On Monday, November 26th, Frank Korte, Wellington attorney
and Vietnam veteran will present the program “The Normandy Invasion” to members
and guests of the Sumner County Genealogical & Historical Society in meeting
room A at “The Rock” restaurant, 1311 East 16th (east Highway 160),
Wellington.
The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m.; meal begins at 5:30
p.m.. Reservations are not necessary for the meal. Contact "The
Rock" in case of inclement weather for cancellation information.
In 1968, Frank Korte’s National Guard unit was activated
and they were sent to Vietnam on January 3rd, 1969. In the years since his military service,
Korte has become interested in both Civil War era and World War II battles and
the preparations that led up to them.
“I’ve always kind of had an interest in the military,”
Korte said.
“WW II was the first war we fought with Armored
machinery,” Korte said, adding “we woke up about 1939 and realized that they
(the Germans) had tanks and had developed artillery and fighter aircraft, and
we still had an army equipped to fight WW I.”
I’ve always been fascinated by that transition,” Korte
said, “and by where we started and where we’ve come to today.”
“In 1939 we got busy
converting to a WW II Army. It was the infancy of how we fight today” Korte
said, “we do a lot of the same things we did then, but we have much better
equipment.”
Korte will share maps and photographs of the area at
Normandy, including German bunkers that still exist today. And while his talk will encompass the
tremendous battle fought at Normandy Beach, he also plans to touch on what led
up to the Normandy invasion, including “Operation Fortitude” the operation that
was created to deceive the Germans into believing that the main attack would be
elsewhere.
“The whole name of the game was to isolate the beaches
and keep the Germans off of them so we could get on the beaches,” Korte said, “that
operation really threw the Germans off. Rommel
was at Normandy trying to defend the beach with one-third of his Army.”
Contact info: Sherry Kline – 620-326-3401
skline09@gmail.com
skline09@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment