WINSLOW -- Students and educators at Winslow Junior High School will connect with history this morning as U.S. veterans of foreign wars gather to tell their stories at the school's auditorium.

In honor of Veterans Day, administrators plan to hear from Robert Locklin, a Vietnam veteran from Vassalboro who had to fight in successive battles for two days without pause after seeing his friend Larry Chase of Camden die in his arms.

Students have raised funds to present Locklin with a commemorative keepsake, event organizer Linda Voss said. A similar event last year helped the students understand some of the toll a war takes on combat survivors, she said.

"It really has taught the kids so much about that baggage, what (veterans) are living with," Voss said. "He told the kids, 'I can't cry. We were told never to mourn .... There was no time.'"

Voss said Locklin and Chase had become friends because, among other reasons, they were the only two in their group who were from Maine.

At the time they met, Chase had never had his picture taken because his family was too poor to have portraits done.

In the field, they encountered a news photographer who obliged them by taking Chase's photo and mailing it to his family.

Today, that photo is the only likeness his nephews and nieces have of him, and will be on display at today's ceremony.

Joel Elliott -- 861-9252

jelliott@centralmaine.com