Air Force veteran Joe Toomey learned an important rule while serving in Vietnam: Never feed the wild animals.

Speaking to students at DeMello Elementary School’s Veterans Day assembly on November 10, Toomey recalled a story he had heard from his four years of service at Cam Ranh Naval Base in Vietnam. A security guard, stationed in an elevated guard tower, carelessly tossed leftover midnight rations over the edge of the tower. After a few days, a hungry orangutan began eating the discarded scraps, but it soon escalated.

“The orangutan started learning how to climb the telephone pole,” Toomey said. “Soon he came through the hatch and ate the man’s rations.”

It became a daily occurrence, until the guard left his post for home – but no one told the new guard about the orangutan. On the first night, the new guard was in for a scare as the orangutan climbed up the tower. He requested a transfer the very next day.

For Toomey, the story was a way to show DeMello’s young students the lighter side of military service.

“There’s some bad stories you see in the news, and some good stories you see on the news, but I just wanted to let you know there are some funny things that happened too,” Toomey said.

Toomey was one of a handful of veterans who shared their stories at the assembly. Carlos Castillo served in the United States Marine Corps in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as in operations in Haiti and the Philippines. He brought his “shadow box” with him, which displayed all of the medals and honors he had received from his military service.

He also told students how meaningful a postcard can be to a military member – something DeMello students learned about in the weeks leading up to the assembly. Castillo sent postcards back-and-forth with a young girl while he was stationed overseas in 2003. In 2015, she reached out to him after finding him on the Internet to let him know just how appreciative she was of his service.

“She said now she can go to sleep at night better knowing that after all these years of service to my great nation, she knows I’m safe,” Castillo said. “I’m able to sleep better too because I think I made a safer environment for her.”

After speeches by Dartmouth VFW Post 9059 veterans, students presented thank-you notes and performed a song for them. A student from each grade level also gave a short presentation on family members who serve in the military.