Event details
- Tuesday | March 29, 2022 to Wednesday | April 13, 2022
- All Day
- Recording available online
- 864-244-1499
| Cost: Free
D-Day Talk, led by Doug Mishler
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Before Eisenhower was a President, he was a General. And before World War II could end, he’d have bring together the land, air and sea forces of the coordinated efforts of 12 nations in what became known as the largest invasion force in human history. He’d have to maintain control of national egos, his own temper, supply chains and even the weather. Failure was not an option.
The D-Day operation of June 6, 1944 operation, given the code name “Overlord”, delivered five naval assault divisions to the beaches of Normandy, France. The beaches were given the code names “Utah,” “Omaha,” “Gold,” “Juno,” and “Sword.” The invasion force included 7,000 ships and landing craft manned by over 195,000 naval personnel from eight allied countries. Almost 133,000 troops from England, Canada and the United States landed on D-Day. Casualties from the three countries during the landing numbered 10,300.
By June 30th, over 850,000 men, 148,000 vehicles, and 570,000 tons of supplies had landed on the Normandy shores. Fighting by the brave soldiers, sailors and airmen of the allied forces western front, and Russian forces on the eastern front, led to the defeat of German Nazi forces. On May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered.
Doug Mishler
Doug will perform as Dwight Eisenhower in the June History Comes Alive Festival – “Challenge: Accepted!”
Since 1993 Doug has been nationally recognized for bringing “history to life.” Doug has presented figures from Nikita Khrushchev to Theodore Roosevelt, to Ernie Pyle, and P. T. Barnum. He has made over 800 first person presentations of over 30 historical figures, including Stonewall Jackson, Henry Ford, Pablo Picasso, and now Dwight D Eisenhower, Nikola Tesla, and Gene Roddenberry.
The voices in his head keep him busy, but also in the last four years he has been the founder & Managing Artistic Director of Restless Artists’ Theatre. When not in the theatre or doing his characters, Mishler has taught American Cultural history for over 20 years. Like his idol T. R., Doug believes there is still plenty of time to grow up and get a “real job”—but later!
“On June 3, 1944, Maureen Flavin turned 21, on the same day she also changed the course of history with the meteorological information she recorded while working as a post office assistant.
During World War II, Maureen, who hails from Knockanure, County Kerry was working overnight in Blacksod, County Mayo, when she completed one of her daily tasks at 1:00, am, examining the air pressure and barometer readings and reporting them to the meteorological office in Dublin. The readings indicated that a major Atlantic storm was coming to this remote part of Ireland and would blow right across Western Europe.
What Maureen didn’t know was that this information, from the most westerly station in Europe, was being sent to the Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force, in England, and would land on the desk of United States Four Star General Dwight D. Eisenhower who was then Supreme Commander of the combined allied forces.
Late in the morning of June 3, a phone call came to the post office in Blacksod and when Maureen answered, a lady with a distinct English accent spoke to Maureen and requested her to “Please Check. Please Repeat!” the Met report. Maureen then called Edward “Ted” Sweeney (her future husband) who checked her readings and confirmed: “Yes, the barometer is dropping rapidly and a storm is coming.”
This affirmation convinced the meteorologists in General Eisenhower’s office that it was wise to postpone Operation Overlord or what later became known as D-Day for 24 hours, and that the allies should stand down all associated activities until the weather cleared, and this break in the weather, which Maureen also reported, allowed the invasion to go ahead on June 6.
The Sweeney family, Ted, his mother Margaret and sister Frances, together with Maureen, had been reporting on the hour, twenty-four hours a day, to the Meteorological Service in Dublin for the length of World War II.”
Maureen was 21 when she relayed this pivotal weather report, and at 98 she is still living in Ireland.
from the “Irish American Newsletter” June 16, 2021