, and Yafai is raising money to fund the $8,000 trip to D.C.
“If anybody in the community wants to help us get there, we’re definitely trying to raise funds to cover expenses,” he said. “If they want to sponsor one of the students or make a donation, we would be incredibly grateful.”
To make a donation or volunteer as a veteran, e-mail Darren Yafai at da**********@*********ca.us.
