A special Veteran’s Day Commemoration is coming to the SeaTac Community Center on Wednesday, Nov. 11th to celebrate both the history of Des Moines Memorial Drive as well as honor women who have served their country.

Here are the details:

WHAT: Veteran’s Day Commemoration: Women in Service

WHO:  Scheduled speakers include:

• Kitty Milne, Highline Historical Society
• Congressman Adam Smith, 8th District
• Peggy Caudill, Intertribal Warrior Society (former Nurse in the U.S. Army)
• Carol Reed, American Legion (former Sergeant in the U.S. Marines)
• Kit Ledbetter, City of SeaTac

WHEN: Wednesday, November 11th from 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

WHERE: SeaTac Community Center, located at 13735 24th Avenue South SeaTac, WA  98168; (206) 973-4680

INFO: The Des Moines Memorial Drive – The Living Road of Remembrance, is an eight-mile stretch of road through the cities of Des Moines, Burien, SeaTac and the Boulevard Park area of unincorporated King County. The Drive was completed in 1922 with the planting of 1,100 American elm trees, each commemorating an individual from Washington state who died in World War I. On November 11, 1963 a memorial wall commemorating the history of the Drive was dedicated at Sunnydale School in Burien.

ABOUT: The Des Moines Memorial Drive Committee, a citizen advisory committee created in 2000, developed a plan for restoring and enhancing the memorial road. The plan outlines how jurisdictions will implement enhancement efforts as part of future road improvement projects. For more information, visit www.roadofremembrance.org.

From their press release:

Community members are invited on Veterans Day, Wednesday, November 11, to celebrate a local historic road which honors the fallen soldiers of World War I. In addition to highlighting the history of Des Moines Memorial Drive, the event this year will honor women who served in the military during World War I and over the decades since that conflict. The event will be held at 2:00pm at SeaTac Community Center, located at 13735 – 24th Avenue South, in SeaTac.

Des Moines Memorial Drive is an eight-mile stretch of road which winds through the Boulevard Park area of unincorporated King County, SeaTac, Burien and Des Moines. In 1922 the project was completed with the planting of 1,100 American elm trees to line the roadway as a “living” memorial to those who lost their lives in World War I. Over time, the impacts of disease, radical pruning and utility installations have decimated most of the elms. Forty-six years ago on November 11, 1963, a memorial wall commemorating the history of the Drive was dedicated.

While held on Veterans Day, the event will also mark the day formerly known as Armistice Day, which is the anniversary of the official end of World War I (November 11, 1918). Elected officials including Congressman Adam Smith and local mayors will honor the historical nature of Des Moines Memorial Drive and the special role that women played in the country’s military history.

An Advisory Committee was created in 2000 with representation from King County, local cities, other interested public agencies, and concerned citizens to develop a coordinated vision for restoring and maintaining the living memorial. The resulting plan, which has been accepted by all the participating jurisdictions, outlines how the local cities can also incorporate similar memorial elements in their future road improvement projects along the Drive.

Des Moines Memorial Drive has national significance on several accounts:

1. It is the earliest planned “living road of remembrance.”
2. It is the only “living road of remembrance” that uses Elm trees.
3. At 10 miles, it is the longest “living road of remembrance.

In addition to the celebratory event, interpretive displays prepared by the Highline Historical Society will be available for public viewing. Local veterans and school groups are expected to take part in the event that will also recognize the ongoing cooperative efforts of the cities and county. learn more about Des Moines Memorial Drive, visit www.roadofremembrance.org.

In cooperation with the German Embassy and the German Honorary Consul in Washington, the traveling exhibit “The Berlin Airlift – A Legacy of Friendship” commemorates the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift – one of the greatest humanitarian efforts of all time. The heroic efforts of the U.S. and Allied forces saved more than two million men, women and children in Berlin during a Soviet Union blockade beginning in 1948. This achievement is even more remarkable considering only three years earlier the Allies were bombing this same city.

Four U.S. veterans from Washington state who participated in the airlift will be honored by Washington state First Gentleman Mike Gregoire, Lt. Governor Brad Owen, the German Honorary Consul of Washington and representatives from the Port of Seattle.

The traveling exhibit, composed of over 60 photo panels, is part of the “Friends Always” campaign recognizing the powerful and enduring relationship between the United States and Germany. Since World War II, more than seven million American servicemen and women have been stationed in Germany. Together with their families, they formed lasting friendships. For more information see Friends Always – Legacy of the Airlift at www.germany.info.

The display will be next to the Airport Office Building elevators on the south end of the Ticketing Level. The exhibit will be displayed at Sea-Tac Airport from December 8 – 31 before heading to the Museum of Flight.

WHAT: The reception will honor four Washington WWII veterans of the Berlin Airlift with German-American Friendship Awards. The exhibit will also be opened to the public.

WHEN: Monday, December 8 at 2pm

WHERE: Sea-Tac Airport Conference Center, London Room

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It is often agreed that most people over five years old and living in the United States on November 22, 1963 will remember exactly where they were when they found out that President John F. Kennedy was killed by an assassin’s gunshot in Dallas, Texas.

Today is the 45th Anniversary of this event that robbed us of our first Catholic president. The BTB thought we’d look back at this common memory through the eyes and memory of a local man who was there.

I met Tim Leahy at the Des Moines Legacy Foundation’s 9th Annual Bayside Brunch at Anthony’s Homeport recently. He was the Auctioneer, I was a volunteer.  Through the course of conversation, I learned that he not only had lived in Dallas with his family, he was at the actual parade.

His Dad Richard took Tim (6th grade), sisters Cathy (8th grade) and little sister June (5th grade) out of class to see the first Roman Catholic President. Mom Patricia was home with his two younger brothers.  From their vantage point they saw the presidential plane landing and Love Field.  The Leahy family were very excited as the Presidential Lincoln Convertible drew past their spot real slow.  Dad was taking home movies on an 8mm camera. Once they passed, Mr. Leahy got the kids in the car and drove them to a nearby restaurant for lunch.

Local resident Tim Leahy was in Dallas when JFK was shot.

In what Tim said was “no longer than 10-15 minutes, we walked into the restaurant; everyone was gathered around a radio, weeping.  A waitress told them the President had been shot.  Dad rushed over to St. Monica’s Catholic Church to pray for the president, his family and the country.”

Although they had planned to go back to school at St. Monica’s, they were taken home to start what would be a three-day television broadcast.

Like all viewers on Saturday morning, Tim and his family watched Jack Ruby kill Lee Harvey Oswald in the garage of Dallas Police Headquarters surrounded by policeman and detectives.  Let the conspiracy theories begin!

Walter Cronkite of CBS News broke into the CBS soap opera “As the World Turns” to tell the nation President Kennedy had been shot about 12:35pm CST and rushed to the hospital – here’s a video clip of that very moment:

Click here to view the embedded video.

At 1:38pm CST Mr. Cronkite was back on screen to tell American that our 35th President of the United States had died, about 38 minutes ago at 1:00pm:

Click here to view the embedded video.

BTB wants to know where were you when Kennedy died, and what were you doing?

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