Jimmy Weldon shares perspective on Star Spangled Banner

American voice actor, Jimmy Weldon, who is a ventriloquist and World War II veteran is known for voicing Yakky Doodle the little Duck and hosting the television series, “The Webster Webfoot Show.”  He came to speak at FC during chapel, Oct. 20.

Chapel kicked off with an introduction from Paul Loeffler for Weldon, who subsequently launched into his presentation. Weldon requested the audience be quiet and demonstrated his Yakky Doodle voice, a character on The Yogi Bear Show.

Following his entertaining beginning, Weldon began his main talk. He started with the history of the Star Spangled Banner, explaining how when he was young, everyone knew the words to it because it originally was a poem. He then begun telling the story of how the Star Spangled Banner came to be.

Near the end of the War of 1812, the English Armada had surrounded the American city of Baltimore and started to shell Fort McHenry. The English admiral Alexander Cochrane said that he would stop as soon as the American flag flying on the fort was taken down. Fortunately, the flag did not fall and the Star Spangled Banner was penned soon after by Francis Scott Key.

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Grateful to be back in Fresno, Weldon was able to speak to multiple groups in the area. For most of his television career, Weldon spent many years working in Fresno.

“Well, my friend Pat Ogle said, ‘Hey, you ought to talk to the Christian schools and talk to the Christian businessmen and women,’ and he set it up for me,” Weldon said. “I can’t express how much it means to me to be up here in Fresno because I appeared on television in this area longer than any other place I was on the air. I started in Dallas in 1950 when there was one tv set for every three blocks in the city. For 66 years I’ve been in it.”

Macie Thompson, ‘19, was thankful that she got to hear a World War 2 veteran speak and thought he was entertaining to listen to.

“I thought he was super funny,” Thompson said. “I liked how he enjoyed speaking to us and I laughed at his jokes. I love when the veterans come to our school and talk to us.

For sophomore Brandon Brogan, having a World War II veteran speak in chapel is always exciting. Brogan looks forward to it every year.

“I love it when the school brings in someone like Jimmy Weldon,” Brogan said. “It was cool that this older guy was still able to speak, have energy and still make everyone laugh. Veterans are always super cool and I look forward to them every year.”

Weldon finished off chapel by showing a video he narrated that goes more in-depth about the War of 1812. It highlighted the battle in Louisiana where Andrew Jackson had the help of pirates to defeat the English, although the war had ended two months earlier. Afterwards, many students lined up and gave a hug and handshake to Weldon as they left for class.

For more articles about special chapels, read about Champions for Tomorrow.

This author can be reached via twitter @alexrurik23 and via email Alexander Rurik.