On June 4, the Alpena Lions Club met for their usual Tuesday noon meeting at JJ’s . Bill Romstadt, retired teacher from the Alpena High School, was the featured speaker at the meeting. He is a former member of the U. S. Marine Corps, where he served for six years. Bernie Lamp III was program chair for the meeting.

Also before Romstadt’s presentation, Lamp screened a 15-minute video about D-Day. D-Day was 75 years ago on June 6, 1944, when the United States troops along with troops from various other countries, under the leadership of General Dwight Eisenhower, invaded Europe in order to recover Europe from the German Nazis, led by Adolf Hitler.

Romstadt began his talk by relating his experience as a nine-year old to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which was December 7, 1941. He noted this event filled the churches and that his family prayed and prayed for his uncles who were involved. After the attack, World War II began. The war veterans, he noted, at the time, were scared, as death always faced them, but they didn’t run away.

After the war, he joined the Marines for six years. When he joined, a third of his company were World War II veterans. He served in the Korean conflict and in Okinawa. After his service he was eligible, under the GI bill, to receive his college education. He did this and became certified as a teacher — his lifetime career. He spent his long teaching career dedicated to this country and he shared a number of stories of this dedication with the Lions.