Fighting the enemy overseas
facing discrimination at Home
This event will recognize individuals and organizations whose contributions to local history are significant – and in particular, we will present a Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. Dan Krieger as well as his wife Elizabeth, co-authors of War Comes to the Middle
Kingdom (with Stan Harth), 1991. The Royal Garden Swing Orchestra will perform, and Tom Villa will sing a few numbers that would have been performed at the USO Halls and military camps during the war years. Entertainment costs are supported by a generous
contribution from John Villa at Villa Automotive. Tickets are $75 – $95. Click here to learn more or purchase tickets.
Kingdom (with Stan Harth), 1991. The Royal Garden Swing Orchestra will perform, and Tom Villa will sing a few numbers that would have been performed at the USO Halls and military camps during the war years. Entertainment costs are supported by a generous
contribution from John Villa at Villa Automotive. Tickets are $75 – $95. Click here to learn more or purchase tickets.
Sunday, April 24, 2:00-3:30 pm Downtown SLO
Walking Tour – “WWII Sites in Downtown San Luis Obispo” with Joe Morris, PhD – Sixteen sites in downtown San Luis Obispo reveal the way that World WarII profoundly affected daily life for the merchants and residents of this small, sleepy college town. Start at the historic USO Hall, now the Ludwick Community Center. The tour will include the County Courthouse (completed just before the War), Fremont Theater used by major movie stars to sell war bonds, the bus station, the site of two segregated USO Halls reserved for Black GIs, and several other sites associated with the “homefront” in San Luis Obispo during WWII.
Monday, April 25, 6:00 pm Guadalupe City Auditorium (doors open at 5:30)
Film Screening - “An Untold Triumph: America’s Filipino Soldiers” – During World War II, 7,000 Filipino Americans – many of them from our Central Coast – volunteered their services to the U.S. Army. The 1st and 2nd Filipino Regiments helped liberate their homeland from Japanese occupation, and many stayed to see that Philippines gained its independence in 1946. Director Noel M. Izon captures their stories in this 2002 film through the voices of the veterans themselves, and a narration by Lou Diamond Phillips. Our host, Vietnam veteran Frank Lopez, steeped in the history of the 1st and 2nd Filipino Regiments was engaged in the production of “An Untold Triumph.”
Tuesday, April, 26, 4:00 pm Pismo Beach Lighthouse Suites
“They Face the Rising Sun – The Story of the Black 54th Coast Artillery Regiment” – The Shell Beach hillside was one of two sites where the guns of Battery A, 54th Coast Artillery, were deployed to protect the Union Oil terminal in Avila – one of the busiest in the world at the time. When its 1st Battalion arrived in April 1942, they tripled the population of African Americans in this county. Its Battery B was deployed above the Standard Oil terminal in Estero Bay. Researched & presented by Erik Brun, LTC Ret USA and a graduate student in History at Cal Poly State University.
Tuesday, April, 26, 5:00-8:00 pm American Legion, Post 66, SLO Vet’s Hall
“Movie Night with WWII Trivia Game” - The Great Raid is a movie based on the true story of a group of U.S. Army Rangers and Filipino guerrillas who set out on a daring nighttime raid on Cabanatuan POW camp in the Philippines. Led by Ranger Colonel Henry Mucci, they rescued over 500 American prisoners, including some held by the Japanese since the Bataan Death March. Prior to the movie screening, the Central Coast Veterans Memorial Museum will host a WWII Trivia game with prizes. Popcorn and refreshments will be served. Visit www.vetmuseum.org. for more information and to register for this event held in the American Legion building, 801 Grand Ave. San Luis Obispo.
Wednesday, April 27, 5:00 pm Morro Bay Natural History Museum
“WWII Impact on Morro Bay” presented by Central Coast State Parks – Speakers Stuart McDowell (author, Sinking of the SS Montebello – When World War II Came to the Central Coast) and Cal Poly Public Historian Margaret Bodemer will set the dramatic events of 1941-42 into perspective: Only two weeks after Pearl Harbor, a Japanese submarine torpedoed the SS Montebello off the North Coast, and the cascading events that followed entirely transformed the landscape from Port San Luis to San Simeon. California State Parks historian Amy Hart will unveil new exhibit panels for the State Parks that illustrate how our community responded to the threat of Japanese invasion, felt so vividly here and throughout the West Coast of the United States.
Wednesday, April 27, 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm Veterans Memorial Museum, SLO
“Central Coast Aviators in WWII” – Local Historian and Author Jim Gregory will share the stories of several WWII aviators: a B-24 radioman who was shot down twice, two local Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs); an Atascadero resident who was a Luftwaffe test pilot, an Arroyo Grande B-17 flight engineer who saved his crippled aircraft, and young pilots – 22 was a typical age for a bomber pilot –who endured some of the most terrifying combat of the war.
From 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm the museum will be open for tours of local veteran displays prior to the presentation beginning at 5:30 pm. Lite bites and refreshments will be served. For more information and to register for this event, visit www.vetmuseum.org.
Thursday, April 28, 4:00 pm IOOF Lodge, Arroyo Grande
“World War II in Arroyo Grande” – Historian Jim Gregory shares stories from his book of local heroes from this small farming town on the Central Coast who lost two of its sons in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Learn about the children of the Japanese-American community who served while their families were forced to wait out the war in confinement.
Friday, April 29, 4:00 pm IOOF Lodge, Arroyo Grande
“Letters from Interned Japanese Families” – Margaret Ikeda, with Jim Gregory and five 4th-generation Japanese American readers, highlight the experience of Americans of Japanese Ancestry. Presented at the IOOF Lodge, one of the South County Historical Society Museums. Jim and Margaret will provide a brief overview of Japanese-American history, the readers will narrate from primary documents written by those interned during WWII. Margaret will take questions and moderate this event.
Sunday, May 1, 2:00-4:00 pm South & Brook Streets, San Luis Obispo
Walking Tour – “Japantown and the Brook Street Black Hub” – San Luis Obispo’s Japantown flourished from the early 1920s till the internment of Japanese Americans in 1942. As one of the few places in San Luis that had been welcoming to African Americans, Japantown then transformed into the local business and cultural hub for the Great Migration. Join historian Dr. James Papp on a re-creation of what has vanished and an exploration of what has survived at one of our most important sites in the struggle for equality. (meet at the corner of Brook and South Streets)
Walking Tour – “WWII Sites in Downtown San Luis Obispo” with Joe Morris, PhD – Sixteen sites in downtown San Luis Obispo reveal the way that World WarII profoundly affected daily life for the merchants and residents of this small, sleepy college town. Start at the historic USO Hall, now the Ludwick Community Center. The tour will include the County Courthouse (completed just before the War), Fremont Theater used by major movie stars to sell war bonds, the bus station, the site of two segregated USO Halls reserved for Black GIs, and several other sites associated with the “homefront” in San Luis Obispo during WWII.
Monday, April 25, 6:00 pm Guadalupe City Auditorium (doors open at 5:30)
Film Screening - “An Untold Triumph: America’s Filipino Soldiers” – During World War II, 7,000 Filipino Americans – many of them from our Central Coast – volunteered their services to the U.S. Army. The 1st and 2nd Filipino Regiments helped liberate their homeland from Japanese occupation, and many stayed to see that Philippines gained its independence in 1946. Director Noel M. Izon captures their stories in this 2002 film through the voices of the veterans themselves, and a narration by Lou Diamond Phillips. Our host, Vietnam veteran Frank Lopez, steeped in the history of the 1st and 2nd Filipino Regiments was engaged in the production of “An Untold Triumph.”
Tuesday, April, 26, 4:00 pm Pismo Beach Lighthouse Suites
“They Face the Rising Sun – The Story of the Black 54th Coast Artillery Regiment” – The Shell Beach hillside was one of two sites where the guns of Battery A, 54th Coast Artillery, were deployed to protect the Union Oil terminal in Avila – one of the busiest in the world at the time. When its 1st Battalion arrived in April 1942, they tripled the population of African Americans in this county. Its Battery B was deployed above the Standard Oil terminal in Estero Bay. Researched & presented by Erik Brun, LTC Ret USA and a graduate student in History at Cal Poly State University.
Tuesday, April, 26, 5:00-8:00 pm American Legion, Post 66, SLO Vet’s Hall
“Movie Night with WWII Trivia Game” - The Great Raid is a movie based on the true story of a group of U.S. Army Rangers and Filipino guerrillas who set out on a daring nighttime raid on Cabanatuan POW camp in the Philippines. Led by Ranger Colonel Henry Mucci, they rescued over 500 American prisoners, including some held by the Japanese since the Bataan Death March. Prior to the movie screening, the Central Coast Veterans Memorial Museum will host a WWII Trivia game with prizes. Popcorn and refreshments will be served. Visit www.vetmuseum.org. for more information and to register for this event held in the American Legion building, 801 Grand Ave. San Luis Obispo.
Wednesday, April 27, 5:00 pm Morro Bay Natural History Museum
“WWII Impact on Morro Bay” presented by Central Coast State Parks – Speakers Stuart McDowell (author, Sinking of the SS Montebello – When World War II Came to the Central Coast) and Cal Poly Public Historian Margaret Bodemer will set the dramatic events of 1941-42 into perspective: Only two weeks after Pearl Harbor, a Japanese submarine torpedoed the SS Montebello off the North Coast, and the cascading events that followed entirely transformed the landscape from Port San Luis to San Simeon. California State Parks historian Amy Hart will unveil new exhibit panels for the State Parks that illustrate how our community responded to the threat of Japanese invasion, felt so vividly here and throughout the West Coast of the United States.
Wednesday, April 27, 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm Veterans Memorial Museum, SLO
“Central Coast Aviators in WWII” – Local Historian and Author Jim Gregory will share the stories of several WWII aviators: a B-24 radioman who was shot down twice, two local Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs); an Atascadero resident who was a Luftwaffe test pilot, an Arroyo Grande B-17 flight engineer who saved his crippled aircraft, and young pilots – 22 was a typical age for a bomber pilot –who endured some of the most terrifying combat of the war.
From 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm the museum will be open for tours of local veteran displays prior to the presentation beginning at 5:30 pm. Lite bites and refreshments will be served. For more information and to register for this event, visit www.vetmuseum.org.
Thursday, April 28, 4:00 pm IOOF Lodge, Arroyo Grande
“World War II in Arroyo Grande” – Historian Jim Gregory shares stories from his book of local heroes from this small farming town on the Central Coast who lost two of its sons in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Learn about the children of the Japanese-American community who served while their families were forced to wait out the war in confinement.
Friday, April 29, 4:00 pm IOOF Lodge, Arroyo Grande
“Letters from Interned Japanese Families” – Margaret Ikeda, with Jim Gregory and five 4th-generation Japanese American readers, highlight the experience of Americans of Japanese Ancestry. Presented at the IOOF Lodge, one of the South County Historical Society Museums. Jim and Margaret will provide a brief overview of Japanese-American history, the readers will narrate from primary documents written by those interned during WWII. Margaret will take questions and moderate this event.
Sunday, May 1, 2:00-4:00 pm South & Brook Streets, San Luis Obispo
Walking Tour – “Japantown and the Brook Street Black Hub” – San Luis Obispo’s Japantown flourished from the early 1920s till the internment of Japanese Americans in 1942. As one of the few places in San Luis that had been welcoming to African Americans, Japantown then transformed into the local business and cultural hub for the Great Migration. Join historian Dr. James Papp on a re-creation of what has vanished and an exploration of what has survived at one of our most important sites in the struggle for equality. (meet at the corner of Brook and South Streets)