WED, November 6th at 6:30PM
Upon graduating from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, the U.S. Navy approved newly minted Ensign Alan B. Shepard’s request for aviator training. But there was catch; the custom of the time dictated that all aviation candidates be assigned to sea duty as a line officer. This allowed them to better understand what life was like for their counterparts onboard ship. Shepard’s assignment saw him deploy to the war tossed waters of the South Pacific as a destroyer man. It was there that Shepard received his baptism of fire and served the guns during the cataclysmic Battle of Okinawa, where more U.S. Sailors died at sea than did their Marine brethren fighting to seize the actual island from the fanatical Japanese defenders.
Shepard’s wartime service did not end there, as he would later deploy to the Korean War, now flying jet fighters from aircraft carriers, having earned his coveted golden wings. After World War II, Shepard didn’t keep in touch with his wartime shipmates and never attended a single reunion.
Local historian T.J. Cullinane of the Derry Heritage Commission will recount Shepard’s hazardous wartime duty and provide some theories into why future Rear Admiral Shepard, the first American in space, chose not to keep in contact with his wartime shipmates. Please join us for this fast paced presentation on one of Derry’s, and indeed America’s, greatest heroes.