Freedom’s Voice The Monthly Newsletter of the Military History Center 112 N. Main ST Broken Arrow, OK 74012 http://www.okmhc.org/ “Promoting Patriotism through the Preservation of Military History” Volume 5, Number 6 June 2017 United States Armed Services Flag Day at the MHC Days of Observance On Saturday, June 10, the MHC held its annual Flag Day cel- The month of June has several Armed Services Days of Ob- ebration. There was a good turnout of local veterans and their servance. We believe the two most important are Army Day families. Broken Arrow Mayor, Craig Thurmond, City Manager, on June 13 and Flag Day on June 14. Michael Spurgeon, and other city officials were also in attend- ance. The weather was a little windy, but otherwise pleasant. Dr. Clarence Oliver, retired Broken Arrow Superintendent of Schools, Korean War veteran and long-time supporter of the MHC, served as Master of Ceremonies. First flag of the United States – June 14, 1777 July 15 – Military Trivia Evening Calling all teachers, students and history types. The MHC will host its third annual Military Trivia Evening on Saturday, July 15 at the Armed Forces Reserve Center located at 26401 E. 101st Street, Broken Arrow. Doors will open at 5:00; the Trivia Contest will begin at 6:00. Dr. Clarence Oliver If you think you know military history and want to test your knowledge against others, here’s your oppor- As has been the custom at all previous Flag Day ceremonies, tunity. Participants will be organized into teams of the flags in the Memorial Flag Plaza were lowered prior to the eight. Even if your team doesn’t win, it’s a lot of fun. event. As part of the ceremony, all the flags are raised, one at For information, call the MHC at 918-794-2712. Come a time, beginning with the National Flag. The service flags are out, have some fun, learn more about military history, raised accompanied by the particular service’s anthem. The and support the MHC. Participant entry fee is $25. service flags are raised beginning with the Army flag and fol- lowed by the other services in order of their founding. Raising the National Flag – left to right: Willard Parish, Lynn Flag raisers standing by to raise the service flags Burgess and Jon Johnson, all Vietnam War combat veterans The service flag raisers: Harold Hayes, Junior Nipps (Army); Dennis Hoch, Ken Collins, DeCocq (Navy); Craig Roberts, Tom Tejeda (Marine Corps); Elvin Hardwick, Bill Conrad (Air Force); Woody Woods (Medal of Honor); Mark Howell, Mitch Reed (Army National Guard); Don Hughes, George Banasky (Air Na- tional Guard); Clarence Oliver, Paul Roberts (45th Infantry Divi- sion/Brigade) Except for Elvin Hardwick, a Broken Arrow High School JROTC Cadet, all the flag raisers are military veterans, from World War II to Afghanistan. Miss Ella Phillips, a ninth-grade student at Regent Preparatory School in Tulsa, singing the National Anthem MHC Docent, Ken Collins, accompanied on guitar by Docent Dennis Hoch, reciting a poem dedicated to the American flag The MHC is grateful to all the volunteers who made this event a success: those who prepared the Flag Plaza and those who participated in the ceremonies. We especially thank ev- eryone who gave up a couple of hours of their Saturday to come out and pay tribute to our flag. Representative Mike Ritze (Oklahoma House District 80) featured speaker at the Flag Day ceremony Quilt of Valor Presentation The Tulsa Chapter of Quilts of Valor presented a Quilt of Valor to Vietnam War veteran Jon Johnson, Co. C, 1st BN, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry “First Team” Division (Air Mobile). SGT Johnson participated in the Battle of Landing Zone X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley of South Vietnam – November 14-15, 1965. SGT Johnson and SP4 Willard Parish served in the same battalion but in different companies at Landing Zone X-Ray. They fought only yards apart, but had never met until the Flag Day Ceremony Book Signing The MHC hosted a book signing prior to the Flag Day Cere- mony. Mr. Charles Sasser, Oklahoma author of numerous books, both fiction and non-fiction, presented several of his titles at the book signing. The focus was one of his more recent Quilt of Valor members, Pat Morris and Lisa Rollins, present books, Blood in the Hills, co-authored by Mr. Robert Maras, SGT Jon Johnson with a Quilt of Valor whose experiences as a Marine Corps PFC during the Khe Sanh hill fighting, are told in the book. The book signing was a great success. Mr. Sasser sold almost all of the books he brought. His books can be found online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Charles Sasser on the left with Vietnam War combat veterans, Craig Roberts and Willard Parish SGT Jon Johnson and his wife, Mary This Month’s Featured Exhibit Battle of Midway Seventy-five years ago, this month, on June 4-7, 1942, the United States Navy engaged a powerful Japanese fleet that included four aircraft carriers, north of Midway Island. The much smaller American battle fleet included three aircraft car- riers: Hornet, Enterprise and Yorktown, the latter having been patched up after taking a beating a month earlier in the Coral Sea. On June 4, Navy fliers sank two of the Japanese aircraft carriers within fifteen minutes, and mortally wounded a third, which the Japanese scuttled the next day. Late in the after- noon of June 4, Navy fliers heavily damaged the fourth Japa- nese carrier, which was also scuttled the following day. The Japanese, in turn, sank Yorktown, first heavily damaging her with aerial attacks and finally finishing her with a submarine torpedo attack, while she was under tow to Pearl Harbor. Just six months after the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, the American victory at Midway proved to be the turn- During World War II, the Office of War Information’s Bu- ing point of the war in the Pacific. reau of Graphics oversaw the production of over 200,000 dif- ferent designs of propaganda posters. Unlike most other na- tions at war, American propaganda posters mostly carried posi- tive themes to encourage support for the war. These themes included conservation, production, recruiting, home efforts and secrecy. The posters were usually placed in areas without paid advertisements, such as post offices, railroad stations, schools, restaurants and retail stores. The OWI held design competitions among artists, which al- lowed for an increased number of designs from which to choose. The artists designed the posters at no cost to the gov- ernment. Of the three posters shown above, the two on the right re- minded Americans of the need for caution in their conversa- tions, suggesting that loose talk about matters concerning the war effort could cost another soldier his life or even the loss of a ship. (“Loose lips sink ships.”) The poster on the far left shows the arm of an enemy soldier thrusting a bayonet through a Bi- ble, meant to show Americans that they were fighting for their The Famous Four Minutes by R.G. Smith depicts the scene moments civilization and freedoms. after Lieutenant Commander Richard H. Best and his wingman suc- Stephen Adelson donated these three posters to the MHC. cessfully bombed the aircraft carrier, Akagi, flagship of the Japanese fleet. Another aircraft carrier is burning in the distance. The Japanese scuttled Akagi the following morning. Support the Military History Center We believe the MHC provides a valuable service to the local community, especially to veterans and students. We Museum Hours and Admission Fee ask for your financial support to help the MHC continue its mission of “Promoting Patriotism through the Preservation Tuesday – Friday: 10:00 – 4:00; Saturday: 10:00 – 2:00 of Military History” and to recognize the sacrifices made by Closed Sunday and Monday and major Federal holidays our veterans to keep America safe and free. For more information, please contact the Military Histo- Adults – $5.00 ry Center at (918) 794-2712 to learn how you can be a sup- Members and Children under 18 – Free porter, or click on the link below to go to the MHC website at www.okmhc.org/donate/. For more information, call (918) 794-2712 Monetary donations, as well as gifts in kind, are tax de- ductible, subject to IRS regulations. www.okmhc.org Staff Sergeant John R. Crews was serving with Co. F, 253rd On October 8, 1951, SFC Tony Kenneth Burris was serving in Infantry Regiment, 63rd Infantry “Blood and Fire” Division near Company L, 3rd BN, 38th Infantry “Rock of the Marne” Regiment, Lobenbacherhof, Germany, on April 8, 1945. “His company 2nd Infantry “Indianhead” Division near Mundung-ni, Korea. came under heavy enemy machinegun and automatic rifle fire. The 2nd Infantry Division entered Korea at Pusan on July 23, Storming a well dug-in position single handedly, he killed two 1950. The Division took up positions on the Naktong River to of the machinegun crew at pointblank range with his M1 rifle. help defend the Pusan Perimeter, where it engaged in desper- Although badly wounded from enemy crossfire, he charged the ate fighting. The 2ID was the first division to break out of the remaining enemy positions, and with accurate rifle fire, forced Perimeter. It helped drive the North Koreans all the way back seven enemy soldiers to surrender and the other defenders to to the 38th Parallel. After the United Nations approved ad- flee”. For his display of “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity vancement into North Korea, the 2ID led Eighth Army’s drive up at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty”, SSGT the west side of the Korean Peninsula.