Learn about 'Operation Husky: The Invasion of Sicily' at the next Date With History Dec. 4
The First Division Museum at Cantigny continues its acclaimed "Date with History" series on Monday, Dec. 4.
Guest speaker Steve Fixler will discuss the 1st Infantry Division's role in the 1943 Allied Invasion of Sicily during World War II. Code-named Operation Husky, it was the largest amphibious invasion of the war to that point and became the template for the D-Day landings at Normandy one year later.
The free program will be at 7 p.m. in Le Jardin at the Cantigny Visitors Center and online. Registration for both in-person and Zoom viewers is required at FDMuseum.org. For those attending in person, parking is free.
Fixler enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1979 as an armor crewman, tanker. He left the Army in 1983 as a sergeant and returned to Illinois.
From 1983-1987, he served in the Illinois Army National Guard and went to Northeastern Illinois University (Chicago) and to Loyola University of Chicago for ROTC.
He received his ILANG commission in 1985 and graduated from Northeastern Illinois University in 1987. He then rejoined the U.S. Army on active duty as an Armor Officer and took on a variety of assignments before retiring in 2004 as a Major. He is currently superintendent of the Veterans Assistance Commission of DuPage County and volunteers at the First Division Museum at Cantigny.
The "Date with History" series, now in its 16th year, features presentations by authors, historians, documentarians, and veterans on a variety of military history topics.
December hours at the First Division Museum are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, except Mondays.
Cantigny's regular parking fee includes museum admission. Visit FDMuseum.org for more details.
The First Division Museum, part of the Chicago-based Robert R. McCormick Foundation and located at Cantigny in Wheaton, Illinois, promotes public learning about America's military heritage and affairs through the history of the "Big Red One" - the famed 1st Infantry Division of the U.S. Army. The museum's main exhibit hall, First in War, transports visitors to the trenches of World War I, the beaches of World War II, and the jungles of Vietnam. A second exhibit hall, Duty First, explores the 1ID's history in more recent times.
The Robert R. McCormick Research Center, open to the public, houses the museum's library, archival and photo collections. Tanks from every era are outside the museum, along with artillery pieces and a personnel carrier. Memorial markers and commemorative statuary pay further tribute to those who served and sacrificed. For more information, visit FDMuseum.org.