NH ARMY NATIONAL GUARD BLACKHAWK HELICOPTER LANDS AT THE TIMBERLANE REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL TO KICK OFF A NINE-WEEK PROGRAM HONORING VIETNAM VETERANS AND NATIONAL RECOGNITION DAY FOR POW/MIA SOLDIERS

Plaistow, NH – Timberlane Regional School District will host the landing of a NH Army National Guard Blackhawk Helicopter at its high school on Friday, September 16, in honor of National Recognition Day for POW/MIA Soldiers and to kick-off a nine-week project called Community Stories: Soldiers Home & Away.
The Community Stories team consists of nine southern New Hampshire libraries and the Timberlane Regional School District. Over 50 programs are planned throughout the region in a wide variety of formats to engage veterans and civilians from September 16th through November 14, 2016.
The helicopter landing launches a weekend of Community Stories events at Timberlane High School and the Timberlane Performing Arts Center (PAC). A Veterans Services Fair is offered to all veterans and their families on September 16th from 3:00-5:30 p.m. in the Timberlane High School cafeteria. On September 17th at 6:30 in the PAC, the Currier Museum and Vietnam Veterans of America will present “Visual Dispatches from the Vietnam War, ” a powerful portrayal and discussion of 35 iconic photographs that brought the Vietnam War to the kitchen table of every American household.
Dr. Earl Metzler, Superintendent of Timberlane Regional School District, stated: “Our partnership with the Plaistow Library on this region-wide humanities project is an excellent way to build on our strong relationship with the community. These programs will illuminate the issues that veterans of the Vietnam War and subsequent conflicts face and investigate the impact of contemporary wars on our society, offering learning opportunities for all ages.”
Cab Vinton, Director of the Plaistow Public Library, stated: “Our mission is to encourage everyone in the southern New Hampshire area to embrace the humanities and arts through a shared reading experience. At this time our focus is on veterans. We chose Tim O’Brien’s classic Vietnam War novel The Things They Carried, which depicts the Vietnam experience and its toll on service members overseas and at home. We anticipate having conversations on the challenges faced in combat zones and stateside, aided by a variety of speakers, including veterans, writers and artists, to address the experience of war from the military and civilian perspectives.”
All programs are free and open to the public; however, some may require pre-registration and the number of attendees may be limited.
A full schedule of events and other information for Community Stories: Soldiers Home & Away is available at www. communitystoriesnh.org. For specific questions, please contact: Brianna Sullivan, Director of Programming, Plaistow Public Library @ 603-382-6011 or Email
This project was made possible with support from New Hampshire Humanities, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities. Learn more at www.nhhumanities.org.