Frank Yanick's recent visit to his grandson's class at Rocky Run Middle School proved he was far more than a school bus driver for Fairfax County.
Yanick is a veteran and survivor of the World War II attack at Pearl Harbor. His ship, The U.S.S. Phoenix, was docked at the end of Ford Island, not on the infamous battleship row. He survived the attack and also manned a gun to start shooting down the Japanese airplanes.
Yanick recently shared his experiences with his grandson Brett Blumer's social studies class on the Energizer Team at Rocky Run.
Yanick was dressing for church services aboard the Oklahoma that fateful Sunday morning. He spoke about how he manned a gun, and how he and the crew shot down a Japanese mini-sub in the harbor on their way out to sea.
Yanick shared his framed medals, and told of many other combat assignments he and the crew endured during the rest of the War in the Pacific.
His beloved ship was sunk by a British ship during the Falklands War. The United States had sold the ship to Argentina sometime after the war was over.