The Board of Directors of the Veterans Breakfast Club invites you to celebrate and honor four special guests, Four Heroes of World War II:

• 102-year-old Marthe Cohn grew up in Metz, France, in an Orthodox Jewish family. One of her sisters was shipped to Auschwitz, but Marthe survived with forged identity papers. Marthe joined the French Army’s 151 Regiment of Infantry at the front in Alsace and three weeks later transferred to the French Army’s Intelligence Service. Posing as a German nurse, Marthe crossed into Germany, collected intelligence, and delivered it back to the Allies. Her story is captured in her memoir, Behind Enemy Lines (every dinner guest will receive a copy) and in the documentary film, Chininette: The Accidental Spy. 

• 97-year-old Vince Speranza from Staten Island remains a legend in Bastogne, Belgium, where he fought with the 101st Airborne Division, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment during the Battle of the Bulge. The battle over, machine-gunner Vince tended to the wounded, including his own assistant gunner. Helmet in hand, Vince asked a local tavern to fill it with beer. To this day, that bar still serves its Airborne beer in little helmets. Vince shares this story and many more, including the liberation of a Concentration Camp, in Nuts! A 101st Airborne Division Machine Gunner at Bastogne. 

• 96-year-old Mae Krier was a child of the Dust Bowl, growing up on the Great Plains in the 1930s. After Pearl Harbor, the boys in her family joined the military, and Mae headed West to Seattle to work at Boeing. An original “Rosie the Riveter,” Mae wielded a rivet gun making B-17s and B-25s for the war effort. During 2020, she achieved fame crafting polka-dotted red bandanna face masks for the pandemic. She’s shares her story nationwide to publicize the role of women on the homefront in WWII.

• 101-year-old Julia Parsons kept her oath of secrecy for over 50 years after her service as a Navy WAVE codebreaker in World War II. She was one of many geniuses who helped cracked the Enigma code, specifically the one used to communicate with German U-boats in the North Atlantic. Her work speeded the end of the war and saved countless Allied lives. Her remarkable story has been shared widely, across the nation and the world.