Veteran's Day

Thursday after school I had the privilige of speaking at the Orchid Terrace Retirement Community in South County. It was a long day at school and quite frankly I wasn't really in the mood to speak, but when I started meeting the residents, I had no regrets. I gave my speech about Harold Hetzler, a WWII pilot that lost his life in that war, then gave my slideshow presentation about my research and journey into Harold's life. They were a really great audience and seemed to be really moved by the presentation. They also had lots of good questions. It was a really nice experience for me and I would love to speak to them again. I enjoyed meeting with two veterans, one named Earl (in the hat in front) who was in the Battle of the Bulge and one named Harold (In yellow in the back) who was a tank driver under General Patton. Sarah also spoke with a lady who was from Germany and had quite a conversation about their homeland and Sarah learned a lot about how bad it was in Germany during the war from her. On a side note, I was surprised to see one of the ladies I met, who was 91, going on facebook as we left the common room! This was all a profound experience for me and the residents were so moved by my presentation at the sad points, that I myself teared up a bit during the talk.

Veteran's Day Speaking Event:

On November 11th (Veteran's Day), I will be speaking at the Orchid Terrace Independent Retirement Community, 4474 Butler Hill Rd., St. Louis, MO 63128. I will be presenting, for the first time, a slide show version of my award winning speech More than Just a Name. The presentation will last about 30 minutes and I will be happy to answer questions about my research at the conclusion of the talk. I will be speaking at 4:00 pm.

Friends of Jefferson Barracks Park

Yesterday evening, I was invited to speak at the monthly meeting for the Friends of Jefferson Barracks Park. I gave my Harold Hetzler speech and presented the story of how I researched Harold. I also spoke about my current historical research on Ulysses Tebbs. The members, about 25 of them, asked me a lot of really good questions and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to share Harold's story. The members are very interested in historical research and they gave me lots of ideas and resources to advance my research. I would also like to thank Al Katzenberger for taking photos of the event. Some of the members were kind enough to share their thoughts on my presentation:

"Extremely interesting & imaginative, as well as entertaining. I highly recommend Mr. Kirby."
Marc E. Kollbaum, Curator, Jefferson Barracks Park

"Excellent speech, amazing research, so thorough, a great historian."
Ann Thoma, member: Friends of Jefferson Barracks

"His talk was very well done, moving and based on research."
Jack Grothe, Fellow and Governor: Company of Military Historians

"Alan's reflections on the pilot's life and the efforts he has made to keep the history of World War II alive are much appreciated."
Charlotte Pisoni

"Alan's talk was interesting and informative. It was amazing how much he found out about Harold."
Louise Drescher

"The presentation was informative and also very inspiring!"
Mary Hauck, member: Friends of Jefferson Barracks

Rollo-Calcaterra American Legion Post

Last Wednesday evening I gave my Harold Hetzler Speech to the Rollo-Calcaterra American Legion Post, Number 15 on the Hill (an Italian neighborhood) in St. Louis. I spoke to about 50 veterans and I had a really good chicken dinner afterwards with the members. A colorful group of guys, very patriotic and full of history. It was a real honor to be invited to spend an evening with them. To the left you see me pictured with Skip Berger, the Commander of the Post.