High Gear April 5, 2017

Posted by Rosalie McCloud on Apr 05, 2017
 

 

Another gorgeous day greeted us this lovely Wednesday.  Rain tomorrow; April showers bring May flowers. President Stan called the meeting to order at 12:15 P.M.   
 
PLEDGE AND INVOCATION
Joe LaMariana was invited to lead the Pledge of Allegiance.  Rabbi Jay Miller delivered the invocation, speaking of the joy of Passover, which begins this weekend.
 

Guests and Visiting Rotarians

The membership was asked to stand – this is never a good sign.  Those who belonged to the President’s Club were allowed to sit.  Next to sit were those wearing a Rotary Pin.  A badge wasn’t acceptable.  Those remaining standing were fined.  Ouch!!
 
Guest and speaker for the day was Gisela Zebroski.   Guest and 2013-2014 President of the Half Moon Bay Rotary was Mitone Griffiths.  Mitone has been with us before and says it’s like returning to visit family.  We welcome her in our family as well.   Guest of Marilyn Orr was Melanie Prole, Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Lending at Boston Private,

Program

Gisela Zebroski Is a novelist and public speaker.  When WW11 broke out in 1939, Gisela Zebroski’s privileged childhood came to an end.  The Soviet Union took over Latvia, the country of her birth.  Her parents, destined for deportation, fled to Germany and settled in Poland.
In 1945 she immigrated to California where she married an American scientist who inspired her to go to college.  She graduated with a degree in psychology and Minors in creative writing, history, and philosophy.  Her two novels THE BARONESS an MEPHISTO WALTZ, recount the world of her past. Her own story is a work in progress under the title of SELFIE SIDEWAYS. 
 
Her topic today was The Berlin Airlift and the Candy Bombers.  In 1948 Stalin challenged the West to a showdown between communism and democracy.  Stalin blocked all land access to the City of Berlin.  That left two million Berliners and 8,000 occupation forces without sustenance.  A forceful breakthrough of the blockade could have ignited WWIII. Instead, Harry Truman ordered, “We shall stay!  Period.” ”I will not surrender what American men fought and died for.” A single shot would have unleashed WWIII, and with it nuclear warfare.  The United States bore 70% of the cost of the airlift; the British contributed 30%.
 
On June 25, 1948 General Clay established an airlift:  Operation Vittles.  Over the following 11 months, American and British bombers became transport aircraft that flew 300,000 missions and delivered 2.3 million tons of supplies.  This operation deterred Stalin’s invasion of Berlin and Western Europe.
Lt. Hal Halverson, an American pilot, wanted to see Berlin before the blockade was lifted.  When he spotted children behind a barbed wire fence, he treated them with two sticks of gum and promised to drop off more sweets from his plane the following day.  His kindness got media attention and set off a wave of empathy throughout the United States.  Candy donations poured in, the treats falling from the sky in little hand-made dishtowel and string parachutes brought hope to the starving children. The operation was tagged “Little Vittles.”  Soon, former enemies became friends and allies in the defense of liberty.
Gisela was one of those hungry children.  She wished she could have been one of the lucky recipients of the parachuting sweets delivered by the candy bombers. Halverson lived to the age of 92 and distributed candy all his life.  
 
Thank you Gisela for sharing the story of your life and of the candy bombers.  The airlift tells us to never underestimate man’s effort to maintain his freedom.  A book is being donated in your name to the Burlingame Public Library.
 
APRIL 12 – CAROLE RODONI, Bamboo Consulting, Six hours of excellent, current real estate information in half an hour!
 
April Birthdays: John Crosby on 12th, Fritz Brauner and Mike Mahoney on 17th, Marc Friedman on 21st, Barry Parker on 23rd