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Greenville
Library
Local
Historian
Presents “WWII On the Local Scene”
Local
historian
and author Bill Booker will lecture on “WWII On the Local Scene” on
Tuesday
March 19th at 2:00 p.m. in the Greenville Public Library’s Reference
Room. As Bill
relates “From December 1941 into
September 1945 these United States, including of course Darke County
and
Greenville, bonded as one to fight the good fight in a two ocean global
conflict known as the Second World War.”
Bill
is very popular
in the area with many people having enjoyed his Downtown Tours and
Cemetery
tours. His
extensive knowledge and
understanding of past events includes not just the usual facts but
interesting
insights and little-known background stories.
He’s written
five books so far -
all available in the Library and the Garst Museum Gift Shop - and has two more in the works:
Fun, Fairs,
Festivals & Folks: the Lighter Side of Greenville‘s History and
It Happened
In Greenville.
He
goes on to
explain the topic of this talk. “The
Treaty City sent hundreds of young men and women into uniform in all
the
military branches. We
held sweeping
scrap metal and paper drives, we built a board to honor those in
service, and
we knuckled down to listen on the radio to nightly newscasts. We were in it for the
duration, rationing and
shortage notwithstanding. And
we were in
it together.”
Younger
people
who were born later will learn what it was like during those difficult
days. But for those
who lived through it
Bill says “ This lecture re-lights the candle of memory as the truth
about just
how we lived and managed our part in the war effort.
It was indeed an amazing
undertaking...amazing and quite successful.”
Bill
says his
interest in history started with his Dad, who was a grocer who owned
four
stores in the area. He
was an only child
and the family traveled by car to places of historical interest - he
was
thrilled to visit Gettysburg as a high school freshman.
But it was also along the old highways that
his Dad would stop at every roadside “at this spot, this happened”
marker.
Bill
earned a
letter in journalism in high school and became sports editor for the
GHS paper
under teacher John Oliver. He
attended
Miami University, became sports editor for the Advocate and WDRK radio,
and has
remained active in sports reporting ever since.
He’s been 28 years with girls and boys
basketball, lines Harmon Field
for football, and is the Director of Information for softball -
publishing an
in-house newsletter called Bink and designing this year’s tee.
And
one of his
greatest loves is theater! He
and his
late wife were active in the Art Guild Players and Old Time Melodramas
(Bill’s
written six plays) - and he is one of the original Annie Oakley Days
founders. Certainly
a very creative, interesting, and
busy gentleman!
Bill
is pictures
with Librarian Deb Cameron who organizes Adult Programming. Be sure to
come and
enjoy hearing Bill on the 19th!
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