Lexington Veterans Association (LVA)
2022 Speaker Series
LVA Programs have returned to Cary Memorial Library using a hybrid system.
You may attend in person, or attend virtually by Zoom.
If you're on our email list, you will automatically receive an invitation.
Not on our list? Please register here.
You may attend in person, or attend virtually by Zoom.
If you're on our email list, you will automatically receive an invitation.
Not on our list? Please register here.
Each month the LVA hosts a speaker on a military-related topic. Programs range from veterans’ personal stories of combat (John Katsaros, World War II aviator shot down, wounded, captured by the Gestapo, rescued, finally crossing the Pyrenees to safety); historical analyses of military campaigns (faculty from the area's prestigious universities); national security and global events; Lexington's unique Revolutionary history; and issues relating to the health and well-being of veterans. Our programs are shared via Zoom to veterans in long term care at the Bedford VA Medical Center (VAMC).
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January 10, 2022
"After the Apocalypse" Presented by Andrew Bacevich, president and co-founder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Dr. Bacevich will explore the implications of recent events: the COVID pandemic and the related economic crisis; frustrations of the "forever wars"; porous borders; reckoning with racism and the white populist backlash; and dysfunction in our national politics. He will propose an alternative to the existing national security paradigm. February 14, 2022
“World War II Convoys of the North Atlantic” Presented by Bob Begin, U.S. Army Veteran and Naval Historian. A tale of the longest campaign in all of World War II, from its outbreak in September 1939 until May 1945. Three thousand allied merchant ships and 30,000 merchant mariners were lost in this bloody, costly struggle - as were 700 German U-boats and 33,000 officers and men. March 14, 2022
"How to Respond to the Challenge of China?” Presented by Joe Nye, University Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus and former Dean of the JFK School of Government at Harvard University. Professor. Three historical analogies are currently popular to describe the challenge of China. One, based on ancient Greek history, forecasts war. A second sees the current situation as a new Cold War like 1945. A third uses the analogy of World War I where nations stumbled into war. Professor Nye is skeptical of all three and describes his own scenario of a new type of “cooperative rivalry.” April 11, 2022
“Yorktown: The Final Battle” Presented by Bob Lewis, Cpt, US Navy, Retired. The Siege of Yorktown highlights the brilliant command of George Washington, and the importance of America’s French allies. British General Cornwallis moved his entire army to the narrow peninsula at Yorktown, allowing Washington and French commander Comte de Rochambeau, to lay siege to the Redcoats and slowly crush them. Yorktown is also the story of the greatest sea battle of the American Revolution. May 9, 2022
“Major Tank Battles of World War II” Presented by Hunter Chaney, Director, American Heritage Museum. Once Germany launched Operation Barbarossa on June 22nd, 1941, to invade Russia, the role of the tank forever changed the dynamic of the battle scape during WWII. Allied forces moved quickly through the North African campaign into Italy and down from the north during the Normandy landings with hundreds of thousands of tanks leading the way. Hunter Chaney will discuss the major tank battles of WWII while highlighting the design and implementation of the most popular tank models used by the Allied and Axis forces. June 13, 2022
“Pirates from the Caribbean to the Mediterranean: USS Constitution's Early Missions to Protect Global Trade” Presented by Carl Herzog, Public Historian, USS Constitution Museum. The USS Constitution’s original mission in 1794 was to protect American merchant ships in the Mediterranean from the Barbary pirates of North Africa. By the time she was launched, however, the threat to American trade had shifted to the Caribbean, where French privateers were seizing American merchants. Before becoming known as "Old Ironsides", Constitution spent a tumultuous decade participating in conflicts on both sides of the Atlantic to protect America's rapidly growing global trade -- a Navy role that continues through today. Monday, September 12
“The Battle of Gettysburg” Presented by Gresh Lattimore, Cpt, USN, retired. The Battle of Gettysburg proved to be the turning point in the American Civil War. It didn’t start out that way. By 1863, this clash of the Northern and Confederate forces was inevitable, but the way it occurred, and where it occurred, were the result of a series of coincidences. The South did not regard Gettysburg as a pivotal encounter and, after the battle, northern voices severely criticized General Meade for allowing General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia to escape intact. It was only in the aftermath of the battle that it became clear to the South that there would be no European intervention, and their hopes of winning the war and establishing a separate nation were greatly diminished. Tuesday, October 11
“The 1783 Treaty of Paris: America’s Future on the Brink” Presented by Richard Bell, Professor of History, University of Maryland. Signed in 1783, the Treaty of Paris ended the War for Independence and created the United States of America. The Treaty of Paris was a triumph for US diplomacy, securing rights to all land east of the Mississippi River, important fishing rights, and the restoration of property and prisoners of war. The Treaty reset relations with Britain and set a new border with Spanish North America. The treaty also damaged the US-French alliance irreparably and left Natives, loyalists, and fugitives from American slavery to fend for themselves. |
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Monday, November 14
“Chinese Intelligence Programs and the US Response” Presented by Ed Barr, retired USMC military intelligence officer, former CIA Operations Officer and FBI Counterintelligence contractor. The Chinese Communist Party is launching an intensive intelligence campaign throughout the US and internationally as part of its goal to overtake the US as the preeminent global power. The focus of this effort is an influence campaign, designed to produce legislation, business decisions, and public opinion favorable to China. Ed Barr, retired USMC intelligence expert, former CIA operations officer and FBI Counterintelligence contractor, will explain how this influence campaign works and just how successful it has been. Monday, December 12
“Patriotism Is Not Enough: Edith Cavell, British Nurse and Heroine of the Belgian Resistance in World War I” Presented by Jim Ramsey, U.S. Navy Veteran. On October 12, 2015 Edith Cavell, a 49-year-old British nurse, was executed by a German firing squad in Brussels, Belgium, convicted of high treason for aiding in the escape of 200 British and French soldiers from German-occupied Belgium. Edith, known as “The Florence Nightingale of Belgium”, was the director of a nursing school in Brussels when the Germans invaded Belgium in August 2014. She began working with the Belgian resistance to help Allied troops escape occupied Belgium to neutral Holland. Her execution added to worldwide outrage against Germany, particularly in Britain, and played an important early part in the eventual erosion of American isolationism. |
Would you like to watch past presentations now? Please click here.
Many past LVA presentations are now listed and available on this website and on YouTube.
We are constantly updating our collection.
Would you like to watch past presentations now? Please click here.
Many past LVA presentations are now listed and available on this website and on YouTube.
We are constantly updating our collection.