Gerald Holland's great-uncle Earnest Thornton Holloway left his Poquoson home to serve in World War II. He was killed at 19 in the 1944 Battle of Leyte Gulf.
Holland, a history teacher at Smithfield High, uses his authentic stories to personify history and applied for National History Day's Silent Heroes program to support it. He recently learned he was one of 56 around the country awarded the grant and it will help him support research and teach about U.S. veterans.
“I figured that will be another great way to help my students understand that these were real individuals who did really great things,” he said, “both during the war and, the way the project works out is, really great things after the war and before as well.”
Through the year-long program, Holland’s dual enrollment U.S. history students will research WWII veterans U.S. Coast Guard Aviation Machinist’s Mate 1st Class Zenas Elbert Fearing Sr. and U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. John Joseph Macionis.
The class will work with a George Mason University historian and National History Day research mentors to learn about the veterans’ lives before, during and after their enlistments. At the end of the school year, they’ll go to the Albert G. Horton Jr. Memorial Veterans Cemetery in Suffolk, where the men are buried, to film a eulogy.
Holland and his class were one of 56 chosen across the nation taking part in this year’s program, which is sponsored by a grant from the Veterans Legacy Program in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
“Silent Heroes is a unique and rewarding experience for students to learn the history of World War II through the experiences of their veterans, and in return, tell their untold stories,” National History Day Executive Director Cathy Gorn said in a statement. “Not only do students gain historical thinking and research skills, but they also become connected to the personal and local histories that they have contributed to.”
Holland said he knows most of his students likely won’t become historians, but the skills they learn can help them in college and beyond. As a 20-year Coast Guard veteran, Holland also hopes they’ll embody the branch’s motto: honor, respect and devotion to duty.
“That's what I want these kids to take away is be good people, be honorable, be respectful, devote yourself to whatever it is you're going to devote yourself to, and do it the right way, and learn from these individuals because they did it the right way,” he said. “If my kids can do that too, then I've accomplished something.”
Isle of Wight County Schools is a member of the Hampton Roads Educational Telecommunications Association, which holds WHRO’s license.
