NEW GLARUS - AMVETS Post No. 69 is sponsoring a program on the Atomic Era, at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 30 in the New Glarus High School Commons/Auditorium. The event is open to the public.
The program will include presentation of colors, Pledge of Allegiance, recognition of MIAs and Atomic veterans and other service personnel. John Waelti will present an "Overview of the Atomic Age" from WWII to the present. Francis Beers will present a personal reflection of his Atomic test experience.
Waelti, an AMVET member, is the grandson of Swiss immigrants, raised on a dairy farm north of Monroe. He joined the Marines in 1955 after graduating from high school. Upon his release from active duty in 1958, he pursued his education in Agriculture Economics at University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Arizona, receiving his Ph.D. at University of California-Berkeley in 1967. Waelti's teaching assignments took him to Minnesota, Kenya and to serve the Secretary of the Army in a Civil Works advisory role. He went on to New Mexico State University and worked in the Sultanate of Oman.
Waelti retired to Green County in 2005. He has been very active on numerous boards and committees. He is a columnist for The Monroe Times; his current series on the use of Atomic weapons and the aftermath is being published in the Times in installments each Friday.
Beers was a Marine on active duty in the mid-1950s. He later retired from the Wisconsin Air National Guard. He is currently commander of the AMVETS Post 69 in New Glarus. In 2010, he was named AMVET of the Year for the state of Wisconsin.
He will discuss his experiences in late June in the 1950s at Camp Desert Rock, 75 miles from Las Vegas. It is sometimes known as the "Land of the Giant Mushrooms."
The program will include presentation of colors, Pledge of Allegiance, recognition of MIAs and Atomic veterans and other service personnel. John Waelti will present an "Overview of the Atomic Age" from WWII to the present. Francis Beers will present a personal reflection of his Atomic test experience.
Waelti, an AMVET member, is the grandson of Swiss immigrants, raised on a dairy farm north of Monroe. He joined the Marines in 1955 after graduating from high school. Upon his release from active duty in 1958, he pursued his education in Agriculture Economics at University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Arizona, receiving his Ph.D. at University of California-Berkeley in 1967. Waelti's teaching assignments took him to Minnesota, Kenya and to serve the Secretary of the Army in a Civil Works advisory role. He went on to New Mexico State University and worked in the Sultanate of Oman.
Waelti retired to Green County in 2005. He has been very active on numerous boards and committees. He is a columnist for The Monroe Times; his current series on the use of Atomic weapons and the aftermath is being published in the Times in installments each Friday.
Beers was a Marine on active duty in the mid-1950s. He later retired from the Wisconsin Air National Guard. He is currently commander of the AMVETS Post 69 in New Glarus. In 2010, he was named AMVET of the Year for the state of Wisconsin.
He will discuss his experiences in late June in the 1950s at Camp Desert Rock, 75 miles from Las Vegas. It is sometimes known as the "Land of the Giant Mushrooms."
