Insights into the Future of the US Navy Museum

Thursday, 28 January 2021

K. Denise Rucker Krepp

Naval History and Heritage Command 

Ms. Krepp began her career as an active duty Coast Guard officer. After September 11, 2001, Ms. Krepp helped create the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security. She served as Senior Counsel on the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee. During the first Obama Administration, Ms. Krepp served as the Maritime Administration Chief Counsel and Special Counsel to the U.S. Department of Transportation General Counsel.

Ms. Krepp is also an elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in Washington, DC.

"Known But to God:  America's 20th Century Wars and the Search for the Missing"  

Thursday, 29 April 2021

Kenneth Breaux, CDR (Ret), USN

Founder & President, MIA Recovery Network, 501.c(3)

The basis for the lecture will be the outline of a book currently being edited for publication entitled “Known  But to God; America’s 20th Century Wars and the Search for the Missing”. 

It will trace the history of accounting for and honoring the dead from World War I through WWII, Korea, the Cold War and Vietnam. Topics will include the role of the Quartermaster Corps in all Wars, and the foundation of the American Battle Monuments Commission. A central theme will be the continuing efforts to recover and identify the more than 75,000 still missing from World War II, and the development of the current actions of the Defense Missing Personnel Accounting Agency and the role of Ken Breaux’s organization, the MIA Recovery Network, a non-profit organization which acts as an advocacy group for families of the missing and researchers pursuing cases of missing in action soldiers.

Kenneth Breaux. CDR, USN (RET)  first became acquainted with the issue of Missing in Action military members during the Vietnam War, when friends and colleagues were lost and declared missing. He was active in the recovery of the remains of Lt William M. Lewis Jr. USAAF, MIA since 11 September 1944. He is the author of “Courtesies of the Heart”, the story of the 55th Fighter Group mission to Ruhland, Germany and its aftermath and the subsequent narrative of the Lewis recovery, and the author of  “Transforming-How Managers Become Leaders”.

"Commodore Matthew Perry and the Legacy of the 1st US Treaty with Japan"

Thursday, 27 May 2021 (1630 hrs Eastern Standard Time)

HMCM (FMF) Mark T. Hacala, USN (Ret)

Ceremonies specialist, training officer, and historian for the U.S. Navy Ceremonial Guard in Washington, DC

During this Continental Commandery NOUS Virtual History Lecture, HMCM(FMF) Mark T. Hacala, USN (Ret) will brief us on two topics.  The first presentation will be about Commodore Matthew Perry.  MCPO Hacala will review Commodore Perry’s naval leading to his two visits to Japan, his 1853 visits – including the Treaty of Kanagawa – and the legacy of the first U.S. treaty with Japan.  His second presentation will be about the sinking of the battleship Maine in Havana Harbor, on 15 February 1898. After briefing listeners on the Maine’s commissioning and early service, MCPO Hacala will describe the explosion and its impact.  He’ll wrap up this presentation by showing participants various artifacts from the Maine. 

"Operation Frequent Wind - USS Midway's Final Mission in Vietnam"

Thursday, 29 July 2021 (1630 hrs Eastern Standard Time)

Stephanie Dinh

Volunteer docent at the USS Midway Museum and Speakers’ Bureau member.

Stephanie Dinh was born in Saigon, Vietnam. In April 1975, her family, comprised of her mother, father, four sisters & a brother, was brought by the USS Midway from Vietnam to the U.S.A.  She was 15 years old at that time.  Subsequent to her arrival in the U.S., her family settled in Monmouth, Illinois, and later moved to southern California. Her first taste of American food was chicken casserole, when she was onboard the USS Midway. She learned to speak/write English & Spanish and became trilingual.  She earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters degree with strong emphasis in biological science/Safety Engineering. Presently, she is an Agriculture Training/Plant Protection Quarantine officer with the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA), having been with the department for over 30 years.

"The Bay of Pigs:  A Perspective after 60 Years"

Thursday, 26 August 2021 (1630 hrs Eastern Standard Time)

Anthony Atwood, PhD.

Director of the Miami Military Museum

Our guest speaker will be Dr. Anthony Atwood, Director of the Miami Military Museum (https://lnkd.in/eUj9Ke-5). During the Eisenhower administration, the Monroe Doctrine still informed U.S. policy in the Caribbean. Although the U.S. initially supported Fidel Castro and his government in Cuba, relations deteriorated rapidly once Castro nationalized all U.S. property and turned to the USSR for support. Relations deteriorated even further in 1961 after the failed U.S.-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion. In July 1962, at Castor’s request, Nikita Khrushchev agreed to place missile launch facilities in Cuba. Thus began one of the most dramatic crises of the Cold War. During this lecture, Dr. Anthony Atwood will explain the events that unfolded between 16 October and 20 November; more than 60 years ago.

"The USS Midway Story"

Thursday, 18 November 2021 (1630 hrs Eastern Standard Time)

John Landry

Docent USS Midway Museum

John Landry discusses how the USS Midway Museum became the 5th most popular museum of any type in the United States (35,000 museums!). Discover the “secret sauce” that draws nearly 1.4 million visitors from around the world and why Midway has become one of San Diego’s most valued community resources and America’s emerging living symbol of freedom.

The USS Midway was the longest-serving aircraft carrier in the 20th century. Named after the climactic Battle of Midway of June 1942, Midway was built in only 17 months but missed World War II by one week when commissioned on Sept. 10, 1945. Midway was the first in a three-ship class of large carriers that featured an armored flight deck and a powerful air group of 120 planes.

From the beginning of its service, the Midway played key roles in the Cold War. In 1946, it became the first American carrier to operate in the midwinter sub-Arctic, developing new flight deck procedures. The following year, Midway became the only ship to launch a captured German V-2 rocket. The trial’s success became the dawn of naval missile warfare. Just two years after that, Midway sent a large patrol plane aloft to demonstrate that a carrier could deliver atomic bombs.

Midway served with the Atlantic Fleet for ten years, making seven deployments to European waters, patrolling “the soft underbelly” of NATO. A round-the-world cruise took Midway to the West Coast in 1955, where it was rebuilt with an angled deck to improve jet operations.

Whenever you are in San Diego, please take time to visit!

"The Battle of Coral Sea"

Thursday, 16 December 2021 (1900 hrs Eastern Standard Time)

John Landry

Docent USS Midway Museum

This is a story of a daring, perilous, high-stakes gamble by Admiral Nimitz to attack the Japanese Navy, which had the most powerful and lethal navy in the world.  There was no certain victory for the US Navy fighting in the Coral Sea some 4,300 miles from its base in Pearl Harbor.

You will see young, inexperienced US naval aviators brave the hail of bullets and attacking fighters to deliver a crippling blow to the Japanese plans to capture Port Moresby, New Guinea. In taking Port Moresby, Japan intended to extend its empire, dominate the Pacific Basin, and capture the rich resources of the area.