Mothers at what is still considered the largest dinners ever held at the white house. As president nixon said, it rained all day and much of the evening, and the south long was south lawn was soggy when the guests started arriving for dinner. Many of the womens long dresses got splattered with mud, but nothing would dampen the spirits of that night. In the first year of his presidency, nixon met with the wives and mothers of the pows during the christmas season. He wrote that the women spoke respectfully and passionately about the need to get their husbands and sons returned home to american soil. From that time on, each pow was an individual to me, obtaining their release became a burning cause. Our distinguished speaker on this memorial day will tell this important story. Her name is heath hardage lee. She is a historian, writer, and museum curator, and holds a ba in history with honors from davidson college, and an ma from the university of virginia. A 2017 robert j curatorial fello
On this memorial day we honor the follow the fallen. We are we honor those who were killed in action during the vietnam war. President nixon was commanderinchief. This week marks the 46th anniversary of when the president and first lady welcomed the american prisoners of war held captive in vietnam, and their spouses and their mothers. It is still considered one of the largest dinners ever held at the white house. As president nixon said, it rained all day and much of the evening. Many of the womens long dresses got splattered with mud, but nothing would dampen the spirits of that night. With the wives and mothers of the pows during the christmas season. He wrote that the women spoke respectfully and passionately about the need to get their husbands and sons returned home to american soil. From that time on, each pow was an individual to me, obtaining the release became a burning cause. Our distinguished speaker on this memorial day will tell this important story. Her name is heath har
Im going to call everybodys attention. It seems like youre all having great, which is the goal i to hear some talk about leadership at the tables with i want to introduce mr. Alvin townley name and as i introduce him i could stand up here and introduce him as youd introduce so many speakers could talk about the six books hes written are the emmy documentary that he was part of or that hes landed on three aircraft carriers in three oceans. But im not going to do that im actually going to talk about why we asked mr. Townley to be. So i was introduced to mr. Townley through mr. Sears, the director of innovation leadership innovation, the Stockdale Center, and he that mr. Townley would be a great speaker to kick off our homecoming 50th commemoration and and and as he talked about mr. And his writing of the alcatraz 11 and the p. O. W. S of vietnam and their families. But this is interesting could be a great start. And so i called mr. Townley and instantly i felt like i was sitting at the K
Its said that history is a cyclic poem written by time upon the memories of men. It is wise men and women who pay careful attention to the lessons of history. When prisoners of war returned home from their ordeal in the infamous hanoi hilton nearly 50 years ago, they brought with them hard won lessons about the value of unity and about the benefits of communication that they returned with their honor intact holds out funding, mental lessons. As our society deals with racial and political upheaval and an isolation imposed by a global pandemic. What lessons can we learn from those who have gone before . Before its too late. We will. Military men. We will professional warriors. They took me out to interrogation and they said, youre a criminal and you will be treated as a criminal, as was to be experienced in the next eight years. They did indeed resort to torture. Heres me getting beat with a van built. Things started to get rough. Things scratched when you got harsher and harsher. I took
Its said that history is a cyclic poem written by time upon the memories of men. It is wise men and women who pay careful attention to the lessons of history. When prisoners of war returned home from their ordeal in the infamous hanoi hilton nearly 50 years ago, they brought with them hard won lessons about the value of unity and about the benefits of communication that they returned with their honor intact holds out funding, mental lessons. As our society deals with racial and political upheaval and an isolation imposed by a global pandemic. What lessons can we learn from those who have gone before . Before its too late. We will. Military men. We will professional warriors. They took me out to interrogation and they said, youre a criminal and you will be treated as a criminal, as was to be experienced in the next eight years. They did indeed resort to torture. Heres me getting beat with a van built. Things started to get rough. Things scratched when you got harsher and harsher. I took