Four Heroes of World War II Dinner set for Aug. 26

Four people with extraordinary stories of heroics performed during World War II are being honored at a special dinner on Aug. 26 at 6 p.m. at the Edgeworth Club in Sewickley.

Each of the four has a unique story to share.

Julia Parsons is a 101-year-old former Navy WAVE codebreaker who helped crack Germany’s Enigma code used to communicate with German U-boats in the North Atlantic. Parsons is credited with helping to speed up the end of the war and saving the lives of countless Allied soldiers.

Marthe Cohn is a 102-year-old Holocaust survivor who grew up in Metz, France and survived with forged identity papers. Cohn went on to join the French Army’s 151 Regiment of Infantry at the front in Alsace before transferring to the Intelligence Service. She posed as a German nurse to cross into Germany, collect intelligence and deliver it to the Allies. Cohn has told her story in a memoir called “Behind Enemy Lines.“

Vince Speranza, a 97-year-old WWII vet from Staten Island in New York fought with the 101st Airborne Division, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment during the Battle of the Bulge. When the battle ended, Speranza tended to the wounded, including his own assistant gunner.

He was also involved in liberating a concentration camp and tells his story in a book called “Nuts! A 101st Airborne Division Machine Gunner at Bastogne.”

There is also 96-year-old Mae Krier, an original “Rosie the Riveter” who grew up a child of the Dust Bowl on the Great Plains in the 1930s. After Pearl Harbor, she headed west and went to work building airplanes at a Boeing plant in Seattle. Krier used a rivet gun to help make B-17s and B-25s for the war effort.

In 2020, she became famous for crafting polka-dotted red bandanna face masks for the pandemic.

The event includes dinner and a copy of “Behind Enemy Lines.” There are 100 tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis.

For more information, contact Todd DePastino at 412-623-9029 or todd@veteransbreakfastclub.org.