Live on July 14: Wayne Vansant, Navy Veteran and Legendary War Comic Artist
📅 Monday, July 14, 2025
🕖 7:00pm – 8:30pm ET
🎥 Watch live at veteransbreakfastclub.org/events/online-events

The Veterans Breakfast Club proudly presents a special 90-minute livestream with Wayne Vansant, Navy veteran and renowned illustrator of some of the most historically accurate war comics ever published. The event goes live on Monday, July 14 at 7:00pm ET, and will be hosted on our VBC Online Events platform.

Wayne Vansant is best known for his groundbreaking work on The ‘Nam—Marvel Comics’ landmark series that brought the Vietnam War to life through the eyes of the soldiers who fought it. Launched in 1986 and developed by Vietnam veterans and journalists, The ‘Nam stood apart for its realistic, month-by-month portrayal of a single soldier’s tour of duty. Vansant took over the art after issue #13 and helped turn the book into a cult classic, praised for its authenticity, visual storytelling, and deep respect for those who served.

Wayne brings a unique perspective to his art. He served as a radioman in the U.S. Navy from 1970 to 1973 during the Vietnam War, and that firsthand experience has shaped his entire career. Unlike most comic book creators, Vansant insists on historical accuracy—studying uniforms, weapons, terrain, and tactics in painstaking detail to ensure his depictions are as true to life as possible.

In addition to The ‘Nam, Vansant has created graphic novels and illustrated histories such as Normandy, Gettysburg, The Vietnam War: A Graphic History, Katusha, Bombing Nazi Germany, and The Red Baron. His work is celebrated for blending action with education, making military history accessible and compelling for all readers.

As this profile on War Is Boring explains, Vansant sees his comics not as entertainment alone, but as a form of remembrance and a visual archive for future generations.

Whether you’re a fan of military history, comics, or just want to hear from a veteran who’s spent a lifetime documenting war in ink and color, you won’t want to miss this conversation.

🔗 Join the livestream here on July 14 at 7:00pm ET:
👉 https://veteransbreakfastclub.org/events/online-events

#WayneVansant #TheNam #VietnamWar #MilitaryComics #VeteransBreakfastClub #WarArt #GraphicHistory #VietnamVeteran #VBCOnline

We’re grateful to UPMC for Life  for sponsoring this event!

Join the Veterans Breakfast Club for a special 90-minute online conversation with historian Robert S. Norris, author of Racing for the Bomb: General Leslie R. Groves, the Manhattan Project’s Indispensable Man. This event will spotlight the overlooked military mastermind who turned atomic theory into wartime reality: Lt. Gen. Leslie R. Groves.

The Manhattan Project looms large in American memory—Los Alamos, Trinity, Hiroshima—but few remember the man who made it all possible. In Racing for the Bomb, Norris reveals how Groves, often dismissed as a caricature of military bluster, was in fact the indispensable architect of the atomic age. From selecting the sites at Oak Ridge, Hanford, and Los Alamos to coordinating vast industrial-scale construction, international uranium acquisition, bomb design, and the formation of the elite 509th Composite Group of B-29s, Groves ran his own army, treasury, and state department—all under a veil of secrecy.

Robert S. Norris, a leading nuclear historian and former analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council, brings to life the driven, brusque, and deeply ambitious general whose personal force of will—combined with keen judgment and boundless energy—shaped not just the bomb, but the postwar national security state that emerged from its use. Groves pioneered “black budgets,” security clearances, and compartmentalized intelligence—hallmarks of Cold War secrecy.

Racing for the Bomb is the first full scholarly biography of Groves, completing the unfinished work of historian Stanley Goldberg and offering an authoritative, readable, and revealing portrait based on Groves’s private papers, military records, and firsthand interviews.

Don’t miss this chance to explore the atomic age from a new perspective: not from the scientist’s lab bench, but from the general’s war room. Norris will discuss Groves’s pivotal role in the decision to use the bomb, his fraught but productive relationship with J. Robert Oppenheimer, and the lasting implications of his management style on U.S. defense and intelligence structures.

Register now at veteransbreakfastclub.org to join the discussion.

We’re grateful to UPMC for Life for sponsoring this event!

On the morning of June 6, 1944—D-Day—14,000 Canadian troops stormed ashore at Juno Beach, a five-mile stretch of the Normandy coastline wedged between British landing zones. Facing a well-fortified German defense and rough surf, the Canadians fought their way inland in one of the most successful yet costly operations of the day. By nightfall, they had advanced further than any other Allied force. Yet, the Canadian contribution to D-Day remains one of the most underappreciated chapters of the Normandy invasion.

Join the Veterans Breakfast Club on Wednesday, July 24 at 7:00pm ET for a special livestream conversation about the Canadian experience on D-Day. We’ll explore the planning, execution, and aftermath of the Juno Beach assault, and reflect on how Canadian veterans have remembered and interpreted the legacy of that pivotal moment in World War II.

Our guests include:

• Marc Milner, one of Canada’s preeminent military historians and author of the acclaimed The Second Front: Allied Politics, Strategy, and the Invasion of France, 1944 (Yale University Press, 2024). Dr. Milner is professor emeritus at the University of New Brunswick and a leading expert on Canada’s naval and military role in WWII. His scholarship has helped reshape our understanding of Canada’s contribution to the Normandy campaign and the broader Allied strategy.

• Mark Zuehlke, award-winning author of the Canadian Battle Series, including Juno Beach: Canada’s D-Day Victory and Holding Juno. Zuehlke’s vivid narrative history has made him one of Canada’s most widely read military historians. His work brings to life the grit, sacrifice, and valor of Canadian soldiers on the battlefield.

• Scott Masters, longtime history teacher at Crestwood Preparatory College in Toronto and founder of the Crestwood Oral History Project, which has documented hundreds of Canadian veterans’ wartime stories. Masters brings a passion for educating the next generation about Canada’s military heritage through personal testimony and lived experience.

Together, our guests will paint a comprehensive portrait of Juno Beach and the Canadian D-Day experience—from the strategic high-level decisions to the individual stories of soldiers in the surf.

Join us live on July 24 at 7:00pm ET on Zoom, YouTube, or Facebook to be part of the conversation.

Zoom Registration: https://veteransbreakfastclub.org/events
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/veteransbreakfastclub
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VeteransBreakfastClub

We’re grateful to UPMC for Life  for sponsoring this event!

Live July 28: Honoring the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps with Stories of Service and Sacrifice
📅 Sunday, July 28, 2025
🕖 7:00pm – 8:30pm ET
🎥 Watch live: veteransbreakfastclub.org/events/online-events

In recognition of U.S. Army Chaplain Corps Anniversary on July 29, the Veterans Breakfast Club invites you to a special 90-minute livestream conversation with military chaplains—past and present—on Sunday, July 28 at 7:00pm ET.

Military chaplains serve in every branch of the armed forces, offering spiritual care, counseling, and moral support to service members in peace and war. They are non-combatants who go where the troops go—into battle zones, on deployments, and into the deepest struggles of the human soul. Their mission is to nurture the living, care for the wounded, and honor the fallen.

This Veterans Breakfast Club program will spotlight the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps, founded on July 29, 1775, making it one of the oldest branches of the Army. From its beginnings during the Revolutionary War to the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, chaplains have ministered to soldiers in foxholes, field hospitals, and far-flung outposts around the world.

📖 Hear powerful true stories such as:

• Chaplain Emil Kapaun, who comforted fellow prisoners of war in Korea and gave away his own rations before dying in captivity—he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

• The Four Chaplains, who gave up their life jackets on the sinking USAT Dorchester in 1943, joining arms in prayer as the ship went down.

• Chaplains in modern times who’ve led interfaith services on aircraft carriers, delivered last rites under fire, and helped veterans heal invisible wounds long after battle.

This event will feature chaplains from multiple generations and faith traditions, sharing what it means to serve both God and country. They’ll speak on topics like moral injury, grief in combat, religious diversity in the ranks, and how spiritual support plays a vital role in military life.

📺 Join the conversation live on July 28 at 7:00pm ET
👉 https://veteransbreakfastclub.org/events/online-events

This is not just a history lesson—it’s a tribute to the quiet strength, compassion, and courage of those who serve the spirit of the service member.

#MilitaryChaplains #ArmyChaplainCorps #USArmyChaplains #ChaplainsInCombat #VeteransBreakfastClub #VBCLive #FaithUnderFire #ChaplainDay #MilitaryMinistry

We’re grateful to UPMC for Life and Tobacco Free Adagio Health for sponsoring this event!

🎥 Live July 31: USS Indianapolis at 80 – A Veterans Breakfast Club Conversation with Colin Heaton
📅 Wednesday, July 31, 2025
🕖 7:00pm – 8:30pm ET
🔗 Watch live: veteransbreakfastclub.org/events/online-events

Eighty years ago, in the final days of World War II, the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) completed one of the most critical missions of the war—delivering components of the atomic bomb to Tinian Island—only to meet a tragic fate days later in the Philippine Sea.

On July 31, 2025, exactly 80 years to the day after the sinking, the Veterans Breakfast Club will host a special 90-minute livestream conversation with renowned WWII historian and author Colin D. Heaton to reflect on the legacy of the Indianapolis and the harrowing story of its crew.

The USS Indianapolis was struck by Japanese torpedoes shortly after midnight on July 30, 1945. The ship sank in just 12 minutes, taking hundreds with her. Of the 1,195 sailors and Marines aboard, roughly 900 made it into the water—only 316 would survive. For days, they endured dehydration, exposure, and relentless shark attacks before a chance air patrol spotted them.

Our guest, Colin D. Heaton, brings decades of scholarship and firsthand military experience to the story. A former U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps servicemember, Heaton has authored numerous acclaimed books of military history, including German Anti-Partisan Warfare in Europe 1939–1945 and Night Fighters: The Luftwaffe and RAF Air Combat over Europe, co-written with Anne-Marie Lewis. He has also appeared as a guest historian on the History Channel’s Dogfights and taught military history at American Military University.

During this live program, Heaton will explore the Indianapolis’s role in WWII, the circumstances of its sinking, the Navy’s delayed response, and the long-overdue exoneration of the ship’s captain, Charles B. McVay III. He’ll also reflect on the broader implications of the tragedy and how it’s remembered today.

🔗 Join the livestream and be part of the conversation:
👉 https://veteransbreakfastclub.org/events/online-events

This is more than a history lesson—it’s a memorial and a reckoning, told with insight and reverence by one of the most respected voices in military history.

#USSIndianapolis #WWIIHistory #ColinHeaton #NavalHistory #VeteransBreakfastClub #Indianapolis80 #VBCOnline #MilitaryHistory #WWIINavy #July31Anniversary

We’re grateful to UPMC for Life and Tobacco Free Adagio Health for sponsoring this event!