:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/OGKILHNW5HVXWE6WTHIGMUJ5DI.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/CY2V7T7OCAHXNSAGWSB47XP5NU.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/I7JIZJE6CBXENBERW4SS6YNB5E.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/B2ULMB5RM6CFI24WI5YKR27XO4.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/MN3M372E3IHEYVXWET4G3WK37Q.jpg)
WEST CHICAGO – A West Chicago resident and World War II veteran celebrating his 90th birthday Saturday got a special surprise from students at Wegner Elementary School.
Charles "Chuck" Scheckel, who was born Jan. 5, 1925, received almost 90 birthday cards from students in Mary Szul's fifth-grade class.
Scheckel enlisted in the Navy on his 18th birthday – after failing to convince his parents to let him enlist two years earlier. He went to gunnery school and spent two years on the USS Twining destroyer in the Pacific Ocean.
Szul, who has lived next door to Scheckel for 30 years, said she was invited to the party and wanted to do something nice for him. The event seemed like a perfect opportunity for the students: Szul said the district is always looking for ways to promote student community involvement and one of the themes present in the classroom is patriotism.
"They jumped right on board and wanted to make birthday cards for him," she said.
Szul's 30 students worked on multiple cards; some were birthday wishes, while others thanked him for his service in the Navy.
There were stand-up cards, mini crowns, origami and lots of red, white and blue.
"They came out really nice," she said.
Family and friends gathered at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6791 in West Chicago for the surprise party. Scheckel said he figured something was up when his out-of-town children all came to visit for the weekend. But he was still surprised – when he arrived at the VFW, he thought they were just having a bingo night.
"I was so thrilled and bewildered by the whole thing," he said.
He was also shocked to receive so many cards from the kids.
"I'm still flabbergasted," he said.
Scheckel said he had a good time at the party.
"I had so much of my family and so many of my friends," he said. "It's hard to understand why me [to honor]."
Szul said as soon as the students came back Monday they asked how the party went and what Scheckel thought of the cards. She said she wanted the students to take part in a non-reciprocal activity.
"I believe students at any age should be living to give rather than receive, and they had a lot of fun," she said.