​​WWII Roundtable November Dinner Program

​​​Monday, November 27, 2023

​​WWII Roundtable Dinner Program - Monday, June 26, 2023


(L-R) Kathryn Lerch, VP WWII RT Exec. Board and 

Ronald P. May, US Navy Reserve, author

WWII Roundtable Monday, September 23, 2024 Dinner Program

The B-29 & Operation Matterhorn

Strategic Bombing of Japan

SPEAKER: John Shively, author/historian and WWII Roundtable member

(L - R:) WWII Roundtable member (and WWII veteran) Bob Begeman shown with our guest speaker, Sgt. Major Robert Brown,
​U.S. Marine Corps, Feb. 27, 2023.

​"The Balbo Monument in Chicago, Illinois: Mussolini's Tribute to a Flying Fascist"

Featured Speaker: Bradley Damon, WWII Roundtable Board Member, At Large

​​WWII Roundtable Dinner Program

​​​Monday, September 25, 2023

​"Louis E. Curdes: A One-of-a-Kind-Ace" 
SPEAKER: Bradley Damon, WWII Roundtable Board Member

Norden bombsight

​​​​​​​​WWII Roundtable Dinner Program 

Monday, April 22, 2024​​

REMINDER:

Book Signing Event, Sunday, April 28, 2-5PM

​Park Tudor School

​​​"Nomonhan, The Antecedents of World War II - Part 2":  https://youtu.be/Wwb6XgeWcoE

All comments and constructive criticism welcome.
John Shively

​indjcs@aol.com

PFC Walter Stitt

​​​​Featured Program

​​​​​​​​​WWII Roundtable Dinner Program 

Monday, May 20, 2024​​

"2nd Battalion,7th Cavalry & la Drang Valley" 

Guest speaker: Bud Alley, U.S. Army Vietnam War Veteran and author of "The Ghost of the Green Grass"​​

​​WWII Roundtable Dinner Program  - Monday, August 28, 2023

"Your European Correspondent 

Alma De Luce 1939-1941"

Speaker: Kathryn Lerch, Editor
and WWII Roundtable Board Vice President

Ron Darrah

34th Infantry Division photos and quotations credits: Wikipedia

"History of Lukas-Harold, WWII and Beyond"

Presenters: Karl Kleinbub & Steve Hogan, WWII Roundtable Members

​​​Four WWII veterans & members of WWII Roundtable are shown posing with Walter Stitt (center), our guest speaker at our November 27, 2023 dinner meeting.

"Crociera aerea del Decennale," an Italian documentary film by LUCE of Balbo's round-trip flight from Rome to Chicago. 

Please click on picture or web address to watch video on YouTube: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b1T7wBE6u8

​​WWII Roundtable Dinner Program - Monday, July 24, 2023

WWII Story of Holocaust Survivor Jack Bronicki 

Speaker: Laurie Freeman, Daughter of Jack Bronicki 

"He escaped a concentration camp and joined a resistance group."*

​*Read more in January newsletter by ​Kathryn Lerch, WWIIRT Jan. 2024 Newsletter

Print created by Don Holloway, artist/historian

Book Signing Event with Kathryn W. Lerch, editor, Sunday, April 28, Park Tudor School

Kathryn Lerch will be offering to sign her newest "Legacy Initiative Project" book edition, "Your European Correspondent Alma De Luce 1939-1941".

B-29

John Shively

Julie Freeman

Red Bull

34th Infantry Division, U.S. Army

"The 34th Infantry Division...was the first American division deployed to Europe in World War II, where it fought with great distinction in the Italian Campaign."

WWII Roundtable Dinner Program - Monday, March 27, 2023


William A. Branic, WWII Marine

​Northside Events & Social Club (formerly "Knights of Columbus")

2100 E 71st Street, Indianapolis, Indiana​​

​Doors open - 5 PM. Dinner - 6 PM. Program - 7 PM.

"Remembering Vietnam Vets"

Featured Guest Speaker: Linda E. Minton, author

YouTube lecture & slide presentations:

Battle of Nomonhan - Part 1 & Part 2

by John Shively, 2023


"Nomonhan, The Antecedents of World War II - Part 1":  https://youtu.be/cW2TYkdD_9k

​​​​​​​​​​​​​Monday, August 26, 2024​​ Program

​​​WWII Roundtable January Dinner Program

​​​Monday, January 22, 2024

Ira W. Rhodes, age 98

Corporal, U.S. Army,

WWII Veteran

Featured Program: ​​

"He Never Complained:
​Stories of an Everyday Man"
 

Guest dinner speakers:​ 

David and Evan Humphrey

The speakers shared the story of their family member, the late Pvt. George Humphrey, who served in the 36th Infantry Division in North Africa, Italy and France and who was a recipient of numerous medals.

WWII Roundtable Dinner Program​​​ - Monday, January 23, 2023

Featured Program

​Featured Program:

​​"WWII Campaign in Burma"

Featured Speaker: Tom Slemons, WWII Roundtable Member

​​WWII Roundtable Dinner Program - Monday, May 22, 2023

​​​​​​​​​WWII Roundtable Dinner Program 

Monday, June 24, 2024​​

Featured Program:

"Lt. John G. Wallace & Guadalcanal" 
Hosted by:
John Shively,

WWII Roundtable member & WWII Pacific historian

Guest Speaker: CDR Jack Wallace, USNR (Ret),

son of Lt. John G. Wallace, U.S. Navy

Jack gave a slide presentation about his father’s experiences on the USS San Francisco during the WWII battle of Guadalcanal. Jack reported on enemy and friendly strategies and attacks and their wins and losses during their battles.

Walter Stitt receiving his WWII Roundtable Recognition Award certificate from Kathryn Lerch, Vice President of the Indianapolis WWII Roundtable - Ernie Pyle Chapter. 

​​​Featured Program

Germany's National Socialists Take-over of German Society

Featured Speaker:  Charles Braun, lawyer, historian, radio show host, public speaker and official reenactor for President Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd U.S. president

Story of “Don Graves and the Battle of Iwo Jima”—honoring a living veteran

Presenter: Steve Hogan, WWII Roundtable Member 

"Finding a monument for fallen WWII Soldier
​Pvt. Robert J. Whalen" 

Guest speaker: Catherine Whalen Purdy, Pvt. Robert J. Whalen's niece

..."How a family in Indiana discovered the final story of "Pvt. Robert J. Whalen, who was the only American soldier killed in action on August 29, 1944, during the liberation of Vailly-sur-Aisne in northern France."...

Combat chronicle

"The (34th) division participated in six major Army campaigns in North Africa and Italy. The division is credited with amassing 517 days of front-line combat, second only to the 654 days of fighting by the 32nd Infantry Division. One or more 34th Division units were engaged in actual combat for 611 days."

Featured Program

Battle of Nomonhan


"This is the first of a two part lecture series on the battle of "Nomonhan, The Antecedents of World War II". This first lecture is about the battle of Nomonhan that took place on the Mongolian Steppe in the summer of 1939 that was consequential for both the war in Europe and the looming war in the Pacific.


The second part of this lecture will be about the behind the scenes diplomacy, primarily between the Soviet Union and Germany but also with England and France leading up to the outbreak of the Pacific war and the attack on Pearl Harbor, that was influenced, in part, by the outcome of the battle at Nomonhan.​"

by John Shively

Featured Program

B-29

​​WWII Roundtable Dinner Program

​​​Monday, October 23, 2023

​​​​​​​​​​WWII Roundtable Dinner Program

​​​ Monday, October 28, 2024​​ 

WWII Roundtable Dinner Program

​​Monday, April 24, 2023

"My Experience in WWII"

by Corporal Ira W. Rhodes, U.S. Army, 34th Division, 5th Army​​

Presenter:

Steven Hogan, WWII Roundtable Board Member

"The First Composite Air Strike Force & Lebanon in 1958 "

by WWII Roundtable member Ron Darrah, Participant in Operation DOUBLE TROUBLE


(More in our September & October 2023 Newsletter, page 2, Preview of Our Fall Programs.)

Video on YouTube

​​​​​​​​​​WWII Roundtable Dinner Program

Monday, July 22, 2024​​

Featured program:

"Our Service Our Stories, Indiana Veterans Recall Their World War II Experiences," Volume 3


Two guest speakers:

1. Ron May, author of "Our Service Our Stories" highlighted the stories of Indiana Veterans whom he had interviewed and written about in his latest book. 


2. World War II Marine William A. Branic gave a summary of his service in the Pacific during WWII.


Click on the B-29 photo to go to John Shively's latest posting on YouTube

It's "the first of a planned three part lecture series on the Strategic Bombing Campaign of Japan. This lecture is on the Boeing B-29 Superfortress as a strategic bombing platform and its first use to bomb Japan from China prior to the capture of the Mariana Islands." John Shively

Please click the following link to go to this lecture on YouTube: https://youtu.be/JgzsApji0L8  


​"Operation Matterhorn was a military operation of the United States Army Air Forces in World War II for strategic bombing by Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers based in India, Ceylon, and China. Targets included industrial facilities in Japan, China and Southeast Asia. The B-29s were based in India but staged through bases around Chengdu in China's Sichuan province. Since the Japanese had cut the Burma Road in 1942, the only line of communications with China was over "the Hump", as the air ferry route to China over the Himalayas was called. All the fuel, ammunition and supplies used by American forces in China had to be flown in." From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Featured program:

“History in Your Own Backyard”
Sergeant Major Robert Brown, born in Rushville, IN in 1927, enlisted in March 1945; he intended to go into the Merchant Marines, but by accident became a Marine. Post-WW2, he was a drill instructor in Korea as well as in Vietnam!


Guest speaker:

​Sgt. Major Robert Brown, US Marine Corps
with interviewer, Karl Kleinbub (not shown here)

Kathryn W. Lerch, editor and Legacy Initiative Project coordinator

"Clearly shown in the painting is a guerrilla armed with a bolo knife divesting a Japanese sentry of his rifle. Crouched behind the foliage and clutching U.S. issued .30 caliber M1903 series rifles, are other members of the force who wait to assist the 11th Airborne force landing in front of the camp."

Credits: The American Soldier - U.S. Center of Military History history.army.mil,

https://www.history.army.mil/html/artphoto/pripos/amsoldier-print/1945phillip-p.html

​​​"PFC Walter Stitt in Action Across France & Battle of the Bulge"

WWII Veteran PFC Walter Stitt, 33rd Armored Regt., 3rd Armored Division

Speaker: Walter Stitt


WWII Roundtable Dinner Program​​​ - Monday, February 27, 2023

Featured Program

"Red Bull"

34th Infantry Division mascot image

The newest book from the Park Tudor Legacy Initiative Project

"...A great read about Europe as it descends into war and chaos...The letters of Alma De Luce concerning her travels with her correspondent husband, Dan, in the days preceding the outbreak of World War II...Great detail descriptions...The voyage on the SS Normandie to Europe...The escape from Calcutta to the U.S. on the USS President Madison...And the caique escape from Athens in 1941..."

Dean Armstrong, retired airline pilot who leads WW2 tours to Normandy and the Pacific.

Link to detail information

Louis Edward Curdes, American WW2 Ace

"Corporal Don Graves, USMC, Ret. was a flamethrower operator who fought on Iwo Jima in World War II. The aver- age life expectancy of a flamethrower on the battlefield was less than ten minutes." More in July & August 2023 Newsletter article, Page 2 by Kathryn Lerch. 

Credit: "March - April 2024 Newsletter", by Kathryn Lerch, page 4.

​​​​​​​​WWII Roundtable Dinner Program 

Monday, March 25, 2024​​

Nazi Party badge emblem

Photo: Air Transport Command C-46 Commando flying "The Hump" over the Himalayan Mountain Range from Burma to China, 1945. (Source =The Army Air Forces In World War II, Volume Seven "The Services". Wikimedia, Public Domain)

Featured Program

"In February 1945, the 11th U.S. Airborne Division and six Philippine guerrilla units operating on Luzon devised a plan to liberate a Japanese internment camp (holding) the second largest concentration of civilian allied men, women, and children in the Philippines, including "a few U.S. Navy nurses who had been incarcerated since their capture on Corregidor in 1942."​​

"The sole reason for the entire mission: the liberation of the 2,147 internees from almost certain death."

"The Red Bull in the Winter Line of Pantano, Italy – 29 Nov. to 3 Dec. 1943."

Lukas-Harold Corporation ("Naval Ordnance Plant")

Where History and Heroes  Meet

JULY PROGRAM:

​Liberation of Los Banos in the Philippine Islands

SPEAKER: Jeremy C. Holm, WWII airborne historian and author

"The Italo Balbo Column is a monument located in Chicago near Soldier Field. Balbo was a famous Italian pilot in the 1920s & '30s. In 1933 he led a flight of twenty-four Savoia-Marchetti S.55 flying boats on a round-trip flight from Rome to Chicago during the Century of Progress exposition. Mussolini donated the column, a 2,000 year-old artifact from the Italian port of Ostia, to commemorate this feat. Balbo was also Mussolini's Minister of the Air Force and Governor-General of Italian Libya..." Brad Damon

​​​​Featured Program

​​​"Secretary of War Stimson, Lt Gen Clark and Maj Gen Ryder reviewing 34th division soldiers, 1944"

No Dinner Meeting in December!

Featured Program:

"Eva Kor & the CANDLES Museum" 

Guest speaker: Alex Kor, Vice-President of Community Engagement

Alex is the son of Michael and Eva Kor. Both parents were Holocaust survivors. 

Eva Kor was founder of the CANDLES Museum in Terre Haute, Indiana.

​​The author's presentation included a live interview of three of her special guests, war Veterans of the Vietnam War and contributors to her book. There followed a Q&A and a book signing event with Linda Minton.

​​​​​​Loader and gunner in the Sherman tanks
  1. Two Purple Hearts, wounded twice in battles across France and Belgium into Germany
  2. Enlisted in the Army in 1942
  3. In training at Camp Polk, one year+
  4. Arrived on June 6, 1944, D-Day – the Allied invasion of France and in Normandy a few weeks after D-Day

Source: Cindy Holbrook, University Communications Staff, Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio, Nov. 11, 2022. 

https://www.wittenberg.edu/news/11-11-22/saluting-our-veterans

Linda E. Minton, author

​​​​​WWII Roundtable February Dinner Program

​​​Monday, February 26, 2024

B-29

"Louis Edward Curdes, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, was the only American pilot during World War II to shoot down enemy aircraft from all three major Axis powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan), as well as to intentionally shoot down an American plane. For the last-mentioned act, his commanding general actually commended him." Bradley Damon

​​Merry Christmas & Blessed Holidays to all!

INDIANAPOLIS WORLD WAR II ROUNDTABLE - ERNIE PYLE CHAPTER

B-29 in flight. By media.defense.gov, Public Domain, wikipedia.org