Let freedom shine

Alicia Robinson

What one-word response did U.S. Army Gen. Anthony McAuliffe send to

German troops in Belgium when they asked him to surrender in December

1944?

The answer is on one of 28 documents that will be displayed as a

freedom shrine at Eastbluff Elementary School. Members of the Newport

Harbor Exchange Club, a community service club that works to improve

communities and prevent child abuse, donated the documents and

dedicated them at a ceremony Tuesday at the school. The collection

includes copies of documents important to American history, such as

the Mayflower Compact, the Bill of Rights, the German Instrument of

Surrender in World War II, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a

Dream” speech.

While students aren’t familiar with all the documents in the

freedom shrine, they do have some ideas about what freedom means.

“We don’t have to be bossed around by a different country, with

them telling us what to do,” said Kelsey Johnson, 11, who carried the

Declaration of Independence in a procession of the documents for the

dedication.

She said her document is important because it shows how our

fledgling country wanted to be freed from British rule.

“If we weren’t free ... then the Nazis might have taken over and a

lot of people would be dead and in concentration camps,” said John

Paglisotti, 11, who carried a copy of Gen. McAuliffe’s message.

He had some suggestions of what Americans can do to retain their

freedoms.

“They could make good laws and stuff, and pick good presidents,”

he said.

The documents will later be mounted on the brick walls of the

theater.

“For children, history doesn’t become real till they see something

or touch something, and with the freedom shrine within reach, what

some of our forefathers went through becomes much more meaningful to

them,” Eastbluff Principal Charlene Metoyer said.

She’s been yearning for a freedom shrine for her school for some

time, she said. She spent some time pondering the idea as she

exercised one of her obligations as an American: jury duty.

Once her five weeks of jury service were up, Metoyer returned to

school to find, serendipitously, the Exchange Club had called about

giving Eastbluff a freedom shrine.

“We have done about 30 of these in our area,” said Dick Freeman

one of about 15 Newport Harbor Exchange Club members who attended the

dedication.

After giving a school a freedom shrine, exchange club members

follow up later, offering dictionaries to students who write the best

essays about freedom. The club offers the documents to schools, so

children can start learning about freedom when they’re young, Freeman

said.

“My opinion is that you start at the very beginning, and it gets

better and better and better,” he said.

And there are always opportunities to learn. Although many of the

students didn’t know much about former President Ronald Reagan before

this week, Metoyer said, they will by the time the week is out. Some

of them are apparently history buffs, and the evidence is that

several knew the answer to the question about Gen. McAuliffe, which

Newport Harbor Exchange Club President John Kruse posed to the

students during the dedication.

Showing his true American spirit, when the Germans asked McAuliffe

to surrender, he told them: “Nuts!” His troops were able to hold the

city of Bastogne until reinforcements arrived, helping assure the

defeat of German forces in World War II.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

[email protected].