BANGOR – In the United States, children and even young adults rarely have up-close and personal experience with the devastation of war. For an hour on July 21, several dozen youngsters learned about what that was like for their elders.

Galen Cole lost his best boyhood friend, Charlie Flanagan, during World War II.

“How many of you have a best friend?” he asked a group of eighth-graders from Orrington’s Center Drive School. They all silently raised their hands.

“Yes, very good,” he said, nodding approvingly and eyeing each child in turn. “And hopefully, you’ll never lose your best friend.”

As the creator of the Bangor-based Veteran’s Interview Program, now in its 14th year, Cole wanted the children to understand in personal terms what war really means. He is not alone.

The program consistently attracts some 40 veterans of World War II, the Korean and Vietnam wars and Desert Storm – all willing to share an hour or two with children from around the state in grades five through 12.

On July 21, students and veterans sat in clusters at long tables in the museum. On the wall, Uncle Sam beckoned sternly from a vintage poster for the U.S. Army. A sultry woman advertised the Navy. The Air Force and Coast Guard declared a course to victory.

Often, the visits occur in conjunction with study units on U.S. history, World War II, the Holocaust or Veterans Day, and many in the 50 or so classes that participate in the program each spring and fall are well-prepped by their teachers.

The veterans come prepared, too, laden with artifacts and historical literature, eager to tell their stories.

Carroll Frye, an Air Force man during World War II who flew aboard a Boeing B-17, the famed Flying Fortress, has taken part for two years.

“I figured they were teaching the younger generation about World War II, but the kids didn’t know what they were talking about,” Frye says. “Kids keep asking me things about World War II that they don’t get at school. I bring out a lot of things you maybe wouldn’t find in a book.”

As people who have been through the horrors of war, the men and women in the program want to help youngsters see past abstract names and dates found in textbooks, and get a glimpse of reality.

Cole’s desire to set up the program comes from personal experience as a 19-year-old rifleman in General Oliver’s 5th Armored Division in 1945, when he saw half his squad killed on the front line in Germany.

Cole had just given up his seat on the passenger side of the transport vehicle to a senior squad member, William Golladay, who was superstitious about where he sat. A German artillery shell hit the side Golladay had just taken.

Thrown out of the truck with shrapnel wounds, Cole realized how lucky he was to be alive. Dazed and waiting for help, he made a promise to a higher power that, if he was allowed to get home alive, he would work to help his fellow man and his community.

His luck held. Back home, he took the reins at his father’s firm, the Bangor-based Cole’s Express, and became a leader in the community – both in business and civic affairs, serving as a city councilor and then mayor.

His leadership and civic interests led him, in 1975, to set up a foundation which in 1990 created the Cole Land Transportation Museum and a number of community outreach programs, including the Veteran’s Interview Program.

Fit and energetic at 77, Cole, at the Veteran’s Interview Program, sported his favorite red, white and blue knitted sweater, adorned by a tie patterned with tiny U.S. flags. Slightly tremulous in speech, Cole gave the impression of wanting to share all his thoughts at once; statistics, anecdotes and homilies in quick succession. But one word rang out – freedom.

“Freedom is very precious and dear,” Cole told the children. “It should not be taken for granted. Use it to express yourself. But when you do, always remember those who fought for your freedom.”

The freedom taken for granted by Americans and denied to so many others around the world is, for Cole, the reason children learning about history should be linked with those who witnessed its making. The opportunity to talk with veterans is often the first contact Maine schoolchildren have with the realities of war.

Three girls sat at Frye’s table with a list of questions about rank and duties and hardships during his World War II years, 30 months of that in combat.

A rounded, grandfatherly sort, with a twinkle behind his bifocals, Frye was conversational. He showed the girls his collection of stamps from countries overrun by the Germans. A box of medals included his presidential unit citation and honors for service during the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of the Rhineland. A photograph showed him in uniform in front of his parents’ house.

Al Meister, a long-time program participant, remembered how disturbed he was over Korea’s war-torn wasteland. On a map, he showed where his unit came ashore at Inchon and moved up to Seoul. A compilation of stories and photos from The Associated Press correspondents who covered the war showed a cold, bleak landscape.

“It wasn’t all palm trees and warm weather,” Meister said. “There were no trees left. What trees there were had been shot off.”

After his service, Meister went on to become chief biologist for Maine’s Atlantic Salmon Commission, retiring in 1988. More recently, he joined a group of veterans who returned to Korea at the invitation of the South Korean Veterans Organization.

“When I went back, it had all been reforested,” he said with evident relief.

Hal Crosby Jr., who served in the Pacific with the Air Force’s 29th Bomb Group, described the horrors of an incendiary raid on Tokyo during World War II.

“The hot-top was catching on fire. Swimming pools and rivers were steaming. People were jumping into the water to try to escape, but then they’d be scalded,” he said.

Crosby has been devoted to the interview program since its inception. He also brought along a camera to snap photos of the children, later sending them the prints. He even took a bit of competitive enjoyment in comparing tallies of youngsters he’s met with Ray Perkins, who also has been with the program since its first day.

“I’m going past 430 kids now,” Crosby announced gleefully, “so I have the edge over him.”

A common theme emerged from the interviews. World War II, said Edwin Cormier, was a conflict with clear rights and wrongs. But with Korea and Vietnam, people began asking questions.

He looked at the three boys before him, asking rhetorically, “Is there another way, other than killing? That’s what you’re asking. I say, ‘Yes.’ We can use science and diplomacy, and we can ask questions. You see, you’re free to ask questions.”

The freedom to question the necessity of war, the veterans said, is eternally entwined -confusingly and complexly – with the responsibility to defend freedom through war.

The interview program seeks to introduce youth to real people with memories and their personal observations about the meaning of it all.

Cole asked the children simply to “take home thoughts to do a little more with your life than you thought you would.”

As a veteran, Cole is interested in keeping memories alive. Over two decades, he’s been instrumental in various observances in Bangor. They include the dedication of the Veterans Remembrance Bridge over the Penobscot River, a national reunion of the 5th Armored Division, and the largest parade ever in the area for the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII.

Because of the 5th Armored Division’s role in freeing Luxembourg, Cole also has taken an interest in commemorations there. He played a key role in the purchase and dedication of a set of carillons – a traditional military memorial in the military cemetery of Hamm, where 5,000 American GIs were laid to rest – in Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor.

The museum has distributed 1,800 walking sticks to Maine’s war veterans, built a WWII memorial in the form of a bronze jeep and a likeness of Cole’s boyhood buddy, Charlie Flanagan, and now has under construction a Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Among the museum’s extensive collection of transportation vehicles: antique baby carriers; a Conestoga wagon; a 1949 diesel-electric locomotive; snowplows; firetrucks; cars; and a complete early American railroad station.

There are displays of thousands of 20th century war artifacts from the European, Russian and American armed services; medals; wartime currency printed with “over stamps” to prevent enemy use; newspaper clippings; a chunk from the Berlin Wall; a flask bearing a Soviet Navy insignia; a KGB pocket watch; a Doomsday clock that once outfitted a Soviet Typhoon class nuclear submarine; a ceremonial dagger from the Gestapo and many other items.

“A lot of times, the kids will say, ‘I really felt moved,” Carter said. “You just don’t know about the hardship. Sometimes the kids are a little shook up.”

No matter how much a teacher talks about World War II, said language arts and history teacher Philippa Harvey, it’s difficult for children to comprehend.

“The veterans bring in things like battle helmets, rations, medals,” Harvey said. “One gentleman had a telegram that went to his parents that said he was Missing in Action. He was also a POW. The textbooks tell you what happened, but not how it happened. Some of the kids are very stirred. I really get some very insightful writing from them.”

To obtain information on the Veteran Interview Program, or to sign up, contact the Cole Land Transportation Museum, 405 Perry Road, Bangor, call 990-3600 or visit www.colemuseum.org. Museum hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day from May 1 to Nov. 11. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors, ages 19 and under admitted free.