Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show November 11 2010

On a sunny day set aside to honor all the veterans who have served and protected our country, President DENNIS YOUNG, assembled the vast throng of Rotarians and guests at our temporary venue of the Los Altos Country Club.  President DENNIS chimed the meeting to order at 12:15 p.m. 
 
Arriving Rotarians had been greeted by LOUIS BOREL, ROY LAVE, and Uncle Sam-bedecked JOHN MOSS.  We had a change in the meal charges for today, so kudos to JOHN CARDOZA for outstanding work on the sign-in and pay table. 
 

PE MONA ARMISTEAD introduced visiting Rotarians and guests. Doug from Sunnyvale joined us, as did Ginny Lear from Palo Alto and Jackie from Freedom.  Today we had several visiting Rotarians, including Eleanor from Cupertino, George from Cupertino, Judy from Mountain View and John from Sunnyvale Sunrise.
 
With a popular program on today’s agenda, many members had guests, including DAVE BERONIO, ALAN LAMBERT, SCOTT FLEMING, STEVE YARBROUGH, BILL MOISON, PP BOB ADAMS and CAREW McFALL.

 
President DENNIS also welcomed the large contingent of Kiwanis who where joining us for the Veteran’s Day Celebration. 

CLUB ANNOUNCEMENTS
Pres DENNIS notified us to save the date of February 15, 2011 for a celebration of Chinese New Year hosted by Chef Chu.  He also announced that March 4, 2011 will be the date of the Cioppino Feed prepared by PP JOE RENATI and his crew.  On June 22, 2011, we will have a joint mixer with the Kiwanis at the History Museum.
 
DENNIS reminded all that the Asante Fundraiser would be held this evening November 11.
 
JEANNE MACVICAR announced that we should remember that wars inflict many invisible wounds on our veterans, and that a documentary on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder would be aired this evening also.
 
PP SAM PESNER stepped up to remind us that this is Rotary Foundation Month, and the motto is Every Rotarian Every Year, and we should all contribute at least $100 to support the Rotary Foundation.  All the members of our club are encouraged to become double sustainers, with a $200 donation.
 
KAREN FOX announced that we are beginning the annual food drive to support the CSA Holiday Program.
 
BAIDRA MURPHY announced that the Red Badgers were meeting tonight at 6 pm at First Republic Bank.
 
DON WITT reminded us that the annual Festival of Lights Parade is November 28, and Rotarians, particularly those helping with the float, should meet at the Main Street Cafe & Books at about 4:30 or 5:00.  All are welcome to the Main Street Café & Books to watch the parade.

 
Past President DUDE ANGIUS gave us a public service announcement on the creeping loss of eyesight caused by Macular Degeneration.  DUDE said that when he recently went to lunch with PP JOE RENATI and GEORGE ESTILL, he could not see them if they were walking toward him with sunlight behind them.  Today, DUDE never drives (the DMV having finally caught on to his scam for passing the eye test).  DUDE pointed out that Macular Degeneration is the leading cause of vision loss of those over 50, and the leading cause of blindness for those over 65.  He encouraged us to all look up the early detection tests that can be found on the internet.

NEW RED BADGER
President DENNIS then invited Mark Johnson and his sponsor PP BOB ADAMS up to welcome MARK as a new member of the club.  MARK is a local guy, having attended Mountain View High School and  a Camp RYLA alum here in town.  He attended UCLA, worked for eleven years at Smith Barney  and now runs his own company, Wealth Architects.  He is married to Samantha and has three children.  DENNIS awarded MARK the usual pin and red badge, and a brand new Rotary shirt.  (Much grumbling in the corner from PP JOE RENATI and GEORGE ESTILL, “hey, I never got a free shirt.”)

THE WEEKLY PROGRAM: HONORING OUR WORLD WAR II VETS
DENNIS invited PP JOHN MOSS and PP TRACIE MURRAY to begin our program saluting all the veterans, but particularly to remember our veterans of World War II, a group that became a bit smaller last year with the passing of PP BILLY RUSSELL.  Four WW2 Vets would speak today, but two of our WW2 vets were missing. PP LEN McBIRNEY is currently undergoing treatment for his cancer, and BILL PALMER is attending another Veteran’s event in San Francisco.
 
TRACIE began the program with a brief history of WW2.  It is generally regarded as beginning on September 1,1939 when the Germans invaded Poland (although some Americans who fought the Japanese in China in the late thirties might argue otherwise).  America joined the war right after Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7,1941.  Most men of military age (and few who were too young) joined the services.  The home front was filled with many women taking over jobs vacated by the departing soldiers, and Rosie the Riveter became a national symbol of how each American was helping to fight the war.  Rationing became commonplace, as civilians sacrificed so that materials and equipment would be available for the troops.  Sugar was the first rationed item, then rubber and even clothing.  Gas rationing was very strict, with most Americans getting only 3-4 gallons per week.  Air raid wardens conducted regular drills and blackouts to have the country ready in case of an attack.  The war ended on August 14, 1945.
 
TRACIE invited PP DICK DUHRING up to so share his memories of WW2.  DICK’s most memorable day was May 2, 1945, the end of the war in Italy.  He was with the 84th Infantry, which had been pushing the German Army north through the Po Valley in Northern Italy.  It was near the end of the long and hard Italian Campaign, which had seen the surrender of Italy earlier.  DICK commented on how the Italian civilians, now free of their alliance with Germany and their war against the allies, were joining mightily with the Americans to push the Germans North.  The war was always hard, and DICK’s unit was accidentally straffed by our own air force at one point, thinking they were Germans.  He became a platoon leader, and had his group in a bombed out farmhouse in the Valley, dodging artillery from the German lines.  Finally, the German Army surrendered, and this was the first actual surrender of a German Army to the Americans in the war; the beginning of the end.
 
CLYDE NOEL recounted that he enlisted in the Navy in 1940 because he hated mud and wanted to avoid the infantry.  This was before our entry into the war, and he and 80 other “kids” were bussed to boot camp, where the Navy tossed them uniforms without regard to size.  He was then stationed on the battleship USS North Carolina; the largest class of battleship, over 600 feet long and 100 feet wide.  He spent his first assignment escorting the Liberty Ships supplying England before the U.S. entry in the war.  The North Carolina was then back in Brooklyn, with CLYDE on painting duty.  He was then assigned to the Medical Corp and shipped to the U.S. Virgin Islands.  Finally he got a 2-week leave, and back home he met a young lady on a blind date.  Much later, when he finally got a second 2 week leave, he came home and married her.  They recently celebrated 66 years of happy marriage.  As the War moved on, CLYDE was stationed on the USS Chevalier, a smaller ship working the Pacific.  He had been promoted at that time, but still ended up bunking with “Millie,” a bomb shell in the ammo hold.  He and Millie stayed together for the war all the way to Tokyo, where the Japanese signed the treaty of surrender on Sept. 2, 1945.  CLYDE stayed in the Navy for a while longer, moving from a station in San Diego to one in Malaysia.  After the war, he took advantage of the GI Bill to attend Penn and NYU.
 
Buzz Thayer, a Kiwani vet of WW2 joined us today and recounted his service.  He was 14 when Pearl Harbor was hit on December 7, 1941, and joined as soon as he could at 17.  Skipped his senior year in High School, and instead was assigned to the Aircraft Carrier USS White Plains.  In 1945, they were notified that they were to proceed to near Japan to join a major task force to support the invasion of Japan.  But before that invasion, the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  He had signed up for “the duration” plus 6 months.  As it turned out he remained in the Navy for a year after the war ended.  He lucked out and while assigned at Pearl Harbor, he became the mail guard for CINCPAC the Admiral who was Commander IN Chief PACific region.  He noted that today, he thinks of a 17-year old as a kid, but back then, “we weren’t allowed to be kids.”  There was a war to fight.
 
BOO BUE told us of his War service in the Air Force from 1942-46.  He signed up as a “cadet” when the war began, and began training.  He was shipped to Texas, where they were training Royal Air Force pilots, because the airfields in England were so heavily damaged.  They had 100 cadets, and 83 were British.  He was training to be a fighter pilot, but you went to where they need you, and they needed transport pilots.  So, with hardly any training on one, he began to fly 4-engine transports.   He was stationed in Casablanca, and flew missions to Cairo, India and even Brazil.   At one point his commander told him they needed a co-pilot for a B-26, which Boo had never flown.  It had a bad reputation for stability, and was nicknamed “Widowmaker.”  It was one-way mission to England, and BOO asked how he’d get back.  The commander told him, “You’ll find a way.”  So he did.  First, he realized this was his one chance to see London, so he spent 3 days there before trying to leave.  Then he took a flight to Paris, realized it was his one chance to see Paris, so, took off 3 days to see Paris.  Then, on to Marseilles.  At that point he hooked up a flight to Rome, but he began to worry that he hadn’t checked back in with his command, and he was probably in trouble.  So, he skipped Rome, and headed back to his command in Casablanca.  They hadn’t even missed him. 
 
CAREW MCFALL had not been scheduled to speak, but he was also a short-time WW2 vet.  He was in basic training in 1945 when the war ended.  His infantry group was scheduled to be part of the invasion of the Japanese Mainland.  A large attack force would hit the south (and take heavy casualties) but this was mainly a diversion.  CAREW’s attack group, the main invasion, would invade just north of Tokyo and attack from the North.  They knew that during the war that the Japanese had defended that area 3-5 miles deep with army and civilians.  They were told that they would sustain casualties that would exceed all the casualties in the Pacific up to that point.   The Atom Bomb had been a harsh weapon, but it actually saved hundreds of thousands of lives, both American and Japanese.
 
CAREW also reminded us that PP BILLY RUSSELL had served as a member of General McArthur’s Staff, from the time McArthur hit Australia, all the way to the end of the War in Tokyo Harbor.
 
President DENNIS thanked our wonderful speakers and thanked PP JOHN MOSS and PP TRACIE MURRAY for all their work putting the program together.  DENNIS chimed the meeting to a close promptly at 1:30.

"THIS THURSDAY'S PROGRAM 11/18:

REMINDER:  We meet at Los Altos Country Club again this coming Thursday, November 18th to hear Preston Metcalf.

Preston Metcalf is blessed with the ability to recognize great art, but cursed with the inability to produce it … that is why he is a curator and art historian. He began his career as a Curator of Art at the San Jose Museum of Art.

He then moved to the Triton Museum of Art, first as Curator of Education, then as Assistant Director for several years. Preston then went on to become Executive Director of the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art. He has lectured on art and art history throughout the country and abroad. He has had published more than sixty articles and essays on artists and art history.

After a brief interlude of teaching and writing, he returned to the Triton Museum, where he now works as Chief Curator. He also teaches Art History at Mission College, San Jose City College, and the Triton Museum of Art.