On 1 June, the Commandery’s Battle of Midway commemorative lunch was held at Everett Naval Station. Ten companions and spouses attended this annual event including Chuck Davis, Bill Boardman, John Gerten, Cindy and Joe Valenta, Floyd and Carol Kershener, John and Cricket Laible and Solon Webb (with the latter three via Skype).
Floyd Kershner provided an excellent presentation based on the book “Code Girls” by Liza Mundy. Floyd opened his presentation by covering codebreaking before WWII. He then explained the overlooked – but critical – role played by women in this specialty at that time. Joe Valenta then followed by discussing the WWII Pacific Battles Timeline, summarized on a handout. All attendees then enjoyed an informative post-presentation discussion, including our Skype participants.
Since the Battle of Midway brunch celebration is one of our annual events, we are looking to expand our future presentations to include several key battles that followed Midway, including The Battles of the Philippine Sea in 1944, and the MacArthur Campaigns in the Solomans, Guadalcanal, and Leyte during 1942-44, ending with Iwo Jima and Okinawa in 1945. In each session we will review the timeline with the objective of covering, with presentations and videos, some of the key actions up the end of the war.
Naval Order of the US - Northwest 