A South Dakota teacher is traveling to France to visit memorials of American veterans and deliver a eulogy. The non-profit, National History Day offers teachers the opportunity to revisit the history of World War I. Only a few applicants were chosen out of hundreds who applied.
Carissa Vanderley is a social studies teacher at Chamberlain Highschool. Vanderley says she found the application process in a Facebook group for teachers.
“I thought, ‘Gosh, I might as well just apply for it. You never know what might happen,’ and I thought it was kind of a long shot getting this opportunity, and when I was – when I got the phone call that I was selected to represent one of the 17 teachers that are going, I just was absolutely in shock," Vanderley says.
The program is also sponsored by the World War I Commission and the Pritzker Military Museum in Chicago. It encourages teachers to research the life and service of World War I veterans from their area who are now buried in France.
Each teacher will deliver a eulogy at the grave site of their chosen soldier. Vanderley chose Major George E. Sperbeck because of a connection they shared.
Major Sperbeck was a principal with the Ft. Pierre Schools and superintendent of the Parker School District in South Dakota.
“I found out he was an educator and that really just – I’m like, ‘This is the person I want to research," Vanderley says.
In 1917, Sperbeck was sent to France to fight in World War I, where he eventually attained the rank of Major. It was during a reconnoitering, or reconnaissance, mission through the trenches when he received his fatal injury.
A German soldier was playing dead when one of Sperbeck’s men noticed him move. When he called out a warning, the German soldier turned and fired. Sperbeck died two days later.
“I’ve read some of the letters that were went home to his wife, or just an article about – just the kind words that the men in his battalion, and South Dakota Soldiers that wrote about Major Sperbeck, you know, that he was just a – No other man was as fearless as he was," Vanderley says.
Vanderley says the teachers will travel to Reims, France where they will spend time visiting memorials and cemeteries. They will also spend time in Belgium speaking with other educators.