On Tuesday, June 11 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., author and museum volunteer Dolores (Dodie) Beal Stephens will present “Water for the Troops” as part of Wright Museum’s 2019 Lecture Series.
At the lecture, Stephens will discuss and sign her book, “Water for the Troops–Evacuation Hospitals and Airfields,” which recounts her family’s experiences during WWII.
“My father volunteered for the US Army during WWII at the age of forty-five, but the draft age limit was thirty-eight,” she explained. “However, when they found out he had experience in water well drilling, they let him volunteer.”
Stephens’s father organized a drilling unit of sixteen men in North Africa as part of the 401st engineer water battalion.
“No one that I know of has written about this type of work, a task that needed to be done for the troops,” she said. “I want people to walk away with a better understanding of it.”
Her presentation will also include the struggles her family faced during her father’s absence.
“My father was sustained by the love of his family,” she said. “I had two older sisters and a little brother and my father hated having to leave us. I know at one point he wondered why he signed up, but he knew what important work he was doing.”
“Water for the Troops” will be held in Wolfeboro Town Hall’s Great Hall. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Admission is $3 for members and $8 for non-members. Seating is limited, and reservations can be made by calling 603-569-1212.
Sponsored by Ron Goodgame and Donna Canney, the series takes place every Tuesday through the end of Wright Museum’s season, which concludes Oct. 31.
