3 Niles Veterans Make Their Honor Flight 6/19/12

 World War II  Army Veterans,  Bill Shipp, Art Shapiro and Don Spitzer  flew from Midway on June 19, 2012 to Washington D.C. as guests of the Honor Flight Chicago program. 


Bill, Art and Don pictured above are participants in the Veterans History Project at the Niles Library.

Many other pictures are available from the online  album for the day

Mr. Spitzer filed the following report which the captured the highlights of a very special day.

 "My Honor Flight Chicago took place on June 19, 2012. My friend Art and I were picked up by a Navy vehicle with 2 Navy persons and a nurse. When we arrived at Midway Airport, we waited for a long time for processing; they served us donuts and coffee. I had a wheelchair and each Vet had a guidance person assigned, even those that did not use a wheelchair. There was a female trio, the Legacy Girls that were singing the Andrew sisters songs for entertainment. We took off at about 7 AM for a flight of about 1 1/2 hours. When we landed at Washington, DC airport, we were met by another guidance person assigned to each and I was pushed in a wheelchair to 3 buses, designated as red, white & blue buses, we were on the way to the WW2 memorial, they served sandwiches for lunch, we passed by the Arlington Cemetery on the way, finally reaching the memorial, & getting a wheelchair, which was carried on the bus, we were at the memorial for about 1 V* hours, we returned to the bus, which now took us to a choice of the Lincoln statue, the Vietnam memorial, or the Korean memorial, I opted for the Lincoln statue, there was time so we went to the Korean exhibit, then we returned to the bus & went to the Air & Space Museum, where I saw & took pictures of the Flying Tiger plane & the plane I trained in, the Stearman open cockpit biplane. There was a narrator for a group of 6 Vets. They then took us back to the Washington airport, where we were given another sandwich for dinner, at the airport, the flight home took about the same amount of time it took us from Midway to Washington.


On the plane we were given snacks & drinks, then they had a Mail Call, where each Vet was given a big envelope, that had letters from most of the gals at the Senior Center & my family & Scott & friends, we landed & the Fire Department gave us a shower of water over the plane & they all stood at attention saluti8ng us, when we reached Midway again, I was amazed, there where at least 2,000 people there for us, my entire family was also there, I really was emotional at that, we were wheeled in a wheelchair down into this crowd & I must have shaken at least 500 hands, there were bikers, girl scouts, boy scouts, & many people, old & young to greet us. The Navy fellows that had taken us to the airport were dismissed & my daughter & husband took me home, they also gave us a big bag of stuff & then what they said were cookies. When I opened it at home, there was an assortment of candies & Girl Scout cookies. What a greeting we got at Midway, I even signed my autograph for a few little girls, what a day.

When we were at the memorial, all the veterans there were sitting in chairs or wheelchairs & there were speeches & singing of the National Anthem & all services were represented with flags & held by uniformed army personnel, also a band performed all the services songs."

Mr. Spitzer receives a heroe's welcome at Midway Aipport upon his return.

Korean War Veterans Association, Greater Chicago Chapter

These Korean War  veterans held their annnual Christmas Party on December 9, 2012 at the White Eagle Restaurant in Niles, Illinois.



The Legacy Girls, Renee, Nancy and Janet, who performed as the Andrews Sisters, brightened the occasion  and posed with  Charles Simokaitis and Commander Joe Henmuller at the close of the festive afternoon. Their appearance was arranged by a  past Commander, Niels Larsen.

Latest Book Sentry: new titles from WWII to Bin Laden

The latest issue of Book Sentry can be read on the Niles Public Library web site.

This monthly listing allows readers to identify the new arrivals about military history, especially those books providing context for the library's ongoing Veterans History Project. The only "password" required to place a "hold" on one of the highlighted books is a library card number.

"Bomb Sight,' an Interactive Map of the World War II "Blitz" on London

Using World War II Bomb Census charts and records, the National Archives (UK), JISC and the University of Portsmouth, have developed an interactive web site where the visitor can search by address to pinpoint the many locations in Greater London where Nazi bombs fell to such destructive effect from early September of 1940 to May of the following year.

While the German bombing began in early September, 1940, "the maps in the archive do not completely align with the time period of the blitz so there is a slight mismatch but the reporting period we are investigating is between October 7th 1940 and June 1941 as this is the period in which data were collected."

http://bombsight.org/#15/51.5050/-0.0900

Veterans Roll Call at 6th Annual Niles Breakfast

November Veterans Day Exhibit at Niles Library




The World War I soldier's profile is an adaptation of an illustration from the cover of the
 library's copy of Sebastian Faulk's novel Birdsong. The replica items of World War II
battlefield fare were kindly loaned for exhibit by the Pritzker Military Library. The
World War I uniform on the left and Victory Medal in the "Great War for Civilization"
as well as the complete World War II Army Air Corps flight surgeon's uniform on the right
were assembled by Niles resident and collector Christopher Reuscher to honor the military
career of 99-year old Dr. Irwin Williger who is the oldest participant in the Veterans
History Project at the Niles Library.

 



The items above, including facsimilie cigarettes, matches, and toilet paper as well as such meal rations as Spam were loaned for exhibition by Nancy Houghton, the Director of External Affairs at the Pritzker Military Library at 104 S.Michigan Avenue.



6th Annual Veterans History Project Breakfast, 11/8/12





The Niles Public Library presented its 6th Annual Veterans History Project Breakfast on Thursday morning, November 8, to honor the community's heroes and especially those participating in the national memoir of service program.

26 veterans assembled on stage for the roll call. The oldest veteran of World War II and the highest ranking in service was flight surgeon Major Irwin Williger who served in North Africa and later in Europe with the 40th Evacuation Hospital. Dr. Williger is seated fourth from right in the first row.

Sitting from left to right in the first row are: Bernard Warchol, Robert Morris, Walter Tymczuk, Niels H. K. Larsen,

Leonard Di Fabio, Matthew Wojtaszek, Jack Weinberg,  Irv Blaszynski (sitting on stage) Dr. Irwin Williger,

Irving Abramson, Al Lee and Art Art Shapiro.

In the 2nd row from left to right are: Milton Langer, Robert Lavery, Ray Rich, Matthew Potaczek, Tom Vana, Richard Vana, David Spitzer, and Al Komar.

In the third row from left to right are: Sam Schechter, Chuck Jacobs, Mike McNulty, John Bugajsky, Dr. Jerry Levin, Judith Carlson for Norman Berkman, and Russell Zapel.

This year's official picture was again taken by Sasha Vasilic, the Publicity and Graphic Design Coordinator of the Niles Library.

Linda Weiss, the Director of the Niles Public Library, and Chris Hanusiak, President of the Friends of the Niles Library and a veteran himself, welcomed and congratulated the special guests. Mrs. Weiss announced a donation of $500 from the library and the Friends of the Library to the Honor Flight Chicago Program.

The delicious breakfast was arranged by the Library's Marketing Director, Sue Wilsey, who worked in concert with

the generous Regency Rehabilitation Center of Niles. Kris Hansen, the Regency's Director of Marketing, pitched in to help serve the breakfast to the veterans, their guests, and the community as 73 people in all attended the breakfast. The food and beverage service at the breakfast was again most ably coordinated by  the library's Cyndi and her corps of volunteers:  Marilyn,  Lindsey, Helen ,

Stephanie, and Dottie. Library staff assisting in the presentation of the  program  were Judy McNulty, Dodie Frisbee, Ann Pasnick, Susan Lempke, Dave Dabrowski, John Ratzko,  Keith Winberg, Richard Woznicka, and  Don Burkhart.

The Legacy Girls as the Andrews Sisters provided the knock-out entertainment and closed their program with the “Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy" to everyone's delight.