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J Curious Issue No J Curious Issue No. 26 – Jan 20 Meetings, Speakers & Coming Events Jan 27 Ken Macias, CPA Feb 3 Greg King, Executive Director Always Knocking Feb 10 Tom Knox, Vietnam Military Experience Feb 17 Dan Hall, American River Parkway Foundation Feb 24 Rich Eytchson, Exec. Dir. CPR Mar 2 Carol Van Bruggen, Africa Hope Fund Mar 9 Herb Brown, Special Agent, FBI Mar 16 Mike Pereia, NFL Referee Mar 23 Jerry Meshulam, Rotaplast Meetings are at the Double Tree Hotel at 7 Just Last Week By Dave Christenson AM, Friday Mornings Our meeting started with the announced the Festa Restaurant “usual” video. Guy led us in Night will be Wednesday January singing happy birthday to Dick 25th at Espanol Restaurant. Lou Goodell. Patrick Robrecht reminded us we need more blood president of the Active 20-30 Club dripping. gave us a look at the activities of Past Rotary District their club. Past Active 20-30 Governor recognized Larry President gave a nice Suddjian for all his work on the endorsement. Many of our Rotary Foundation. Larry and his Rotary Club of members were recognized for wife Candi received two pins for Point West their participation in 20-30 being Major donors to the Rotary including past Man of the Year Founded, April 1985 Drew Houghton. Bea Maurer more on 2 J Curious Issue No. 26 – Jan 20 Rotary Club of Point West – 2011-2012 Board of Directors 5180 District Governor President, Jennifer Curtsinger; Secretary, Doug Weill; Treasurer, Drew Houghton; Administrative Assistant, George Daniels, Past President, Gary Hardesty, President-elect, Mike Cendro Directors Club Service I Don Levin Club Service II Trish Harrington Community Service I Greg Garcia Community Service II Toney Sebra International Service Desiree Wilson Publicity/Membership Lori Curry Vocational Service I Jamie Nelson Vocational Service II Mary Lyn Kagan Sergeant at Arms John Koogle, Karl Forste, Justin McWilliams and Bill McIntyre Governor Jack Taylor’s Visit our website for more information newsletter is available at rotary5180.net/my rotary http://pointwest.clubwizard.com Just Last Week continued Foundation. They have works with private landowners the Buttes with fellow Rotarians donated over $10,000.00 to the and the public for the Rich Fathy, Bob Burger and Buzz Foundation. President Elect preservation and exploration of Wiesenfeld. The weather that Mike Cendro reminded us that the Sutter Buttes. The Sutter day caused the guide to have a Fireside Chats are coming Buttes are arguably the smallest little navigation problem which soon. All members are mountain range in the world. made a 6 mile hike into a 10 mile required to attend. Members The Foundation leads hikes hike with a final destination far need to check the schedule through the Sutter Buttes to from where they planned. and RSVP your host. explore its natural wonders. It Rich Fathy introduced also has a connection with the our speaker Mike Hubbratt of Native American who lived in The Middle Mountain and around the Buttes. The Foundation. This Foundation is question segment ended with a unique organization that Dan Hall describing his tour of your Rotary members and families at Wise Presidential Words our Annual PWR Bowling Bash on Saturday, February 25th sign-up with Last chance to sign up for Desiree or Tom Knox. Who will Festa Restaurant Night at Espanol prevail this year, the Dashing Drew (59th and Folsom Blvd.). Sign up with or the Tony Toney? You must be Bea for Wednesday, January 25th, 6-8 there! pm. District Assembly is coming Tom Knox is raking up the up on March 24 at Inderkum High bucks for the Million Dollar Bowling School. This event is open to all Bash. Don’t miss a great time with Rotarians and runs from 8 am to 3 pm. New Board members should go. 2 J Curious Issue No. 26 – Jan 20 Who Are These Guys Anyway? If you aren’t one of the representatives from these companies it is likely that you don’t know why we are so grateful to their contributions. These four companies are Club Sponsors. What that means is that each of the companies has contributed at least $1500 annually to Point West Rotary. This is a great way for your company to contribute to PWR. For more information contact our President or a Board member. Classic Steve McQueen movie immortalized three tunnels at Stalag Luft III POW camp, a fourth has been found By Claudia Joseph It has lain hidden for nearly 70 raised off the ground so guards years and looks, to the untrained could spot potential tunnellers, but eye, like a building site. But this the Germans did not count on the insignificant tunnel opening in the audacity of British Spitfire pilot soft sand of western Poland Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, represents one of the greatest played by Sir Richard examples of British wartime Attenborough in the 1963 film. He heroism. And the sensational story was interned at the camp in March became the Hollywood classic, 1943. With him were about 2,000 The Great Escape, starring Steve other RAF officers, many of whom McQueen. were seasoned escapers from We are standing in the other camps, with skills in notorious POW camp Stalag Luft tunnelling, forgery and III, built at the height of the Third manufacturing. Reich, 100 miles east of Berlin. Ten From them Bushell hand- thousand prisoners were kept picked a team for his ambitious under German guns here on a 60- plan: to dig their way out of acre site ringed with a double captivity. barbed-wire fence and Three tunnels nicknamed watchtowers. (continued) They slept in barrack huts 3 J Curious Issue No. 26 – Jan 20 Tom, Dick and Harry were marched out on January 27, 1945, as To prevent further escape constructed 30ft underground using Russian forces approached. attempts, the Germans filled in Harry homemade tools. While Tom was ‘It has been very emotional,’ with sand. So effective was the discovered and destroyed by the he said. ‘It brings back such cover-up that when the remaining Germans, Dick was used for storage. bittersweet memories. I am amazed prisoners wanted to build a memorial The third tunnel, Harry, by everything they have found.’ for the 50 men who died, the exact became the stuff of folklore on the A widower with six children, site of the tunnel could not be agreed night of March 24, 1944, when Allied he has vivid memories of working on on. prisoners gathered in hut 104 before tunnel Harry, performing guard duty Now, for the first time in 66 crawling along the 100ft tunnel to a and acting as a ‘penguin’ to disperse years, the archaeologists have brief taste of freedom. Only three the sand excavated from the tunnels, pinpointed the entrance shaft to escaped; 73 were rounded up by the whose entrances were hidden by the Harry after compiling a map of the Germans and 50 were summarily huts’ stoves. camp using aerial photography. executed. They were called penguins What was most surprising for Few could have blamed their because they waddled when they the team was the structure within the devastated comrades for sitting out walked. shaft. The bedboards were the remainder of the war. Yet far ‘We would put bags around interlocked to line the tunnel but the from being dispirited, a few men our neck and down our trousers, fill sand was so soft that plaster and began work on a fourth tunnel them with excavated sand, then pull sandbags were used to prevent it nicknamed ‘George’, which was kept a string to release it on to the field engulfing the tunnel. Amazingly, the so secret that only a handful of where we played soccer, all in a very ventilation shaft, which was made out prisoners knew about it. nonchalant way,’ Gordie said. of discarded powdered milk tins, was Now, for the first time in 66 ‘One of my jobs was to look still intact. years, the archaeologists have out of the window at the main gate 24 Dr Pollard, 46, who co- pinpointed the entrance shaft to hours a day and write down how founded Glasgow University’s Centre Harry after compiling a map of the many guards went in and out,’ he for Battlefield Archaeology, said: ‘I camp using aerial photography. recalled. ‘Another was warning was surprised at just how emotional I Incredibly, George has just watch. If the Germans came into the became when we found Harry. We been uncovered after a team of compound, we would pull the were the first people to see the engineers, archaeologists and laundry line down and everyone tunnel in decades. But it came to a historians excavated the site, a would stop what they were doing and point when we realized we couldn’t project filmed for a Channel 4 resume normal duties. The guards progress with the excavation. As documentary Digging The Great were not exactly brilliant. They were soon as you drive a shaft into the Escape. taken from what we called 4F – not fit sand, it is so soft it starts to collapse. ‘You have to admire these for frontline fighting. It shows just how skilled those men,’ said chief archaeologist Dr ‘I’m thrilled by it all,’ added prisoners were.’ Tony Pollard. ‘The Germans believed Frank, who was shot down on his After abandoning Harry, the that the deaths of those 50 men would second mission: a bombing raid on team set their sights on finding the have acted as a deterrent for future Ludwigshafen oil refinery. ‘It’s like a secret fourth tunnel rumored to have escapees. But these men were even war memorial for me.
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