Open Conversation @ 7pm ET
Why don’t veterans talk with their children about war? What is the “smoking lamp,” and do ships still have them? What is special about the Coast Guard? How has aircraft navigation changed?
These are the types of questions we’d like to pose to our veterans tonight, during VBC Open Conversation. The idea is to encourage veterans to share whatever stories or insights they have about their service and the branches in which they served. What did you like or not like? Is it better to be officer or enlisted? What would you tell a young person joining today?
We want to explore, understand, and learn about military culture, especially those areas that civilians have a hard time grasping. What are common misconceptions about the military? What do the movies get wrong? What made your type of service special or unique?
Join us for Open Conversation, and please let us know if you have something you’d like to ask, a topic you’d like to discuss, or a story you’d like to share. Email Todd at todd@veteransbreakfastclub.org and let him know!
Thank you to Tobacco Free Adagio Health and UPMC for Life for sponsoring this event!
The Bloody 100th Bomb Group in World War II
Glenn Flickinger leads another conversation about Masters of the Air, this time with children and grandchildren of the Apple TV+ series’ main characters. Each is an expert on the 100th Bomb Group, and each will share their family members’ stories and their thoughts on the series.
Thank you to Tobacco Free Adagio Health and UPMC for Life for sponsoring this event!
Japanese Americans in World War II
Dr. Maki is also the lead author of the award-winning book, Achieving the Impossible Dream: How Japanese Americans Obtained Redress, a detailed case study of the 1988 Civil Liberties Act. Nearly fifty years after being incarcerated by their own government, Japanese American concentration camp survivors succeeded in obtaining redress for the personal humiliation, family dislocation, and economic ruin caused by their ordeal. An inspiring story of wrongs made right as well as a practical guide to getting legislation through Congress, Achieving the Impossible Dream documents the redress movement from its earliest roots during World War II, the formal introduction of the idea in the 1970s, the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, the judicial battles during the 1980s, and the lobbying of the legislative and executive branches in the 1980s and 1990s. In 2000, the book received the Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award which is given to books addressing bigotry and human rights in North America.
Dr. Maki has held the positions of acting Provost and Vice president of Academic Affairs, Vice Provost of Student Academic Success, dean of the Colleges of Professional Studies and Health and Human Services (CSUDH), acting dean of the College of Health and Human Services at CSU Los Angeles and assistant professor in the Department of Social Welfare at UCLA. As acting Provost, Dr. Maki provided academic and strategic leadership for CSUDH’s five academic colleges which served over fifteen thousand students.
Go For Broke – https://goforbroke.org/
Achieving the Impossible Dream – https://bit.ly/3H36KIm
World War II B-24 Pilot John F. Homan
John Homan joined the Army Air Forces after the attack on Pearl Harbor. By 1944, he found himself co-piloting a B-24 Liberator over Nazi Germany, facing the dangers of deadly flak bursts and enemy fighters. His first-hand narrative written with expert WWII historian Jared Frederick, Into the Cold Blue, vividly portrays the perilous missions he and his crew undertook.
During a mission over Nazi-occupied Holland in September 1944, Homan’s plane sustained heavy damage, including a blown tire and a shot-away tail. With survival seeming unlikely, Homan and his crew prepared for a desperate emergency landing. Meanwhile, Homan’s thoughts turned to his sweetheart back home, adding a personal dimension to his wartime experiences.
Before flying combat, Homan trained on various aircraft, including the PT-17 and BT-13, progressing from primary flight training to advanced twin-engine training. Along the way, he encountered accidents and incidents, including witnessing crashes and experiencing mechanical failures in flight.
Despite the challenges, Homan found himself adapting well to the technical aspects of training, excelling particularly in mechanical and engineering areas, as well as navigation. He developed skills in precision flying and instrument navigation, crucial for military aviation.
Homan’s training journey took him through various locations in the United States, from Americus, Georgia, to Bainbridge and Moody Fields in Georgia. Throughout his training, he encountered strict discipline, demanding physical requirements, and the necessity of precise execution in flying maneuvers.
Ultimately, Homan’s training prepared him for his next assignment in Salt Lake City, where he would transition to four-engine bombers.
Homan is candid about the psychological toll of shifting from safety to danger, noting that while it affected some crew members, it didn’t interfere with their ability to perform their duties. He recounts a close call during a mission to Groesbeck, Holland, where his plane sustained damage and lost hydraulic power, forcing them to make an emergency landing. Despite the harrowing experience, his crew escaped serious injury, with only minor wounds reported.
One memorable mission was to Magdeburg, near Berlin, where his plane was attacked by fighters and heavy flak. Despite sustaining damage, they managed to return to England, thanks in part to the escort of P-51 fighters who guided them back safely. Homan praises the fighter cover they received throughout their missions, noting their bravery in engaging enemy fighters.
Homan’s bomb group was withdrawn from combat early to be retrained for deployment in the Pacific theater. He chose not to volunteer to go with them, completing his tour of 34 missions before his 20th birthday. After returning to the United States in late 1944, Homan received several medals for his service. He parted ways with his crew members, reuniting with them only many years later at a reunion.
Thank you to Tobacco Free Adagio Health and UPMC for Life for sponsoring this event!
US Airmen at Buchenwald and Stalag Luft III on “Masters of the Air” with Glenn Flickinger @ 7pm ET
World War II POW and Eighth Air Force expert Marilyn Walton leads a group of guests who will talk about the experiences of prisoners in Germany with Glenn Flickinger. Sparked by interest in the Apple TV+ “Masters of the Air“, this program will feature two extraordinary stories from Germany during World War II: one of the Stalag Luft III’s camp censor and one of US Airmen held at Buchenwald concentration camps.
Joining Marilyn and Glenn will be:
Andrew Hatfield – For those who watched Hogan’s Heroes, Andrea’s mother, Lisa Knüppel, was the true “Helga,” Commandant von Lindeiner’s secretary. Lisa was the mail censor in the camp. Lisa’s story is the stuff of movies. At one point, Lisa bicycled the twelve miles to von Lindeiner’s manor house to help his wife, Barnoness Henriette van der Goes, pack up and flee from Germany. Lisa eventually met and married an American officer she met in Germany.
Ric Martini – Ric is author of Betrayed, a book about threw 168 Allied Airmen held at Buchenwald in World War II. The men, shot down over France were all betrayed by a spy who turned them in for money. They were taken to the horrid Fresnes prison outside France before enduring the box cars taking them to Buchenwald. There were 168 Allied airmen held there. The British ones were shot or hanged. Ric’s father was one of those held.
Betrayed begins in the tumult of battle in June 1944. It focuses on the wartime and postwar experiences of two men. Frederic C. Martini, an aerial gunner on a B-17. and Wernher von Braun, the Nazi rocket engineer. Fred was one of the Buchenwald airmen, and Buchenwald Concentration Camp was where Wernher von Braun obtained the slave labor needed to build V-2 rockets.
When the war ended, Wernher was employed by the US Army, his records buried, and his Nazi past concealed as part of Project Paperclip. Fred, like many other Buchenwald airmen, came home with serious medical problems and acute PTSD. These men were told by the VA that their problems were imaginary because they could not have been at Buchenwald. They were considered to be either lying or delusional. This bizarre injustice continued for almost 40 years, until some of the files related to the Buchenwald airmen and others from Project Paperclip were declassified.
Piecing together this story involved reviewing over 160,000 pages of declassified documents. The project took seven years and required the assistance of archivists, curators, translators, and fellow researchers in the US, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, and New Zealand.
During World War II, United States Army Air Forces personnel faced the harrowing experience of becoming prisoners of war (POWs) after being captured by German forces. These airmen were detained in various camps known as Stalag Lufts, where they endured challenging conditions and organized themselves for survival amidst enemy captivity.
The German system segregated officers from enlisted men upon capture and sent them to different camps, each administered by the German Luftwaffe and Abwehr. Once inside the confines of these camps, the captured airmen, affectionately referred to as “Kriegies,” found themselves among their comrades. Leadership roles varied among the camps, with senior American officers or elected representatives assuming authority in different compounds.
Life within the POW camps was marked by the segmentation of living quarters into compounds, each containing barracks that housed dozens of men in cramped conditions. As the number of captives increased, overcrowding became a significant issue, forcing many to sleep on floors. The harsh realities of captivity were exacerbated when, in early February 1944, camps faced evacuation due to the advancing Russian forces, leaving tens of thousands of prisoners “On the Road” for extended periods, enduring immense hardships until liberation.
One crucial aspect of the POW experience was the interrogation process at facilities like Dulag Luft. Located in Oberursel, this complex consisted of interrogation centers, hospitals, and transit camps, where captured airmen underwent questioning and evaluation before being transferred to permanent POW camps. Despite being designed to accommodate a limited number of prisoners, overcrowding was common during peak periods, with solitary confinement often enforced.
Stalag Luft I, situated near Barth, Germany, housed Allied prisoners, including American and British officers and enlisted men. The camp, located on the Baltic Sea, saw its first prisoners in July 1940 and was evacuated by 8th Air Force B-17s in May 1945. Similarly, Stalag Luft III, located southeast of Berlin, housed American airmen and became the largest American officers’ camp in Germany by January 1945.
Stalag Luft IV, located in Gross Tychow, Pomerania, witnessed a significant influx of prisoners, swelling its ranks from 1,500 to nearly 10,000 airmen by January 1945. Stalag Luft VI, situated outside Hedekrug, Lithuania, initially held prisoners from Belgium and France before receiving British, Canadian, and American airmen, reflecting the diverse nationalities of POWs held by the Germans.
As Germany’s collapse neared, camps like Stalag VIIA in Moosburg became final gathering points for thousands of Air Corps officers and enlisted men from other camps. The overcrowded conditions and constant influx of prisoners posed challenges for camp administrators, with protests against overcrowding falling on deaf ears.
Despite the adversity, the resilience and resourcefulness of Allied airmen in German POW camps underscored one of the most overlooked chapters in American history.
Thank you to Tobacco Free Adagio Health and UPMC for Life for sponsoring this event!
