Join us on Thursday, September 4 at 5:30 PM for Service and Sacrifice: Final Program Featuring the Halyard Mission, a special event marking the closing of our World War II exhibit.
The evening will reflect on the themes of Service and Sacrifice through three powerful lenses: the personal legacy of one Cleveland-born airman, a remarkable international rescue operation, and the community remembrance that continues today.
We’ll begin with reflections on the exhibit’s impact and what it has meant to audiences throughout its run. Then, WRHS Research Library volunteer Joel Glass will share the story of his cousin, Stuart Mendelsohn, a Cleveland native and WWII B-17 bomber pilot who was killed in action in 1943. Joel’s heartfelt contribution—including the donation of Mendelsohn’s wartime medals—connects the global conflict back to local history in a moving and personal way.
The program will also feature a presentation by John Cappello of the Halyard Mission Foundation, highlighting the extraordinary 1944 Allied rescue in which Serbian resistance fighters and villagers saved over 500 American airmen from behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia. This presentation will includes remarks by Ambassador Dragan Sutanovac, Serbian Ambassador to the United States and BG Matthew Woodruff, Ohio National Guard TAG.
The evening will conclude with a final reflection as we officially close the Service and Sacrifice exhibit.
Western Reserve Historical Society is the oldest cultural institution in Northeast Ohio, the region's largest American history research center, and one of the leading genealogical research centers in the nation.
