By David Vitrano

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – As Marine Corps veteran Clyde Hymel, clothed in his finest dress blues, prepared to lead the first ever St. John Veterans Day Parade down Airline Highway, a few blocks away Cory Boudreaux Jr.’s teacher at John L. Ory Magnet School was looking for volunteers to help out with the celebration that would take place later in the morning at the Southeast Louisiana War Veterans Home in Reserve. Little did the two of them know this would lead to a meeting that would change at least one local student’s view of Veterans Day.

“My teacher called me in and asked if I’d like to go help out,” said seventh-grader Boudreaux, who hopped at the chance to do a little volunteer work while also getting out of class. “It was something new.”

Then, as Boudreaux helped escort residents out of the home so they could watch the festivities, his mother’s cousin called him over to introduce him to Hymel.

“She told me that was my great-great uncle,” said Boudreaux.

Although Hymel lives in Garyville, Boudeaux had never met the man who helped raise his grandfather before.

Hymel enlisted in the Marines when he was just 17 years old to help support his numerous brothers and sisters. According to Boudreaux’s mother, Bridget Boudreaux, when he returned home after a very long tour, Hymel put away his uniform and medals and did not speak of his time in the service during World War II until she and other family members of her generation started to prod.

Still, her son had never formally met his great-great uncle.

“We might have been at a funeral or a wedding or something together,” she said.

The younger Boudreaux said the chance encounter changed his view of the events of that day.

“It made me excited,” he said. “It made me proud.”

He said now that he has met his uncle, he hopes to keep in better contact with him.

It is a hope his mother shares.

“I’m just so glad my son had this opportunity today,” she said. “I’m sure it was a history lesson for both of them.”