Willowbrook’s JROTC program visits Cantigny Park to recognize Veterans Day

Each year, District 88 recognizes Veterans Day, which provides an opportunity to pause and reflect to honor and thank those who have served/plan to serve in the U.S. military.

Veterans Day honors the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” of 1918 that signaled the end of World War I, known as Armistice Day. District 88 remains open on this day to help ensure students learn about the significance of this event.

This year, students in Willowbrook’s U.S. Army Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) program (who are referred to as cadets) visited the First Division Museum at Cantigny Park in Wheaton. The cadets experienced exhibits covering World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, as well as conflicts in which the U.S. Military has been involved during the past 35 years.

The group also participated in an interactive, scale reproduction of Omaha Beach (the historic Normandy, France, landing site from the June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion); received guided tours of the museum; and explored U.S. Army tanks on display. They were challenged to gather details about the technology, past and present, that makes the development of those vehicles possible.