Spokes of the Wheel - Author Talk

Galesburg, you won't want to miss this! Local author Tom Colclasure is here to present his book, Spokes of the Wheel: A Grandson's Look at WWII, His Grandfather and His Hometown.

In the summer of 1998, the author sat down with his grandfather in order to chronicle his experience during the war.  Unfortunately, his grandfather passed away in November of that year.  He decided to continue researching his story. Over the next 20 years he attended unit reunions, spent time with the men who served with his grandfather and traveled to Europe to follow the trail of the 82^nd Airborne.  

Closer to home, he discovered and documented the wartime stories of many residents of Galesburg.  These include; a Pearl Harbor survivor, a former German soldier who had been captured by the Russians at Stalingrad and who eventually made his home in Galesburg, IL, a British war bride who also made Galesburg her home, a Japanese-American who was incarcerated in an American camp before his career teaching at Knox College, an African American soldier from Galesburg who served in the famed Red Ball Express, as well as others.  

In this book, Galesburg is the hub and the people who went out into the world during the war and those who settled here afterward are The Spokes of the Wheel.