Join us for a FREE VBC breakfast at Ridgecrest Senior Living in McCandless on Wednesday, May 13  at 8:30am. Please RSVP for this free breakfast event by calling 412-623-9029 or emailing betty@veteransbreakfastclub.org.

Everyone is welcome, veterans and non-veterans, and the breakfast will be provided for free courtesy of Ridgecrest Senior Living.

We plan our usual fast-moving and wide-ranging program with lots of participation. We’ll have veterans of various ages and branches of service sharing their stories of service.

Breakfast is served at 8:30am. At 9:00am, we start the program. For the next 90 minutes, veterans share slices of their service experience. You never know what you’re going to hear, and there’s always new people with new memories to offer.

RSVP by calling 412-623-9029 or emailing betty@veteransbreakfastclub.org. Please make sure to RSVP for events at least two days in advance. We understand that your schedule can change quickly, but advance notice of attendance always helps us and our venues prepare the program. Thank you!

Thank you to our event sponsors: Assisted Living Locators, Aetna, MediConnect, Veterans Place, Gray Wealth Advisors, Julian Gray Associates, ComForCare, and Commonwealth Hospice!

Join us for another Veterans Breakfast Club storytelling event at Pitt-Greensburg. A FREE buffet breakfast will be served at 8:30am followed by veterans sharing stories with Todd DePastino emceeing.

There’s no charge for the event, but you must RSVP to: betty@veteransbreakfastclub.org or by calling 412-623-9029.

The University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg welcomes the Veterans Breakfast Club (VBC) to the Hempfield Township campus on Saturday, November 1. Doors open at 8:00am at the Hempfield Room (Chambers Hall, University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, 150 Finoli Drive, Greensburg, PA 15601), and breakfast will be served at 8:30am. Thanks to the support of sponsors, the event is free, and breakfast is included. Please register by emailing betty@veteransbreakfastclub.org or calling 412-623-9029.

You do not need to be a military member or a veteran to attend. All are welcome.

The VBC believes that every veteran has a story, no who they are—or when or how they served. There is power in storytelling. Stories connect, heal, educate, and inspire. Stories bridge the divides that separate us and benefit both the tellers and the listeners. The Veterans Breakfast Club harnesses the power of storytelling to build a nation that understands and values the experiences of our military veterans

RSVP by calling 412-623-9029 or emailing betty@veteransbreakfastclub.org.

Thank you to our event sponsor, Encompass Health!

Join the Veterans Breakfast Club and the Jewish Community Center of Youngstown for a lunch lecture with historian Todd DePastino about the history and meaning of Memorial Day. Memorial Day is uniquely American holiday with a fascinating history that stretches back to the Civil War, when huge casualties inspired widows and mothers to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers. Come hear about the origins of “Decoration Day” and how it became known as “Memorial Day.”

Todd DePastino is founder and executive director of the Veterans Breakfast Club and author of the award-winning Bill Mauldin: A Life Up Front and six other books. A dynamic speaker with a Ph.D. in history from Yale, Todd has a gift for making the past come alive with insight, humor, and humanity.

This event is free and open to the public.

You don’t need to be a veteran to attend. Lunch is included.

We’d appreciate your RSVP and a suggested donation of $10 per person.

To RSVP, contact:

JCC Youngstown: 330-746-3250 ext #106 or bwilson@jewishyoungstown.org
Veterans Breakfast Club: 412-623-9029 or JoAnn@veteransbreakfastclub.org

The Veterans Breakfast Club brings American history to life. Join us to listen and learn, connect and heal, and say thank you to those who’ve served.

Thank you to the Youngstown JCC and the Thomases Family Endowment for Supporting this Event!

The VBC is partnering with the Central Pennsylvania WWII Roundtable to welcome WWII 3rd Armored Division veteran Walter Stitt on Thursday, June 4, 2026, at 7:00pm ET at American Legion Post 272 near Harrisburg, PA. This will be an in-person presentation at the post (5700 Linglestown Rd, Harrisburg, PA), open to the public. It will also be available on the Roundtable’s YouTube channel.  

What was it like to fight the German Army from inside a burning tank and live to tell about it not once, but three times?

Join us for a remarkable Veterans Breakfast Club livestream featuring WWII Army veteran Walter “Boston” Stitt, a corporal in the 33rd Armored Regiment, 3rd Armored Division, who served as both a Sherman tank loader and gunner in the European Theater.

Stitt’s story is one of survival, grit, and quiet courage. He entered combat in 1944 as a teenage replacement and fought across France and Belgium, including the brutal fighting of the Battle of the Bulge. Over the course of the war, he survived the destruction of three separate Sherman tanks, was wounded twice, and earned two Purple Hearts.

In one harrowing episode, his tank was hit, killing crew members and trapping him inside. He escaped through the driver’s hatch as the tank caught fire—only to come under enemy fire again moments later.

Stitt’s experience captures the reality of armored warfare: close quarters, limited visibility, and the constant threat of catastrophic destruction. As he moved from loader to gunner across successive crews, each new tank brought fresh danger—and fewer guarantees of survival.

After the war, Stitt returned home, became a Lutheran minister, and decades later began to reflect more fully on what he had lived through. His memoir, Surviving Three Shermans: With the 3rd Armored Division into the Battle of the Bulge, reveals a powerful contrast: the reassuring letters he sent home during the war—and the far more dangerous truth he kept to himself.

The VBC is grateful to the Central PA WWII Roundtable for sharing this event with us. We’re two communities built around listening, learning, and keeping these stories in circulation.

Join us for a FREE VBC breakfast at Memorial Park Church (8800 Peebles Rd, Allison Park, PA 15101) on July 2 at 8:30am. Please RSVP for this free breakfast event by calling 412-623-9029 or emailing betty@veteransbreakfastclub.org.

Everyone is welcome, veterans and non-veterans, and the breakfast will be provided for free courtesy of Ridgecrest Senior Living.

We plan our usual fast-moving and wide-ranging program with lots of participation. We’ll have veterans of various ages and branches of service sharing their stories of service.

Breakfast is served at 8:30am. At 9:00am, we start the program. For the next 90 minutes, veterans share slices of their service experience. You never know what you’re going to hear, and there’s always new people with new memories to offer.

RSVP by calling 412-623-9029 or emailing betty@veteransbreakfastclub.org. Please make sure to RSVP for events at least two days in advance. We understand that your schedule can change quickly, but advance notice of attendance always helps us and our venues prepare the program. Thank you!

Thank you to our event sponsor, Encompass Health!

Join us for a FREE VBC breakfast in Latrobe at the American Legion Post 982 (158 American Legion Rd, Latrobe, PA 15650) on July 15 at 8:30am. Please RSVP for this free breakfast event by calling 412-623-9029 or emailing betty@veteransbreakfastclub.org.

Everyone is welcome, veterans and non-veterans, and the breakfast will be provided for free.

We plan our usual fast-moving and wide-ranging program with lots of participation. We’ll have veterans of various ages and branches of service sharing their stories of service.

Breakfast is served at 8:30am. At 9:00am, we start the program. For the next 90 minutes, veterans share slices of their service experience. You never know what you’re going to hear, and there’s always new people with new memories to offer.

RSVP by calling 412-623-9029 or emailing betty@veteransbreakfastclub.org. Please make sure to RSVP for events at least two days in advance. We understand that your schedule can change quickly, but advance notice of attendance always helps us and our venues prepare the program. Thank you!

Please consider sponsoring this event!