1:00 – Museum Tours
2:00 – Presentation
Join the Central Coast Veterans Memorial Museum (CCVMM) for our next Speaker Series with Historian, Erik Brun, and his presentation on the 54th Coast Artillery on the Central Coast during WWII. Erik Brun, shares the history and accomplishments of the first Central Coast Black Combat unit to be placed into operation against the enemy in WWII. The unit that had gun positions in Morro Bay, Avila and Shell Beach.
In the three months after Pearl Harbor, the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked vital merchant shipping and shore facilities along the California coast. The War Department’s Western Defense Command ordered the establishment of firing positions between San Luis Obispo and Santa Cruz, to protect the citizens and key defense infrastructure between the Harbor Defenses of Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The 54th Coast Artillery Regiment’s 1st Battalion took up positions between Shell Beach, and Cayucos in April 1942. Erik Brun also discusses how their arrival help shaped Post-war San Luis Obispo.
Seating is limited. Free admission. RSVP is requested, per link provided above.