WESTFORD — Westford Academy on Thursday hosted its annual veteran’s panel with a cross section of service tenure dating as far back as the 1940s.
The academy’s Social Studies Department through teacher Stephen Scully hosted Cpl. Stewart Johnson, a WWII era veteran, Lt. Col. David Sawyer, a Vietnam War era veteran, Sgt. Thomas Sullivan, who served around Operation Enduring Freedom in the 1990s and Cap. Scott Rosenshein, who served during the War on Terror.
Veterans speak on service
Johnson was born and raised in Townsend and enlisted in the final months of his senior year in college.
“Eight days before graduation I had to go, they shipped me off to Sampson Naval Base,” he told students.
He spent approximately seven months on a shakedown cruise, which tests the performance of a naval vessel.
Sawyer spent 21 years in active duty, traveling across the United States, Germany and Vietnam.
Though he did not see combat, Sawyer said “he would not give up a minute” of the 12 different moves he and his family made in his years of service.
Sullivan served from approximately 1997 to 2006 as a military police officer, later learning that law enforcement was not his calling.
“I just wasn’t passionate about it,” he said.
Sullivan participated in peacekeeping missions to Bosnia and Kosovo before moving on from service in 2006 and serving in a civilian role in the Department of Defense.
Rosenshein, originally from New Jersey, enlisted after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centers on Sept. 11, 2001.
“It really changed the direction of my life, from that point forward I decided I wanted to join the army,” he said.
He worked his way through West Point with a focus in aviation, where he learned how to fly a Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopter.
Rosenshein was deployed for two of his three years of service to Afghanistan.
After his service, he now owns and operates an area wood manufacturing company.
Students were also invited to participate in a question and answer session, as well as thank each veteran for their service.
