Harry Meshel to speak at Nov. 17 meeting

The World War II Heritage Society meeting on Nov. 17 will feature former Ohio Senator Harry Meshel. Meshel will be giving his tale of Seabee duty.

Born to Greek-American parents in Youngstown, he graduated from East High School in 1941. His two older brothers enlisted, one serving in the Burma-China Theater and the second one seeing ground combat in France. Meshel and three of his buddies decided to enlist in 1943 by driving to Akron. Meshel’s first choice was the Marines and their quota already being filled, he selected the Navy as his second choice. The enlisting officer offered a hybrid of the two, the Seabees, never revealing that they would not be serving shipboard. Following his Marine and Seabee training, Meshel went on to participate in the New Guinea and Luzon campaigns receiving two Bronze “battle“ stars.

Following the war, Meshel enrolled at Youngstown College receiving a B.S. in Business Administration in 1949 and earned a Master’s degree in Business Finance from Columbia in 49-50. He went on to serve as an Ohio State Senator until 1993. His first victory campaign was in 1971 and he was re-elected five more times. He has since served on a multitude of boards including YSU where he is still active.

Meshel and his wife, Judy, now deceased, raised two children, Barry and Melanie.

Reservations for the 6:30 p.m. dinner at A La Carte Catering may be made by calling Dave Frank at 330-757-0515 at $14 per person. The deadline for reservations is Nov. 14.

This group of history fans meets monthly on the third Monday of each month, but will take a break for December holidays.