The SaddleBrooke World War II Roundtable will present a talk by SaddleBrooke’s own Mary Jo Swartzberg on Rogue Heroes, a book about Britain’s SAS and the soldiers who operated behind enemy lines. Using slides and information gleaned from a book by Ben Macintyre, Mary Jo will relate the true story of the soldiers who were portrayed by Hollywood movies like The Dirty Dozen and Inglourious Basterds. The SAS, shorthand for Special Air Service, was Britain’s covert sabotage group that helped change the tide of the war. Part marauder and part ingenious soldier, the men who made up the SAS were a scrappy, non-traditional sort who were frequently referred to as badasses.
The SAS was the brainchild of David Stirling, himself a non-traditional service man, who believed that the only way to succeed in winning the war was to surreptitiously go behind enemy lines and destroy German and Italian weaponry, supplies, airfields and air power, as well as everything else that supported Hitler’s war machine in Africa and on the continent. And it worked, but not without enormous sacrifice.
This book is not merely about a war story or the many acts of sabotage the SAS men perpetrated on Hitler’s grand scheme, it is about the camaraderie of a group of fascinating, mismatched and, in many ways, revolutionary soldiers who came together for one purpose: to help Britain succeed in winning the war. Ben Macintyre’s book offers a page-turning glimpse into the workings of WWII’s greatest, legendary secret fighting force – the SAS.
Mary Jo’s presentation will be on Thursday, January 24 at 1:00 p.m. in the West Ballroom of the MountainView Clubhouse. All SaddleBrooke residents and guests are invited. Our guest speakers are treated to lunch by the Roundtable and a donation of one dollar per attendee to defray that expense is asked.
Mary Jo Swartzberg’s bio: Mary Jo received her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees (both degrees concentrated in English), from The University of Toledo, in Ohio.
Her principal career was as the Administrator in Academic Psychiatry at The University of Toledo.
While in Toledo she served on several Boards of Directors, including The American Heart Association, Leadership Toledo and The Westside Montessori Elementary School.
Her interests include: writing (she is a free-lance writer), golfing, reading and/or listening to books on audio, dancing with The Desert Stars, singing with The Brooke Sisters and The Sonoran Singers. And, she is passionate about Trivia!
She and her husband, Barry, have been married for 43 years. They have a beloved calico cat, Callie.