Denise Aiken Executive Director of the Arts Council recently heard Linda Myers speaking to the Putnam County Commission about the Rotary Club of Palatka Sunrise and their mission through the Honor Flight Network to provide the opportunity for our World War II veterans to travel to Washington D.C. to visit their memorial.   Denise spoke with Gallery Chair Evelyn Snyder and started thinking about how we could help to bring awareness of their wonderful project. 

We then contacted Linda Myers with the idea of a WW II movie that would be held once a month at the Larimer Art Center located at 216 Reid Street, Palatka.  Linda loved the idea and suggested having our veterans as guest speakers prior to the movies.  There will be a number of PC WWII veterans on hand with personal accounts.

Evelyn suggested the idea of a gallery show dedicated to WW II memorabilia in the Larimer Art Center galleries that would be held in April.  This is a great way to pay tribute to our veterans and highlight the efforts to send our veterans to Washington. The Arts Council Board agreed. The Rotary Club of Palatka Sunrise agreed to partner with us and provide the movies for these events.    We will be asking for WWII Memorabilia to display for the April gallery show, please watch for more info on that show.

The movies will be shown in the Scarlett Hill Theater and will be February through May, and held on the Third Thursdays of the month, except for the movie in March which will be held on the 25th due to a scheduling conflict.  

The first movie will be February 18th at 5:30 and is free to the public. Light refreshments will be served.  All donations will be welcome and will go to the Rotary club’s mission to send our veterans to Washington D.C

Our first Movie will be "A Bridge Too Far".   This WWII film follows the perspectives of American, Polish, and British soldiers attempting to capture key bridges behind German lines in a complicated parachute and armored assault.  It is near the end of WWII. The Germans have lost most of France, and the Allied forces decide to give them the final hit. They plan to drop thousands of paratroopers in Holland and keep a few key positions there, until reinforcements arrive. The most important spot is the bridge of Arnhem; once it's captured, it can block everything west of Germany.

About the Project

The project is HonorAir.  It is not a Rotary project or project of any other national civic club organization; however, it is widely supported by civic clubs all across the country and we are speaking throughout Putnam County to clubs, job sites, and organizations asking all to join with us in this unique celebration of American hero’s.  

During WWII 16 million American soldiers, sailors and airmen fought to defend us from those who would take away our rights and liberties.  Today approximately 2million of those heroes’s are still living.  If it wasn’t for their bravery and sacrifice, we wouldn’t be the proud nation that we are today.

In 2003, a monument was finally erected to show our gratitude to these men and women for their dedication and sacrifice. Unfortunately, most of them won’t be able to see it because of advancing age, health, and financial concerns. Honor Air is working to make visiting the memorial possible for the veterans of WWII that are still with us.  We are working with the First Coast Honor Air to participate on May 22nd. in a celebration and recognition of their sacrifice in Washington D.C. and we hope to bring as many Putnam World War II Veterans as we can.

With these events, we will thank and recognize the veterans who fought for our freedom.

The Arts Council of Greater Palatka is the designated Local Arts Agency for Putnam County and is a 501-C 3 nonprofit organization

For more information on these events, please call Denise at 386-328-8998 or email artsinputnam@aol.com

For more on the Putnam Honor air program please contact Palatka Sunrise Rotary Club 386-328-9490

Go to our Calendar of Events