An interview with Al Medro, Platt College San Diego Vice President
Nicole: Can you tell us a little about your mother’s suggestions for honoring our veterans?
Al Medro: For the past two or three years my mother, who is almost ninety-five years old, has enjoyed honoring the veterans of our college on Veteran’s Day. On several occasions, she packaged red, white and blue jelly beans and tied them with red, white and blue ribbons so that I could give them to our veterans on Veterans Day. My mother also describes the gist of what she wanted me to say as I presented the jelly beans to each veteran. Although her precise words change slightly every year, her message to our veterans is that this gift is a small token of great respect. This year (Veterans Day 2017), my mother wanted to do something different. She explained that she wanted to give the veterans Hershey’s bars instead of red, white and blue jelly beans. Her reason was clear. She explained that red, white and blue jelly beans only have the color of the American flag to make them a suitable token for our veterans. She explained that HERSHEY’S MILK CHOCOLATE bars are more appropriate. They are truly American and they have a history with the United States Military because they were part of the rations in World War II.
My mother also suggested that we wrap the bar with red, white and blue paper so that all but the first two letters of the word HERSHEY’s were covered. Chocolate bars wrapped this way would have the letters “HE” showing and these should be given to our male veterans.
Others should be wrapped so that all but the first three letters were covered. The letters “HER” would be showing and these should be given to our female veterans. We at Platt College San Diego very much enjoy honoring our veterans for Veterans Day and expressing our appreciation for their service on behalf of our college. We are always delighted to present them with HERSHEY’S MILK CHOCOLATE bars and to share my mother’s explanation for why they are a more appropriate token of great respect. We all savored the grilled hot dogs and cherished the courtyard activities we had in honor of our veterans on Veterans Day.
Nicole: Thank you, Al
Happy Veterans Day to all our heroes!