LUNCH WITH BOOKS: Summit of Glory - The West Virginia Flying Corps

August 21, 2018
12:00pm - 12:00pm

As the United States entered World War I, a young West Virginian founded a flying corps to train young men for aerial combat. A tract of land along the Ohio River, north of Wheeling, W. Va., was the site for the West Virginia Flying Corps. The site is overgrown now, but in the summer of 1917, it was alive with the engine of the Curtiss JN-4D, the Curtis Jenny, as pilot trainees strove to learn how to fly so they could go into service of our country in World War I. Although their efforts are largely forgotten, they nevertheless embodied the willingness of West Virginians to step forward in service to their nation. Spoken word performer Judi Tarowsky tells their story, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of Louis Bennett, Jr., West Virginia's only World War I fighter ace.

Judi Tarowsky is a member of the West Virginia Storytelling Guild. She has made appearances at Three Rivers Storytelling Festival in Pittsburgh, PA; Vandalia Gathering in Charleston, WV; Arthurdale Heritage Site, Arthurdale, WV; Summer Reading Programs, Martins Ferry Public Library, Martins Ferry, OH; Cockayne Farmstead, Glen Dale, WV; Brooke County Public Library, Wellsburg, WV; Campus Martius Museum, Marietta, OH; Wheeling Arts and Culture Fest, Wheeling, WV; Jackson's Mill Jubilee, Weston, WV; Stone Soup Storytelling Festival, Woodruff, SC, Lunch With Books, Ohio County Public Library.