Where History and Heroes Meet
INDIANAPOLIS WORLD WAR II ROUNDTABLE - ERNIE PYLE CHAPTER
"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.
"Discussion with Vietnam War Veterans"
Credit: "March - April 2024 Newsletter", by Kathryn Lerch, page 4.
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
Nazi Party badge emblem
Remembering Dale E. Gillespie
WWII 82nd Airborne Medic
Speaker: Brad Damon
WWII Roundtable Board Member, Military History Expert
"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.)
Historian Ron May explores Indiana’s World War II legacy by highlighting the former bases and current memorials, monuments, and museums across the state.
Merry Christmas & Blessed Holidays to all!
Featured Program
WWII Roundtable February Dinner Program
Monday, February 26, 2024
B-29 in flight. By media.defense.gov, Public Domain, wikipedia.org
"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."
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 with Live Speaker
"Secretary of War Stimson, Lt Gen Clark and Maj Gen Ryder reviewing 34th division soldiers, 1944"
***Featured Program with Guest Speaker***
- Two Purple Hearts, wounded twice in battles across France and Belgium into Germany
- Enlisted in the Army in 1942
- In training at Camp Polk, one year+
- 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
Please click on this photo to link to the slide show.
Becky Holbert: "I'll be speaking about the Ernie Pyle & Veterans Memorial that's in the works and we'll soon be breaking ground. I'll also be adding some personal touch as the daughter of a WWII veteran/POW.
I'm on the Friends of Ernie Pyle WWII Museum Board of Directors. I currently live close to Dana, IN, hometown of Ernie Pyle and am originally from Fortville, IN."
Dale E. Gillespie's High School profile
Dale's High School yearbook graduation photo and snippet of his sport and extracurricular interests.
Source: Contributed by a WWII Roundtable Member and military history researcher.
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.
JULY PROGRAM:
Liberation of Los Banos in the Philippine Islands
SPEAKER: Jeremy C. Holm, WWII airborne historian and author
"The Red Bull in the Winter Line of Pantano, Italy – 29 Nov. to 3 Dec. 1943."
WWII Roundtable Dinner Program
Monday, March 25, 2024
Featured Program
No Dinner Meeting in December!
WWII Roundtable Dinner Program
Monday, July 22, 2024
"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 Guest Speaker
Featured Program:
"WWII Campaign in Burma"
Featured Speaker: Tom Slemons, WWII Roundtable Member
WWII Roundtable Dinner Program - Monday, May 22, 2023
"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
Lukas-Harold Corporation ("Naval Ordnance Plant")
"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
Linda E. Minton, author
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.
World War II Indiana Landmarks
Speaker: Ronald P. May
Author, Historian, Public Speaker, and Preserver of Life Stories
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
Louis Edward Curdes, American WW2 Ace
Ira W. Rhodes, age 98
Corporal, U.S. Army,
WWII Veteran
Featured Program
"Red Bull"
34th Infantry Division mascot image
WWII Roundtable Dinner Program
Monday, June 24, 2024
(Left - Right:) Walter Sherman and Ronald Montague,
Indianapolis Metropolitan Military Honor Guard
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)
WWII Roundtable Dinner Program
Monday, February 24, 2025
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.
Kathryn W. Lerch, editor and Legacy Initiative Project coordinator
Story of “Don Graves and the Battle of Iwo Jima”—honoring a living veteran
Presenter: Steve Hogan, WWII Roundtable Member
WWII Roundtable Dinner Program
Monday, October 23, 2023
WWII Roundtable Dinner Program
Monday, October 28, 2024
"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
The Friends of Ernie Pyle developed the Ernie Pyle & Veterans Memorial Park to honor the beloved Indiana journalist and famed WWII correspondent and the soldiers he wrote about.
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.
US Congressman Jim Baird,
Indiana
Featured June Program
Monday, August 26, 2024 Program
WWII Roundtable Dinner Program
Monday, April 24, 2023
"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
“Dale Eugene Gillespie, 86, passed away on January 17, 2011. Born on March 15, 1924 in Whitley County, Indiana, he was a life-long Hoosier. Gillespie graduated from Columbia City High School in 1941. He enlisted in the Army on his 18th birthday in 1942. He served with the 82nd Airborne for three and a half years.
Gillespie was a paratrooper, making combat jumps in Sicily, Italy, Normandy and Holland. Among other awards, he earned a Bronze Star in Sicily and six major campaign stars.”
Source: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/dale-gillespie-obituary?id=30929717
WWII Roundtable November Dinner Program
Monday, November 25, 2024
"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."
In Honor of Memorial Day
Dale Gillespie’s remarkable military experiences will be the feature of two programs, the first will be in May. Each guest attending on May 19th will receive a gratis copy of Words of War: Wartime Memories - Oral Histories from WWII (Vol. IV).
WWII Roundtable Dinner Program
Monday, May 19, 2025
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.
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.
WWII Roundtable Dinner Program - Monday, January 23, 2023
Featured Program
"Ernie Pyle & Veterans Memorial"
Featured Speaker: Becky Holbert, daughter of a WWII veteran/POW
WWII Roundtable January Dinner Program
Monday, January 22, 2024
Indianapolis Metropolitan Military Honor Guard:
"We Practice To Do It Right"
Speakers: Ronald Montague, Commander, USAF Veteran Walter Sherman, Senior Trustee, USAF Veteran,
Indianapolis Metropolitan Military Honor Guard
"My Experience in WWII"
by Corporal Ira W. Rhodes, U.S. Army, 34th Division, 5th Army
Presenter:
Steven Hogan, WWII Roundtable Board Member
Walter Stitt receiving his WWII Roundtable Recognition Award certificate from Kathryn Lerch, Vice President of the Indianapolis WWII Roundtable - Ernie Pyle Chapter.
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
Dale E. Gillespie Military Service Summary:
War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945
Branch of Service: Army
Service Unit/Ship: Medical Detachment, 2nd Battalion, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division
Location of Service: Camp Claiborne, Louisiana; North Africa; Sicily; Italy; Northern Ireland; England; France; Holland; Belgium, Germany; European Theater
Highest Rank: Corporal
Collection Number: AFC/2001/001/47227
Dates of Service: 1942-1945
Military Status: veteran
Source: (Library of Congress-Veterans History Project) https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.47227/
Featured Program
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
WWII Roundtable Dinner Program
Monday, April 28, 2025
(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.
WWII Roundtable Dinner Program
Monday, June 23, 2025
"The Balbo Monument in Chicago, Illinois: Mussolini's Tribute to a Flying Fascist"
Featured Speaker: Bradley Damon, WWII Roundtable Board Member, At Large
"US Congressman Baird is a decorated Vietnam War veteran, as his distinguished service to our country was recognized with a Bronze Star with V device and two Purple Hearts. He and his unit were inducted in the United States Transportation Corps Hall of Fame. One of the Gun Trucks from the unit, “The Eve of Destruction” is on display in the Transportation Museum in Ft. Eustis, Virginia."
Quoted from Congressman's "Biography" page on his website, https://baird.house.gov/about/
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
This is the story about the "other D-Day" - the August 1944 invasion of southern France, which took place two months after the June 6th, 1944 Allied D-Day landings in Normandy.
Ron Darrah
***Featured Program***
Featured Program
"Operation Dragoon, The 2nd D-Day"
Featured Speakers: Kathryn Lerch & Marlene Mendonsa
34th Infantry Division photos and quotations credits: Wikipedia
WWII Roundtable Dinner Program
Monday, March 24, 2025
"History of Lukas-Harold, WWII and Beyond"
Presenters: Karl Kleinbub & Steve Hogan, WWII Roundtable Members
WWII Roundtable Dinner Program
Monday, January 27, 2025
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:
Linda E. Minton, author,
"Remembering Vietnam Vets"
WWII Roundtable Dinner Program - Monday, July 24, 2023
***Featured Program***
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
Featured Program
My Vietnam War Experience: "Gun Trucks of Vietnam"
Featured Speaker: Jim Baird, Vietnam War veteran and US Congressman
https://youtu.be/qFyS7z7aFxw?si=smGwEOs9rtRCdwgY
(Link to "Gun Trucks of Vietnam" on YouTube)
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".
John Shively
Julie Freeman
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.