Volume 100 Number 7
ˇ ´ VESTNIK S P J S T Benevolence
H E R A L D
★ Humanity ISSN —07458800
February 15, 2012
Pradlo, Czech Republic Pays Homage to American Airmen
Lodge 47 Seaton youth wins 2012 Camp Tee-Shirt Design Contest
By Elaine Gallagher of Lodge 25, Ennis
The Grand Prize winner of the 2012 SPJST Summer Camp Tee-Shirt Design Contest is Brooke Hoelscher of Lodge 47, Seaton. Brooke’s design will appear on this year’s camp tee-shirts. Congratulations, Brooke! See page 14 for all of the age category winners and a listing of participants.
Edwin Hlavaty honored as TCGS Member of the Year
SPJST Lodge 17, New Tabor member Edwin Hlavaty, left, was honored as Texas Czech Genealogical Society’s Member of the Year 2011 at TCGS’ annual meeting held January 28 in Caldwell. Edwin was presented a plaque by TCGS Acting President Patrick Janis for his dedication, ongoing support, and continuous behindthe-scenes work to make TCGS a better organization. More on page 20.
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Readers Write ......................................3 Important Dates ...................................3 Interest Rates.......................................3 Around the Districts ...........................5 Lodge Section......................................6 In Memoriam ......................................12
★ Brotherhood
My daughter Kathleen Prachyl, along with Donna Daugherty, Linda Johnson, and Annie Wartsbaugh traveled to the Czech Republic to visit family and friends. We researched some family histories and visited sites of interest. On August 30, 2011, we drove to Pradlo, a small village whose history was woven with the history of a young man from E n n i s , Texas. I would like to give you an unbelievable story. It was the year 1944. The mission for the night of February 22 was the Messerschmitt Airplane Factory in Regensburg, Germany. The B-24 j Bomber Wing was based in Italy; however, the sortie run to and returning from the mission was over the skies of Czechoslovakia. A pilot from Ennis, Texas, George “Skipper” Goddard and his nine-man crew had successfully deployed their bombs but had sustained heavy damage and were falling behind the other aircraft. The temperature was 20 degrees below zero as they began to take on heavy gunfire from pursuing Bf109E Messerchmitts. The guns on the plane were frozen, and one engine was on fire. They considered turning the
Inside This Week’s Vestnik
Youth Section ....................................13 Tee-Shirt Contest Design Results....14 Czech Culture ....................................15 SPJST Financial University ..............21 Advertisements..................................21 Lodge Calendar .................................22
Scenes from State Tarok Tournament
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plane toward Switzerland when suddenly the B-24 exploded, blasting all 10 men out toward the earth and certain death over the snow-covered Dubec Hill in the Chejlava woods of Czechoslovakia. That day in the nearby village of Chocenice gathered a group celebrating the wedding of a young couple. However, all were horrified by the events t a k i n g place overhead. A couple of the celebrants took off on skis to check for any survivors and found that one of the plane’s gunmen Ray Noury, whose parachute had partially opened had plunged into a snow bank and, though badly injured, had survived. The villagers took him down the hill on a makeshift stretcher attached to a pair of skis but had no choice but to turn him over to their German occupiers. Ray Noury would spend the next 15 months in a prisoner of war camp. Years later, during the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Communist takeover, all memorials to honor
Continued on Page 17.
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Lodge 24, Cyclone reader seeks photo ID help
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TCGS presents Annual Meeting Scenes