Woodside/Portola Valley Rotary - Newsletter

Don and Sue Bennett will introduce their friend, Neelam Noorami. Neelam has worked for the UN Tribunal at Den Haag and Sierra Leone and will be speaking about her experiences.

Last Week's Program: (courtesy of Last Week Editor, Dean Babcock)
Dave Hyman introduced Hap O’halloran, a World War II veteran. Hap was born in Akron, Ohio and retired recently from Consolidated Freightways. Hap joined the Army Air Corps after Dec. 7, 1941 at the age of 19. He went to flight school at Salina, KS and qualified as a navigator on B29’s, the largest bomber of WW II bomber. There were no B29’s available for flight training so they used B17’s, the “Flying Fortress.” They were deployed to Guam, Tinian and Saipan for operations against Japan. In 1943 they conducted a bombing raid on Tokyo, coming in at 32,000 feet. They encountered heavy antiaircraft fire and then were surprised to see an enemy fighter coming toward them. They didn’t know that the Japanese had a high-altitude fighter, a twin engine plane called “Nick.” The Nick was equipped with a cannon, which was fired and the explosion blew a large hole in the nose of the B29 and air at -50 degrees blew in. The pilot called for all hands to bail out. Hap delayed opening his parachute until he had descended to 2,500 feet. After his chute opened he saw an enemy fighter flying toward him and he expected to be strafed. But the pilot flew past and saluted him. When Hap landed he was attacked with rocks. Enemy soldiers soon arrived and he was beaten with rifle butts. He was then taken to a prisoner of war camp and placed in a small cage and told to be silent. He was interrogated and tortured and fed but a spoonful of rice per day.
On Aug. 15th 1945 Japan surrendered and Hap was released. He soon went home and suffered nightmares that disturbed his family. In 1984 he decided to return to Japan to meet the Japanese people and attempt a reconciliation. He contacted Sen. Mike Mansfield who helped him make arrangements to find the people that had been his keeper and the few that had done good deeds for the American prisoners. At the end of Hap’s talk there were few dry eyes in the room

Next Week's Program: Club Assembly/Membership Drive

There will be a discussion during this meeting on how to proceed with a membership drive after the first of the year.

Club News: Thanks to Dave for hosting yet another takeover of his kitchen for the baking of Christmas cookies and some holiday cheer as well.

Christmas party TONIGHT (12/6) at Sandie's ... Bring upwrapped toys for St. Francis Center

Note: At this writing we do not have a single speaker scheduled for after today's meeting.

Your editor tried to get Barak Obama but he is tied up.

Coming Events:

Next Board Meeting: Tuesday, January 6th 2009, 7:30am, Church Library

Rotary Means Business: Wednesday, January 7th, 5:30 pm Encore Performance Catering

District Assembly: Saturday, March 28th, 8:00 - 1:30, San Mateo Community College

District Conference: April 17th - 19th, Portola Plaza, Monterrey, www.rotary5150.org

Announcements: Have you had a look at the Rotary International website lately for what is going on in Rotary's world? www.rotary.org How about finding out about what is going on in the district? www.rotary5150.org