COMMUNITY NEWS

On Sunday, May 19, 6:00 pm at the Hans Bethe House on Historic Bathtub Row, local Armed Forces veteran, small business owner, educator, author and poet, Mike Katko will present a poetry reading honoring the fallen soldiers of past wars. Due to limited seating please RSVP by May 15, 2019. All are welcome to attend this free event.

Much of the poetry surrounding the conflicts on U.S. soil and those on foreign lands were written by those who have died on the battlefields. Katko will tell the stories and the real history behind the poems.

One story he will touch upon is Poet Longfellow’s remembrance of “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.” Another will be the story behind the Irish song and poem, “Danny Boy.”

Also in the reading will be one poem of his own book, “Skies and Other Poems” about an event during the Vietnam War.

Katko is hoping this literary, educational and commemorative event becomes an annual tribute to the many fallen who are and have once lived amongst us. Los Alamos citizens like; the late Senator Steve Stoddard – Battle of the Bulge, Teacher and Coach, Bill Hudson – Battle for Iwo Jima, past Los Alamos Public Schools Board Member, George Bjarke – D-Day Invasion WWII, Willy Martinez – Battle of Chosin Reservoir Korean War, so aptly written about in Hampton Sides book, “On Desperate Ground”, Bill Schutz, worked in the Los Alamos Post Office for many years – served throughout the Pacific Theater in WW11, and Dante Susco – had tank duty during the Battle of the Bulge in WW11.

The Hans Bethe House is a unique and historical setting. The event is intended as a kickoff for Memorial Weekend. Katko hopes to make this an annual event.

“As a veteran I feel the need to give back in some way to those men and women who chose to make a difference with their lives. It should be an honorable commemoration to those who could not put into words the feelings expressed so eloquently by the soldier poets in the many armed conflicts involving our nation,” he said.