Club members who served in World War II to be recognized at March 6 'Taps' ceremony
"Taps" are sounded every day at 5 p.m. at the National World War I Memorial to honor America's veterans.
On Wednesday, March 6, the "Taps"-playing ceremony will honor National Press Club members who served in World War II and were members of American Legion Post 20, which is affiliated with the Club.
The list includes two former Club presidents: John Cosgrove, who survived eight kamikaze attacks on his destroyer escort off Okinawa in 1945 and served several terms as commander of Post 20; and Frank Holeman, who served as an Army counterintelligence staff sergeant in the Pacific during World War II and was among the first U.S. occupation soldiers to land in Honshu in 1945.
In addition are Peter Lisagor, an Army sergeant during WWII, worked as a correspondent and London editor for the military service newspaper Stars and Stripes before working for the Chicago Tribune; and Sarah McClendon, the only woman to serve as commander of Post 20, who enlisted in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps in 1942 and worked as a lieutenant in the public relations office of the Army Surgeon General.
All four of these former members have a room in the Club named for them.
All Club members are invited to the National World War I Memorial to hear "Taps" sounded to recognize these and other WWII veterans who had joined the Club. The memorial is at Pershing Park*, across from the White House Visitor Center on Pennsylvania Avenue between 14th and 15th streets NW, near the National Press Building and the Willard Hotel.
The ceremony will be livestreamed on the Doughboy Foundation YouTube channel beginning a few minutes before 5 p.m. on March 6 and continuing until the ceremony concludes. After the ceremony, attendees are invited to repair to the Club's Reliable Source bar to raise a glass in honor of NPC's WWII veterans.
American Legion Post 20 was founded more than a century ago at the urging of famed WWI General John J. Pershing*, who was an associate member of the National Press Club at the time.