January 29, 2009
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Author and U.S. Air Force veteran Wolfgang W. E. Samuel will deliver the 2009 UAB Belton Y. Cooper Lecture. Samuel will present his lecture, "The Berlin Airlift 1948-1949: A Child's Perspective," at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26, at the UAB Mary Culp Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th St. S. The lecture will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift.
The event is free and open to the public. For more details, call 205-975-9644 or e-mail mvanzandt@uab.edu. Free parking will be available in the lot directly across from the Alys Stephens Center, which is located at 1200 10th Ave. S.
Samuel is author of several books, including "German Boy: A Child in War," which is a memoir detailing the calamitous end of World War II in Germany and his traumatic experiences as a postwar refugee living in a camp near a Berlin air base.
Samuel moved to the United States in 1951 at the age of 16. He later joined the U.S. Air Force and flew more than 100 reconnaissance missions against the Soviet Union and its satellites during the Cold War, including missions during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1961. He was decorated with three awards of the Distinguished Flying Cross. Samuel's other books include "I Always Wanted to Fly: America's Cold War Airmen," "The War of Our Childhood: Memories of World War II," "American Raiders" and "Glory Days: The Untold Story of the Men Who Flew the B-66 Destroyer Into the Face of Fear."
The UAB Belton Y. Cooper Lecture Series, created in the UAB Department of History, presents an annual lecture on military history and social conflict. The series was named after Belton Cooper, a Birmingham-area WWII veteran.