It was a moving morning at Iwo Jima Memorial Park in New Britain as students participated in not only beautifying the space, but also helping to remember those who lost their lives.
Ranging in age from freshmen to seniors, 35 Vinal Technical High School students from Middletown helped put up 100 flags. The flags were in honor of the 100 men from Connecticut who died in the Battle of Iwo Jima.
The students shared that they attended a ceremony honoring those who lost their lives over 70 years ago in the battle and decided they wanted to come back and find a way to make a difference.
"I think this is important with everything that’s happening... to have us and younger kids who weren’t around at the time, to understand and help the community," said sophomore Eliz Rodriguez. "It was a sad time and great lives were lost."
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For sophomore Adyn Darling, he shared that "it feels really good to be out here."
"I wanted to be out here because each flag, it feels like it represents somebody and it just feels good to put them up," Darling said.
Students and teachers said although this was the school's first time participating in the project, this most certainly won’t be the last as they plan on making it an annual tradition.
