looks at another D-Day: German set for Flames of War.The U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, PA, is pleased to announce the first of two lectures in the month of March.
Our Brooks E. Kleber Memorial Readings in Military Series continues with "World War II Combat Operations in the European Theater" to be presented on Wednesday, March 7, 2007, at 6:45 p.m. Please note the different date and time from our usual Perspectives lectures.
Our presenter this month is Dr. Ken Hechler, author of the book Bridge at Remagen, which chronicles the capture of the first bridge over the Rhine during World War II. Dr. Hechler relates his experiences as a combat historian during World War II, culminating in the stunning capture of the Ludendorff Bridge and postwar interviews with captured German officers.
The event will be held in Ridgway Hall, Bldg. 950, Carlisle, PA. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. for a complimentary reception, and the talk begins at 6:45. This event is free and open to the public. Directions to the Center and information on other programs are available at usahec.org.
It was a stunning strategic victory of World War II - and one of the most fantastic breaks for the Allies. On March 7, 1945, a small group of American infantrymen, engineers, and tank crews secured the Ludendorff Bridge that crossed the Rhine. The successful mission saved thousands of American lives and spearheaded the invasion of Nazi Germany. The Bridge at Remagen is the detailed narrative of this urprising but crucial military action, one that stunned the German army. It is also the moving story of men who did not consider themselves heroes, but who performed magnificently under fire.
In this amazing true story, Ken Hechler gives you the hour-by-hour account of brilliant military daring, human courage, and almost incredible luck that profoundly changed the course of the war.
Ken Hechler was born in Roslyn, Long Island. He received an A.B. at Swarthmore College and a Columbia university Ph.D. in Political Science and American History in 1940. He taught at Columbia and Barnard prior to World War II and assisted Roosevelt's speech writer Samuel I. Rosenman in the 13-volume Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
After World War II, he taught at Princeton University, was a speech writer for President Harry Truman and Adlai Stevenson, moved to West Virginia in 1957 to teach at Marshall University, was elected in 1958 to nine terms in
the U.S. House of Representatives. He also served as West Virginia's Secretary of State for 16 years. He is the author of six books, including The Bridge at Remagen (which was made into a full-length motion picture). Ken Hechler now lives in Charleston, West Virginia.