Carmel Catholic High School history teacher Julie Donner introduces her grandfather, Frank Fabianski, a 102-year-old Army veteran who recently was honored while visiting areas in Belgium and The Netherlands he last saw nearly 80 years ago serving in World War II. Students and faculty were among those who viewed the presentation Donner gave about the trip Wednesday in Mundelein.
Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
Frank Fabianski, a 102-year-old Army veteran who served in World War II, visited areas in Belgium and The Netherlands he last saw nearly 80 years ago during a trip with his family last October.
Frank Fabianski, a 102-year-old Army veteran, listens as his granddaughter, Carmel Catholic High School history teacher Julie Donner, gives a presentation about his October 2023 visit to areas in Belgium and The Netherlands he last saw nearly 80 years ago serving in World War II.
Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
He watched and listened while seated alongside high school students as his granddaughter, Carmel Catholic High School history teacher Julie Donner, gave a presentation about the trip at the school in Mundelein Wednesday.
Carmel Catholic High School history teacher Julie Donner shows the helmet worn by her grandfather, Frank Fabianski, a 102-year-old Army veteran who recently was honored while visiting areas in Belgium and The Netherlands he last saw nearly 80 years ago during World War II. Students and faculty were among the audience members Wednesday in Mundelein.
Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
“We talk a lot in class about how important it is to learn these stories, to have an eyewitness to be able to share that with us,” Donner said. “Because we know that holds the key to not only a better present, but a better future.”
Fabianski, who sent and received coded messages as a cryptographer, and his unit, the 104th “Timberwolves” Signal Division, arrived in France in September 1944, three months after the D-Day landings.
During the October trip, he was honored at liberation ceremonies with local VIPs, received battlefield tours, watched reenactments and wreath-laying ceremonies and visited a cemetery were 8,000 U.S World War II service members are buried.
Fabianski said he hopes young people in particular, like those listening to the presentation, never have to experience war.
Carmel Catholic High School history teacher Julie Donner gives a presentation about her grandfather, Frank Fabianski, a 102-year-old Army veteran who recently was honored while visiting areas in Belgium and The Netherlands he last saw nearly 80 years ago serving in World War II. Students and faculty members listened to the presentation Wednesday in Mundelein.
Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
“I hope they never have to do that again, as far as that is concerned, with the young people,” Fabianski said.