Greatest Generation Live: Hershel "Woody" Williams, the Only Surviving WWII Medal of Honor Recipient
Join us for a conversation with Hershel Woody Williams, the only surviving WWII Medal of Honor recipient. Woody joined the Marine Corps from his home state of West Virginia in 1943 and served in Company C, 1st Battalion, 21st Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division at Guadalcanal, Guam, and Iwo Jima. On February 23, 1945, the same day as the famous Iwo Jima flag-raising, Woody fought a ferocious four-hour battle with minimal cover to wipe out multiple Japanese machine gun positions using demolition charges and flamethrowers. For his action that day, he received the Medal of Honor. He also received a Purple Heart for wounds he suffered on March 6 on Iwo Jima. We’re grateful to Glenn Flickinger for hosting this conversation with a living legend and for providing important historical context for Woody’s story.
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Tommy Clack’s Cost of War Data Sheet
For over forty years, wounded Vietnam veteran Tommy Clack has kept up-to-date one-page data sheets accounting for the all the KIA, MIA, WIA, and captured from our nation’s wars since the American Revolution. You can see and download the data sheets here. Why does he do it? Find out tonight when at 7:00pm when Tommy is on A Veteran’s Story with Pete Mecca.
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What Was a “Tech Sergeant” in World War II?
Anticipating the 246th birthday of the US Army on Monday, Navy veteran Dan McPoyle passed along information on a confusing old Army rank that was abolished after WWII, the so-called “Tech Sergeant.” It’s fitting that a Navy man would call attention to the Army “Technician” rank experiment, which was, in essence, an Army attempt to be more Navy-like. Learn more, and see all the WWII enlisted ranks here.
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An easy way to support the VBC is to shop on Amazon and designate the Veterans Breakfast Club as your Amazon Smile charity. Amazon will donate a portion of your purchases to the VBC at no cost to you. Choose the Veterans Breakfast Club as your charity of choice with this link. Then, make sure you turn on Amazon Smile when you browse and shop.
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Special VBC Event with Francis Gary Powers, Jr., on Monday, June 28!
Join us on Monday, June 28 at 7:00pm for a special event with Cold War historian Francis Gary Powers, Jr. Son of the famous U-2 spy plane pilot shot down in 1960 over the Soviet Union, Gary will share his father’s story and talk about the need to honor veterans and preserve Cold War history for future generations. We might also get him to say a few words about consulting for the Steven Spielberg thriller, Bridge of Spies, about the 1962 spy exchange of his father for KGB agent Rudolph Abel. Gary is the author of Letters from a Soviet Prison (2017) and Spy Pilot (2019), comprehensive and myth-busting accounts of the U-2 Incident. This is a FREE Zoom-only event that requires pre-registration. EVENT DETAILS
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On This Day: June 11, 1963. A Shocking Photo from Saigon
On one of our VBC trips to Vietnam, a sight at a Buddhist pagoda in Hue stopped me in my tracks: a baby blue Austin sedan on display beneath the 1963 Pulitzer Prize winning photo that had introduced millions of Americans to the word, “Vietnam.” On June 11, Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức had stepped out of the car in a busy intersection near Saigon’s Presidential Palace, sat down in the street, drenched himself in five gallons of gas, and then lit a match. The photo reached the Oval Office with the next morning’s newspaper. "No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one," said President John F. Kennedy. It marked a turning point in the war. . . learn more here
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Extremism in the Ranks
Coffee or Die has a good update on how the Pentagon plans to combat social and political extremism, especially white supremacy, in the ranks. Measures will probably include amending the Uniform Code of Military Justice and automating the monitoring of service members’ social media accounts. In 2020, according to a Military Times survey, 36% of active duty troops had encountered racist ideologies in the military. “The extremism problem is large enough that we need to be dealing with it,” said one former Army Intelligence officer. “We can’t hide from it. We certainly don’t want it to metastasize.”
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Regina Bergman’s Master Class for Entrepreneurs
Regina Bergman of Bridgeport Strategy is offering a Master Class in marketing strategy for entrepreneurs dealing with the new business environment created by COVID-19. The class is called “Five Steps to Profit” and is based on Regina’s years of experience building her own businesses and coaching others to success. You’ll join a cohort of other business owners to discover what’s working and what’s not in 2021. For every sign-up, Regina will contribute a portion of her fee to the Veterans Breakfast Club. Thank you, Regina! You can learn more and register here.
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DONATE TO THE VBC
Help ensure we can continue to bring you veterans storytelling programs and content like this by donating today!
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➢ THURS. JUNE 10 @ 7PM ET
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VBC Happy Hour
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Every Monday night at 7pm ET on Zoom; simulcasted to Facebook and YouTube. BYOB(everage). Veterans stories, conversations, special topics, and guests. Special Generation 9/11 edition of VBC Happy Hour: Celebrating the Army Birthday!
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Greatest Generation Live
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Simulcasted to Facebook and YouTube. Join us for a conversation with Hershel Woody Williams, the only surviving WWII Medal of Honor recipient. Woody joined the Marine Corps from his home state of West Virginia in 1943 and served in Company C, 1st Battalion, 21st Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division at Guadalcanal, Guam, and Iwo Jima.
Join on Zoom →
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We're always looking for guests, program ideas, and sponsors. Please let us know if you have any ideas to share!
Email Todd at todd@veteransbreakfastclub.org
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