PRESERVING HISTORY
INTERNET:
http://www.atlantawwiiroundtable.org
VOL. 26
No. 9 259th
MEETING
Editor:
John E.
Kovach
Date:
MAY 17th, 2012
(THURSDAY) >>
Next Meeting
JUNE 21st
Tel:
(770) 928-4579
Time:
Social Hour: 11:00 AM -
11:30 AM > MEETING START
Contributor(s)
To This
TIME 11:30 AM
- Speaker
Immediately Following Lunch
Newsletter
* Herbert
W. Benario
** PETITE AU
BERGE RESTAURANT
* Burt
Vardeman
2935 N. Druid Hills Road,
Web
Site:
www.petiteauberge.com
*
Randolph Goulding / Lee Weinstein
Atlanta, Georgia
30329 (Restaurant Phone:
404-634-6268)
*
Marilyn
Pahr/John Davis/Guy Condra
* Jay
Lenny/Bob
Rivers
Price: $ 15.00 Per
Plate ** NO
RESERVATION REQUIRED
**
Elected Officers 2011-2012
Commander
– Randolph
Goulding
Speaker: Herbert W. Benario
Tel:
770-436-4254
Deputy
Cmdr.-
Lee
Weinstein
Subject: “
General Sir John Hackett-Soldier &
Academic”
Tel:
404-843-0779
Adjutant: John
Kovach
Tel:
770-928-4579
Mission Statement
Finance
Officer: Jay Lenny
We, who by our own actions, and by our
heritage, know that liberty has not, is not,
Tel: 770-638-7824
nor ever will be free, do in association
with our friends and comrades, who believe
Dep.
Finance Ofc: Guy Condra
as we do, pledge that we will
meet at the call of our Commander no less
then ten
Sgt.-at-Arms – Bob Rivers (Capt.)
times a year:
Tel:
770-592-5611
* To hear of
the war experiences of our members and
invited guests
Sgt.-at-Arms – Bill Shepherd
* To encourage and demonstrate
pride in our country and its armed forces
Sgt.-at-Arms – Joe Jordan
* To pass on to posterity our knowledge of
World War II, and of the price -
Sr.
Chaplain – H.T. Maclin
human and material - that was paid by our
nation for the preservation of
Tel:
404-377-3178
liberty in the United States and
the world
Asst.
Chaplain – B.G. Harold A. Dye
Asst.
Chaplain – Bill Sperry
Speaker for
MAY 17th, 2012– Herbert W.
Benario
(To Be Introduced By Dep. Cmdr. Weinstein )
Many of you
will be familiar with our May speaker;
Professor Benario spoke to the Round Table
in December 2010 about “Classicists In
World War II Intelligence Work”. We are
delighted that this month Herbert will give
us all the details on a shining example of
intellect and courage packaged in one
individual, General Sir John Hackett.
Hackett was a fighting General who commanded
troops for the British Army during the
Syria-Lebanon Campaign and in the
North African Campaign, where he
Commanded C Squadron of the 8th
Hussars. He was severely wounded during
both of these Campaigns, particularly during
the North Africa Campaign, where he
was burnt escaping his tank.
While
recuperating he was instrumental in the
formation of the Long Range Desert Group
( LRDG ) and the Special Air
Service ( SAS ), both of which
gave General Irwin Rommel, Commander of the
Afrika Corps enough trouble that
Rommel later commented that the LRDG
and the SAS caused him more damage
then any other British units of equal
strength. After recovering from his injuries
he was selected to Command the 4th
Parachute Brigade at Arnhem in 1944
during Operation Market Garden under
the overall Command of General Montgomery.
Hackett was severely wounded at Arnhem and
would did not recover until WW II ended.
Hackett went
on to command other forces for the British
Army including the Trans-Jordan Frontier
Force in 1947; the 20th
Armoured Brigade; the 7th
Armoured Division after being promoted to
Major General; the Northern Ireland
Command in 1961 and the British Army of
the Rhine in 1965 after being promoted to
General. He is the author of several books
including The Third World War; The
Profession of Arms and Warfare in the
Ancient World and wrote the
foreword/introduction for several books
including The Middle East Commandos
and The Desert Rats: History of the 7th
Armoured Division
Herbert is
married to long-time Round Table member Dr.
Janice Benario. He is a academic and
Professor Emeritus at Emory University
in Atlanta. Herbert received his BA from the
City College of New York in 1948, a MA from
Columbia University in 1949 and his Ph.D.
from John Hopkins University in 1951. He is
past President of the Classical Association
of the Middle West and South and the author
of several books including An
introduction to Tacitus,
published in
1975.
Please
welcome Herbert W. Benario as our May 17th,
2012 speaker ( 259th Meeting
.)
Review of APRIL 19th, 2012 Speaker –Burt
Vardeman
(Introduced
by Deputy Commander Weinstein)
Our Deputy Commander introduced Burt as a
‘Honorary’ Tuskegee Airman. In his
explanation of this honor, Lee told us that
Burt received a ‘Tuskegee Angel Airman
Cap’ at a function honoring the TAM
in North Carolina, they in turn honored Burt
with their official Cap due to Burt’s
endeavors to preserve the history of this
elite group who flew so many combat support
missions supporting the B-24 Libertor
Bombers in the 484th Bomb
Group in
1944-1945. CONTINUED
ON BACK
Burt trained for 17 months to be part of the
484th Bombardment Group, 15th
Air Force, 49th Bombardment Wing,
824 Squadron flying out of Cerignola, Italy.
He was extremely proud of the level of
expertise his 10-man crew on the B-24
Liberator Bomber achieved while flying their
missions against strategically located oil
refineries, oil storage plants, aircraft
factories, heavy industry and communications
centers in Italy, France, Germany, Austria,
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania and
Yugoslavia.
Burt reminded us that the 15th AF
suffered tremendously during many of their
missions, one in particular that was
executed before his crew arrived in Italy,
which was the first attack of the
Ploiesti Oil Fields in Romania. This was
Operation Tital Wave on August 1st,
1943; the Allies lost 53 aircraft nd
660 aircrewmen on that mission. That day was
later called Black Sunday, however
Burt said after that the Air Crews never
lost sight of their primary objective to
destroy all German war resources regardless
of the possible losses. Ploiesti, and
all oil fields, remained a primary target of
the Air War and later missions by the 484th
and other Bombardment Groups resulted in the
complete destruction of the oil fields; the
Soviets finally capturing Ploiesti in
August 1944.
Burt’s B-24 crew flew 25 missions together,
Burt was asked to fly some additional
missions by the Commanding Officer mainly
due to being recognized as one of the best
Radio Operators in the 484th; he
would wind up with 31 missions flown.
Thank you ‘Hightower’ Vardeman for your 31
combat missions with the 484th,
for your enlightening presentation, for
Preserving History and for a job well
done.
I am
pleased to announce that we have two (2) new
members who have joined us since the April
2012 meeting:
Veteran John (J.R.) R. Miller
– John is interested in all aspects of the
ETO and CBI / Pacific Theaters. He is a
veteran of the Cold War and Vietnam having
served in the XXIV Corps Phu Bia, Vietnam (
Asst. G2 for Special Intelligence.)
Veteran Andrew J. Davis
– Andrew served in the Marine Corps, Marine
Air Wing VF1230. He was in the Marine Air
Reserve stationed at Dobbins NAS as well as
Millington NAS and Cherry Point NAS/North
Carolina.
Please
welcome John & Andrew as the newest members
of the Round Table at the May 17, 2012
meeting.
>>>
Upcoming Speakers for – 2012
Program
chairman John Davis has done a splendid job
in lining up a wonderful list of speakers
for the Atlanta WW II Round Table for our
January through June 2012 meetings. The
following speakers will be making a
presentation to the Round Table in: May –
Professor Herbert Benario (Ref: General Sir
John Hackett); June – Col. Glenn Frazier
(Bataan Death March). Please note that the
speaker’s engagements are subject to change.
Thank you John M. Davis for you’re
continuing efforts to seek-out and engage
excellent speakers for our meetings and for
a job exceedingly well done.
>>>
(NEW)
CALANDAR OF EVENTS –
8TH Air Force Heritage Museum
– 70TH ANNIVERSARY – MAY 19th
(Saturday) The 8th Air Force
Heritage Museum will celebrate its 70th
Anniversary with a Gala Barbecue event at
Epps Aviation Hangar at the Peachtree Dekalb
Airport on May 19th
(Saturday) at 6:30 PM. The even
will feature a barbecue, music and a raffle
for Bomber Jackets. Donations are being
asked of $100 and are Tax-Deductible. There
will be free parking and plenty of seating.
If unable to attend, you can mail a check to
the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum,
P.O. Box 1992, Savannah, GA 31402 – Attn:
Henry Skipper. NOTE: The
Museum has authorized a limited number of
special discounted tickets priced for
all WW II veterans at $ 25 per ticket
for the event. Cash, checks or
credit cards will be accepted. Reserve your
ticket ASAP to obtain this special price.
For additional information please contact
Hap Chandler at 404-275-2454 or Henry
Howell at 404-233-0323 or see them at
the May 17th
meeting.
>>>
(NEW) CALANDAR OF EVENTS
– VETERANS REMEMBRANCE DAY – MAY
27th (Sunday) - The
Atlanta History Center will again be hosting
Veterans Remembrance Day on
May 27th (Sunday) from
12:00 Noon to 5:00 PM. In past years, many
of our Round Table members have had tables
at this event and this year the History
Center is again requesting your
participation. Participating members will be
provided a free box lunch and should plan to
arrive at the History Center no later then
11:00 AM. For additional information, please
contact the Cary Ann Moody at the
Atlanta History Center no later then May
21st to reserve a table. Cary Ann
can be contacted at 404-814-4116 or via
email at
cmoody@atlantahistorycenter.com. The
Atlanta History Center is located at 130
West Paces Ferry Rd. NW, Atlanta, GA 30305.
>>>
REQUESTS BY
INDIVIDUALS TO MAKE ANNOUNCEMENTS AT ROUND
TABLE MEETINGS
– In a effort to not interfere with our
scheduled speaker’s allotted time and also
to allow more time during our lunch for
table-conversation, the Atlanta WW II Round
Table Executive Board has approved the
following policy: Requests by
individuals to make announcements during the
Atlanta WW II Round Table meetings must
first be cleared through the Commander prior
to the date of the meeting. The
number of announcements will be limited at
each meeting and will also be based on
priority of interest
to the Round Table.
Commander Goulding can be contacted at
770-436-4254 or via email at
rgoulding@charter.net
Monthly Quotation:
Sociologist
Dr. Anthony Campolo conducted a study in
which 50 people over the age of 90 were
asked to reflect upon their lives.
Each study
participant was asked a simple question: "If
you had it to do over again, what would you
do differently?" There were many answers,
but there were two that dominated the study.
"I would
reflect more" and "I would risk more"
Have you
ever felt like you are too busy doing things
and you are not spending enough time
thinking about the things you are doing and
why you do them? Have you ever thought about
the opportunities you may have lost because
you were afraid of taking risks? Perhaps
these
elders have a lesson for all of us.
Reflect
more, and take more risks.
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