10 Year Reunion - Class of '63

When Duluth East High School’s class of ‘63 walked across the stage to receive their diplomas, America was a land of peace, prosperity, and seemingly unlimited hope for the future. The commencement address was titled; “You Too Should Dare to Dream.” Almost everyone believed it. At the ten-year class reunion, however, the world they’d known in high school was a different place, and they were different people; some, very different. The values, morals, and ethics they had assumed unchangeable seemed under assault. The fulcrum of this change was the war in Vietnam. Only a few members of the class had actually gone to war, but all of them had been touched by it in some way.

Two members of the class who had gone met for the first time just prior to the reunion. They were from opposite ends of the high school spectrum. One had been a member of the ‘in crowd’ with looks, popularity and brains. The other was a nobody. One volunteered; the other had been drafted. One had gone to college; the other was a drop-out. One had felt a strong attraction; the other didn’t. The only things they had in common were the physical and emotional scars of war. One had seemingly surmounted these problems. The other hadn’t.