Latest news with #HighPointCentral
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
HIGH POINT CONFIDENTIAL: Thank you, sir - High Point soldier sacrificed his life for his men in 1970
HIGH POINT — Tom Kelly spent his last day in High Point on Nov. 27, 1969, celebrating Thanksgiving with his family. They ate turkey and enjoyed being together, trying not to dwell on where Tom was headed. They took some family photos — Tom, his parents, a brother and a sister. The next day, Tom left High Point, a 22-year-old soldier bound for Vietnam. He would not return. The story of George Thomas Kelly III — Tommy or Tom, as he insisted on being called — is a sad tale, but an inspiring one, too. This weekend, in particular — when we salute the brave men and women who gave their lives in service to this nation — is a poignant time to remember the sacrifice of one of High Point's own. Tom was an active, popular student at High Point Central High School, where he was named to Who's Who his senior year. He graduated in 1965 and attended the University of North Carolina for two years before enlisting in the Army in 1967. He was commissioned a second lieutenant after graduating from Officer Candidate School. Frankly, Tom was not exactly gung-ho about the Vietnam War. He could've joined the ranks of others around him — perhaps even some of you — who protested the war, but he didn't. He still believed he should go. 'Tom was not a supporter of the war, nor was he someone who was in Vietnam because he had no choice,' Frank DeLong, one of Tom's Army buddies, wrote in an online tribute. 'He was there because he felt it was his duty to be there.' Tom's tour of duty in Vietnam didn't last long — less than half a year — but only because of the heroic sacrifice he made during the bloody Battle of Dak Seang, when his battalion came under attack from an aggressive North Vietnamese regiment. On the afternoon of April 22, 1970, after several days of continuous combat, the battalion found itself on a hilltop, nearly encircled by the North Vietnamese. Tom, by now a first lieutenant, bravely led his men to a bomb crater that could be utilized as a chopper landing zone. He radioed for help, and a medical evacuation helicopter was immediately dispatched to the battalion's precarious location. As quickly as men began piling onto the chopper, the enemy emerged from a tree line and began bombarding the craft with small arms fire. 'Because of the intense hostile fire, the heavily laden helicopter experienced great difficulty in taking off,' a military account of the incident reads. 'Lieutenant Kelly unhesitantly left the ship to engage the enemy in an attempt to divert their fire and to allow the helicopter to depart.' Armed with a couple of M-16 rifles, Tom and another officer — the aforementioned Frank DeLong — tried to fend off the North Vietnamese while radioing for another chopper. Lying prone on the ground, they began taking machine-gun fire from behind. 'The rounds were kicking up dirt all around us,' DeLong wrote. 'We rolled in opposite directions, trying to get out of his target zone. I rolled across the LZ (landing zone) and into a depression caused by an uprooted tree. Then all hell broke loose with small arms fire raking the LZ, coming from uphill of our position.' And Tom? 'I never saw Tom again,' DeLong wrote. 'I believe he was killed by the initial burst of machine gun fire.' DeLong wrote a letter to Tom's family, telling not only of his bravery during the final minutes of his life, but of the respect and admiration his men had for him long before that fateful afternoon. One of Tom's higher-ups wrote him up to receive the Medal of Honor — the nation's highest military decoration for valor — but he received the Distinguished Service Cross instead, the second-highest honor, awarded for extraordinary heroism in combat. The High Point Enterprise published a photo of Tom's parents, Tom Jr. and Jill, receiving the award on their son's behalf. 'His extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty, at the cost of his life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army,' the citation read. As they accepted the award, Tom's parents must've thought about the previous Thanksgiving Day, thankful for those final moments they enjoyed together as a family. And today, more than 55 years later, as we honor the military men and women who sacrificed their lives, we can all give thanks for a man like Tom Kelly.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
High Point principal's home ‘sanctuary' is the perfect escape
HIGH POINT, N.C. (WGHP) — The sign on the wall is supposed to set the tone. 'Welcome to the patio where memories are made and worries are few,' it says. Triad teachers struggle with students bringing phones to class Just below it is a new machine that is one of the few things that take Mike Hettenbach's mind off of work. Hettenbach is the principal of High Point Central High School — something that seems like a 25/8/366 job, if you know what I mean. 'For me, it's hard to shake the weight off my shoulder, so doing these things, sitting in here, watching the game. I've got neighbors driving by saying hi or come in,' Hettenbach said about the setup he has in his garage. He has a fridge with sodas, beer and other drinks, pennants for various sports teams, a TV and his beloved wood carving machine. 'This is a CNC machine. I bought this about two years ago,' Hettenbach said. 'I've done a lot things with wood, scrap wood, junk wood, building that furniture over there, but I was just looking to piddle-paddle. My younger brother is a master craftsman of cabinets.' Hettenbach uses mostly pre-coded programs on a computer that's connected to his wood cutter. One of the favorite things he makes are wall-sized plaques with the High Point Central bison logo that he gives to teachers as awards. 'One of my goals was for my staff and to kind of do a monthly Heart of the Herd, instead of doing just a certificate, making it a little bit more personal,' Hettenbach said. The hobby has done what he wasn't sure was possible. 'I've never been one who was good a relaxing, but I've done a great job the last six months,' he said. 'This is kind of my sanctuary in here. You get back from work. You have a lot of weight on your shoulders and whatnot. You just decompress, get your mind focused on all the weight you take back.' See the machine in action in this Saved By the Bell edition of The Buckley Report. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Triad teachers struggle with students bringing phones to class
(WGHP) — There are teachers in the prime of their careers having to deal with things they never imagined when they signed up for the profession. Chief among them is dealing with students bringing cell phones into class. 'I do think their attention is pulled, which makes it hard to just be present, whether that's socially in lunch or in the classroom,' High Point Central Veteran Psychology Teacher Kayla Ranew said. 'We have tried to move to a phones-out, sight-unseen, and I have noticed a difference this year. I've been a little more strict about making the kids have them off their desk … I think they've been a little more with me.' Ranew says the best way to deal with the situation is to be honest. 'I think I just try to treat them like people … I'm really big on trying to tell the kids this is why we're doing what we're doing, and there's a reason behind it,' Ranew said. The research on this issue is not encouraging. Ninety percent of schools report that bullying or harassment through phones happens. More than half say it happens regularly. Guilford County Schools says they're aware of it all. 'We have talked a lot about cellphones,' GCS Superintendent Whitney Oakley said. 'It's real. It's also something that parents have different feelings about … When I talk to other parents, they want their … their kid to have their phone so they can check in during the day.' Oakley isn't endorsing a one-size-fits-all approach. She's working with principals to see what they believe works at their school. 'We have added some mental health supports and tried to strengthen health, wellness and safety …. Paying attention to what the research says but also making sure we're engaging the community around when to have them, when to have them off, when to have them on, what's appropriate. We also don't live in a vacuum … Students have access outside of school to social media and technology, so it's a balance,' Oakley said. It may be most difficult at middle schools where emotions are high and maturity sometimes lags. 'We've seen a rise over social media about how kids get hostile about their phones. You see how they're ready to fight teachers and cuss and all sorts of things about their cellphones, so that does raise a concern if I say, 'Hey. Put your phone on my desk,' and I turn it into the office,' said Northern Guilford Middle School Science Teacher Leondra Richardson, who has had to deal with a student who wouldn't take no for an answer when he demanded his phone back. See more on the subject in this episode in our series Saved By the Bell in The Buckley Report. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
