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Our
permanent goal is to help underprivileged children improve the quality
of their lives. Officers:
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The Kiwanis Club of Greater Lawrence Distinguished
Club 2003-2004 The Kiwanis Weekly Newsletter
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Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time.
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Honored Armed Services Veterans Robert Penney (Haverhill Kiwanis),
Jack McLay, Glenn Eberhardt (Fremont, N.H.), Mike Tucker, Tony Sakowich,
Bob Clark, Jack Carroll, Mallory Piper (guest speaker) and Al DeLuca |
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Coming Events: Thursday, November 26 -- No meeting this week Happy Thanksgiving, one and all Thursday, December 2 -- State Senator, Sue Tucker New England District Fall Session in Conway, New Hampshire, on the weekend of November 20 Santa Night 2009, Friday, December 11
Already Santa Night has $10,000 pledged -- a remarkable accomplishment. Enough people -- Kiwanians, students from the Key Club and from Notre Dame high included -- so that two groups might visit half of the restaurants apiece. Some of the restaurants are offering a special deal to Kiwanis -- ten percent of the amount spent per patron carrying a particular coupon distributed by Kiwanians earlier. Jack McLay deftly picked the Ace from the pack if it had been of Spades, not Hearts. Mike DeLuca announced that the Club will make every effort to participate in Chamber of Commerce fund raisers, but can do so if volunteers step forward once a month. The next opportunity occurs on November 24. It is a speed networking event where one on one occurs within a short time, and then there is a rotation of people. Admission is free since the Club is a member and has a pass. |
He prefaced his remarks with the observation that that war was an easier one for Americans to understand, in contrast to those such as Iraq and Afghanistan occurring later. The Allied invasion on the beaches of Normandy was the decisive battle of the war, marking the beginning of the end of the Nazis' occupation. Mr. Piper had been assigned to an infantry rifle squad and had been a second lieutenant, squad leader, for only a few days before the invasion. A squad had ten men, a sergeant and a second lieutenant, and was part of a battalion which usually numbered 900. The 29th had only about 800. It never reached full complement for the remaining eleven months of the war. He described the atmosphere as part of the "age of innocence." Thirty men wedged into a LST approached the beach over rough seas. Many became seasick. Visibility was poor. They landed in thigh high water with 50 to 70 pounds on their backs, luckier than others who disembarked into water over their heads and drowned. They landed in the wrong place. Shells were exploding everywhere, cover on the beach was almost nonexistent. Bodies and wounded were everywhere. The fire from the Germans, well concealed and fortified, was intense. Chaos. Even though the landing was a surprise to them, the Germans soon had complete control of the action. The Allies had virtually no air support to create craters on the beach for concealment of the troops because visibility that morning was so limited they could not take off in England until it was too late. The troops huddled on the beach for hours, unable to advance. Mr. Piper declared there were many, many brave soldiers. They had to advance far enough toward the bunkers to use heavier armament, which a few ultimately did. By noon, his platoon, reduced from 42 to 17 men, had been able to advance through a gap created by shelling by the Navy to take the small , resort town Vierville sur Mer. Then they took St. Laurent sur Mer and later found themselves in the vast battleground replete with hedgerows. There fighting resembled that of the trench warfare of World War I. They spent thirty days fighting in the treacherous hedgerows. The battalion of approximately 800 had been reduced to 250 men. Baptism under fire on the beaches had been heart wrenching. Youthful bravado was lost. The men became fatalistic, and developed a black, macabre humor. Every day became a new favor. Lives were shaped by the horror of these events. Mr. Piper entered the newspaper business following the War and just retired from it in July, 2009. President Dave Wilson observed in a personal conversation, for publication, after the meeting that his son, fifteen years old, among others his age, plays warlike video games. These youth don't have a clue. The military even uses these experiences in their recruitment. Later the youth learn what real war is, and it is not a game. Also not to be forgotten is that one of every five soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan has traumatic brain disorder. Scoreboard of Community Service for 2009-2010 November
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Greeters for November Jeffrey Ferrante and Nick Forgione ...for December Mary Beth Fahey and Michael Helman |
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Members:
* Past President |
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"War
is Hell" could have been the title of the speech by
the Club's special guest, Mallory Piper, a veteran of the
Second World War. He was a squad leader on Omaha Beach on
D Day, June 6, 1944.