2007 Annual Symposium: Turning Points – The Battles of Midway and Guadalcanal
September 15-16, 2007

The topic of this year’s symposium is, Turning Points – The Battles of Midway and Guadalcanal. These two battles were both rays of hope and morale boosters following the grim series of Allied defeats during the first six months of the Pacific War. Well known authors and historians, as well as veterans from both battles, will present illuminating insights into the significance of these events.

Funding for the program is being generously provided by a grant from the Coypu Foundation. This year’s hosting sponsors are The Admiral Nimitz Foundation, Texas Historical Commission, US Naval Institute, Fredericksburg Independent School District and St. Edward’s University.

Audio recordings of this year's symposium, as well as from our past symposia series, are available through Rollin' Recording by calling 800-798-5468 or through their website.

Saturday - Battle of Midway

• Overview of the Nimitz Command Structure and US and Allied strategy at Midway by Pacific War historian and author Joe Alexander.
• Comparative study of the Japanese Command Structure and war planning by Donald Goldstein, who has written extensively on Japanese strategy.
• Analysis of the Battle of Midway by Jonathan Parshall, author of Shattered Sword, which focuses on this battle.
• A short, rediscovered film of the carrier takeoff of the ill-fated Torpedo Squadron Eight will be shown. This color film was taken in 1942 by movie director John Ford as the squadron headed to wary. Historian Richard Frank will discuss the finding of this long lost video.

Veterans of the Battle of Midway invited and expected to attend at this point include RADM Lew Hopkins, SBD pilot on the USS Enterprise; Dusty Kleiss, USN (Ret), pilot, of the USS Enterprise; Sam Laser, a machine gunner in CV5 off the USS Yorktown, and RADM Mac Showers, Naval Intelligence, who worked with code breakers at CINCPAC.

Sunday - Guadalcanal

The program switches to Guadalcanal with historians and authors Richard Frank, Joe Alexander and others discussing:

• Naval actions, including the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, Battles of Santa Cruz and Tassafaronga;
• Ground battles, including Bloody Ridge and Battle of Tenaru;
• Special operations and units involved in the crucial see-saw fighting.

Veterans of Guadalanal expected to attend are: Ray Harrison of the 2nd Marine Division; Les Hines of the Americal Division Veterans Association; BGEN Hank Hise, highly decorated SBD pilot; Ray Hale, electrician’s mate on the USS New Orleans; William Graham, medic; Ben Carson of Carlson’s Raiders; Doug Canning, 70th Squadron, USAAF, who sunk a Japanese freighter in the Slot; Robert Grass, survivor of the sinking of the USS Atlanta during the November 13th Battle of Guadalcanal. Others invited and expected to attend are John Lundstrom and Robert Mrazek, both authors and historians. Paul Stillwell will act as the program’s moderator. Veterans are being contacted and will relate their experiences on these topics. Paul Stillwell, historian, author and founding editor of Naval History magazine will be the Moderator.

Fredericksburg is 70 miles form San Antonio on IH 10 and 75 miles from Austin on 290W. Air service is available to San Antonio and Austin on major carriers. For accommodation and information about other local attracts, please contact the Fredericksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau at 1-888-997-3600 or visit their Web site at www.fredericksburg-texas.com.