Prof. Bartlett to give WWII talk at libraries

Professor Robert Bartlett

Whitman County Library and Humanities Washington invite residents to attend a conversation with Professor Robert Bartlett, a member of the 2015-16 Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau. This free event takes place Monday, Oct. 24, at 1 p.m. in St. John and 6 p.m. in Colfax and again on Wednesday, Oct. 26, at 12 p.m. in Tekoa and 6 p.m. in Rosalia.

The topic will be Operation Firefly. It was May of 1945 when an elite unit made up of some of the Army's best trained paratroopers were assigned to a remote airstrip in Oregon as part of a highly-classified mission known as Operation Firefly. This first all-black paratrooper unit's mission and service involving Washington State made quiet history and is all but forgotten.

In a surprising and insightful presentation, Bartlett tells the tale of the “555.” Trained by U.S. Forest Service Rangers, members of the 555 jumped on some 36 forest fires as first responders, including the 1945 Mt. Baker fire. In the process of helping to save our forests, they gained military fame as the first all-black “Airborne Infantry Firefighters.”

An Army Vietnam War veteran is the proud second son of Frances Bartlett and the late Walter Bartlett, Sr., Army Air Corps, WWII veteran. He has nearly 30 years of university teaching and holds two degrees from Colorado Mesa University, a master’s degree in sociology from Washington State University and a Ph.D. in leadership studies from Gonzaga University.

He is currently a faculty member in the Department of Sociology and Justice Studies at Eastern Washington University where students voted him one of EWU’s “Most Beloved Faculty” in 2012.