Brookfield Historical Society Presents WWII Program

From the Brookfield Museum and Historical Society:

On April 4, 2016 at 7:30 PM, the Brookfield Historical Society will sponsor a power point presentation on the WWII Battle of Tarawa in the Pacific Theater in late November 1943. The program will take place at the Brookfield Museum located at 165 Whisconier Road (Junction of Routes 25 and 133) in Brookfield Center. The presenter, Dr. Gerard Brooker of Bethel, has visited the island and his lecture will include an examination of the costly struggle to secure the island and the importance of the battle. He will show photos he took on the island of the major battle sites, including Red Beach 2, a major Marine landing area and Japanese defenses and pill boxes. In addition, he will share a later experience during his visit last September to Knoxville, Tennessee. There, at a reburial ceremony, he delivered a eulogy honoring Marine 1st Lieut. Alexander Bonnyman, a Medal of Honor recipient, who was killed on Tarawa.

Brooker has spent his life as an educator and organizer of humanitarian programs. He has been inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame and has published 4 novels including A gathering of Doves and over 350 articles and poems, mostly about social issues. He has been interviewed by nationally renowned news moderator Bill Moyers and has given multiple presentations around the world at peace and educational development conferences. Among his many honors Dr. Brooker received an Award for Outstanding Humanitarian Service from Iona College in 1998, and was also the recipient of the Mahatma Gandhi-Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Award, in 1997. In 2007 he was bestowed the recognition as an Honorary Iwo Jima Marine by the government of Guam. The program is free and complimentary refreshments will be available.