Veterans Day 2016

Update – video of ceremony: http://ryeny.swagit.com/play/11142016-942

We plan to have a very interesting speaker on Veterans Day, November 11, 2016 at Rye City Hall beginning at 10:30 am.

Our speaker will be Peter Lion who is the author of the book “American St. Nick-A True Story”. In a nutshell, the book tells the true story of a handful of American GIs who during the darkest days of WWII help bring Christmas back to a small war-torn town in Luxembourg and unknowingly create a holiday tradition there that continues to this very day as a means of honoring those soldiers. The book has been made into an Emmy winning documentary film by the WWII Foundation and airs nationally on PBS stations throughout the holiday season. More information on the story, endorsements, press/media clippings, a trailer from the film and more can be found on the book’s website: www.americanstnick.com

Mr. Lion was in the process of researching that story many years ago that he came across the story of Rye native George Mergenthaler. That is the book he is currently writing and hopes to have out this time next year. It is the same book/story that the WWII Foundation film would be based upon. He will also have “American St. Nick” books on hand for a post ceremony book signing. For some information on the upcoming book on George Mergenthaler titled “MERG”, you can see the book’s nascent website: www.merg-thebook.com. There you can see some photos and read the first chapter. Also see brochure george-mergenthaler-bio-wwii-foundation-documentary-films-1 here.