When the fifth grader at the microphone at Tipp City’s Veterans Day ceremony began to read her essay, the veteran she was describing had come believing he was there to represent his employer. Dal Donley drives a school bus for Tipp City Schools in Ohio. On Nov. 11, he found out that the veteran being honored was him.
The student was Siara Mehta of LT Ball Intermediate School, and her essay told the story of his 26 years in the U.S. Navy, according to a report from K99.1FM, written by Ren Sikes of WHIO.com and Taylor Robertson of News Center 7.
A Guest of the District Becomes the Guest of Honor
The ceremony took place at Veterans Memorial Park in Tipp City, in Miami County. Donley, whom elementary students know as “Mr. Donley,” had been invited with the understanding that he was there on behalf of the school district, which employs him as a bus driver.
Instead, the program was built around him. Each year, fifth graders at LT Ball Intermediate write essays about a veteran, and the top two finalists read theirs aloud at the Veterans Day event. Mehta, a finalist, had chosen Donley as her subject. K99.1FM reports that her essay followed his path from enlisting as a sailor up through the ranks…