May 18:  Waitzman as Witness to the Horrors of War: D-Day and Beyond 

EUEC Member Mort Waitzman spoke to a capacity audience about his experiences as a soldier in World War II. He began by stating that he would much prefer to talk about the research he did for many years as a Professor of Ophthalmology and Physiology. In fact, with one exception during his graduate studies immediately after the War, he did not speak of his World War II experiences for 50 years. He began speaking about his experiences once he realized that there were fewer people available to counteract the persistent voices of those who deny the existence of the Holocaust and that he had a responsibility to speak out as a witness to much of the horror of that time.

There is no question that much of what Mort had to say was of almost unimaginable suffering and unspeakable horror. What is difficult to convey in any written report is the humanity and sometime self-deprecating humor with which it was delivered. He claimed to be no hero, and yet who could better claim such a title?

Before Mort began his talk, we were shown a YouTube clip of a 2012 CNN interview with Mort. A link to that clip is given below, and that video served as an introduction to his talk.

The title of his talk suggested that his story would start at D-Day, but a fascinating part of his experiences started before D-Day. In high school, Mort had taken 4 years of French and become relatively proficient in the language. When he enrolled in the Army in 1943 at age 19, he had a choice of staying in the States and training as an engineer or being shipped overseas. He chose to go to Europe and was assigned to Communications and became fluent in Morse code. When he arrived in England, one of his duties was to monitor communications with the French Underground. As he was telling of his experiences, he asked the audience who had seen the movie, The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Many in the audience had seen the movie and Mort then told us that another of his duties was interception of German communications and shipping the intercepted messages to Bletchley Park in the hopes they could be decoded. Although the intercepted coded messages were generally sent via secret convoys to Bletchley Park, Mort said that he had gone there several times himself.

Mort's battle experiences began on June 6, 1944 with the invasion of Normandy; Mort told of his landing at Omaha beach. There of course has been no shortage of accounts of the horrors of the D-Day invasion. Mort told of the complications of the weather and the difficulties of getting from the transport ships to the smaller vessels to reach shore. He spoke with great sadness of seeing soldiers leaping from the ships to the smaller boats, but missing and drowning in the Channel--their lives over without even engaging the enemy and with no help possible from their comrades.

Mort was part of the liberation of Paris, but there was no time to celebrate as his unit had to move on quickly to Verdun, then to the Netherlands, and then to the Battle of the Bulge from December 16, 1944 to January 25, 1945. That battle was the largest and bloodiest fought by the United States and was the source of the highest casualties for any U.S. operation in the war.

One might think that having gone through all of those experiences, the worst would have been over, but after the Battle of the Bulge, Mort's unit crossed into Germany and witnessed the indescribable horrors of the Nazi regime. First was the liberation of the Dinslaken Labor Camp in early March of 1945, followed by liberation of the Dora-Mittlebau (Nordhausen) Concentration Camp in mid-April and then coming to the site of the massacre at Gardelegen. The tragedy of arriving too late to save so many who had been killed in advance of the coming of the Allies and seeing thousands of dead bodies laid out in rows is something no one wants to talk about; Mort is a witness to that only because he feels it is necessary to do so. As Mort stated: "What happened clear across Europe was the story of freedom and liberty and preserving and protecting the rights of others."

Mort is emeritus professor of ophthalmology and physiology at Emory and is a founding member of EUEC.  He recorded a Living History video for EUEC, and that video may be seen by clicking here.   Portions of an interview with CNN can be seen by clicking here. 

In Memoriam

Margaret Drummond

Margaret Drummond, PhD, passed away April 8, 2015. Born in Oklahoma, Margaret grew up in Atlanta where she went to Girls High. She was a graduate of Agnes Scott College where she received an undergraduate degree in biology and chemistry and then a masters degree in biochemistry. Later she earned her doctorate in microbiology at Emory University. She continued her career in teaching and research with Emory's School of Medicine, spanning 30 years before retiring in 1988. As one of the relatively few women on the faculty in the 1970s, she helped organize a brown bag lunch group known as the Women's Caucus. Later she was the first chair of Emory's President's Commission on the Status of Women.

In addition to her valuable service to medical school and microbiology students at Emory, she spent much of her discretionary time in support of the Appalachian Trail. As an avid hiker, she became aware of the importance of this 2,100 mile trail along the Appalachian mountain chain and became a leader in both local and national organizations dedicated to maintaining and managing this resource. She devoted 26 years of volunteer service to the national board of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, six of those years as chair of the board. She is one of the few honorary life members of ATC and was also awarded the prestigious US Forest Service Chief's award for her contributions to the National Trails System. Just prior to her death, she was elected to the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame.

She was known as a mentor and a consensus builder, both in her professional and her volunteer public service spheres. She encouraged colleagues, students and new volunteers to accept challenges and become leaders.

Bill Brillhart

William Edson Brillhart age 95 of Decatur, died Wednesday, May 20, 2015. He went to join Connie, his wife of 68 years, Cornelia Camp Brillhart. He was preceded in death by his brother Robert Ross Brillhart. He will be dearly missed by his daughters Beth Brillhart Nuttall and husband Robert, Mary Brillhart Bower and husband David, four grandsons, Christopher William Bower, Robert William Nuttall, Jason Andrew Bower and Jeffrey Phillip Nuttall. Bill was born January 1, 1920 in Bowling Green, Ohio. He grew up in Napoleon, Ohio on the Maumee River. Bill earned his bachelor's degree from Bowling Green State University. While stationed in Chamblee, Georgia, he met Connie at the USO before leaving to serve in WWII. In Europe serving as a Medic in the Army's 4th infantry division he received a bronze star and a purple heart.  After the war in 1946 he married Connie, an Atlanta native.  

Bill received a masters degree at Emory University and taught Biology at Georgia Tech and Emory's Junior College at Valdosta. For 38 years Bill was a Biology Professor at Emory University teaching over 30,000 students. With his love of the water he taught Emory Coastal Biology courses at St. Simons Island and in Jamaica.  A quote from a former graduate student: "Bill Brillhart is more than a professor. He has a deep respect and compassion for life which transcends textbook biology, and he gives his students an understanding of principles, thoughts, and facts that have helped me with academics as well as becoming a better human being."   

After retiring Bill enjoyed his four grandsons and traveled with Connie to many Elder Hostels. They spent much of their time in Saint Simons educating about and defending the environment of coastal Georgia.  Bill was a life long learner with a deep appreciation of science and nature. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to The Glynn Environmental Coalition at www.glynnenvironmental.org. The family will receive friends and have moments of sharing from 4-6pm on Friday, May 22, 2015 at A. S. Turner & Sons Funeral Home & Crematory. There will be a family burial at Westview Cemetery.