The best way to learn is through personal experience.

That's why a group of War Veterans shared their experiences with Vestal students.

And as Action News Reporter Jessica Light tells us, the hardest stories to tell can teach the most.

These are the faces of courage.

Faces with stories attached... and those stories aren't easy to tell.

"Hung us upside down and whipped us."

But these War Veterans are telling them anyway.

"In a way its therapeutic for me and its a little educational for the kids." says Korean War Veteran Al McQuade.

Al McQuade was a Prisoner of War for 34 months in North Korea.

He told these Vestal High School students the story of his attempted escape.

And about the pain he endured when he was captured again.

"It wasn't a pretty picture. And you know I have scares all over my body to show that we got the daylights beat out of us." says McQuade.

It's a story of strength these students won't find in their history text book.

"We learn about special battles but we never learn about what actually happened. And its nice that they can share that with us." says Taylor Iacovelli, a Vestal Junior.

"It's a fascinating first-hand perspective. Some of the stuff was pretty funny, and some of the stuff was pretty sad. And all of it was pretty human." says Gregory Bai, a Vestal Junior.

Al Rood shared some of those funny stories.

But the sad ones still break his heart.

"Been lying in the fox hole trench, and this guys gone, the guy behind me. But me, I wasn't hurt. I can't tell you why, I don't know." says Rood, a World War II Veteran.

They don't have all the answers, but these faces do have a lifetime of experience to share.

"I had shrapnel, still have shrapnel in my left leg."

The real-life experience that is part of America's History.

In Vestal, Jessica Light, WBNG-TV Action News.

This is the 9th year veterans have spoken to Vestal high school students.

About a dozen veterans from Vietnam, the Korean War and World War II participated.