I was honored to be the keynote speaker for the 2018 Memorial Day observance at Lakewood Cemetery,
one of the oldest and largest cemeteries in Minneapolis where many prominent people were laid to rest.
https://www.lakewoodcemetery.org/lakewood-memorial-chapel
The theme for the observance was “Commemorating the World War One Centennial”.

Mr. Chicoine, I attended the Lakewood Cemetery Memorial Day program and I very much enjoyed your stories and creating a beautiful tie-in to those memorialized at Lakewood Cemetery. – Diana Houston

Your address was engaging, delivered beautifully and was well received by our audience. Thank you for sharing the courageous stories of Stephen Sherman, Bert Baston and the others you spoke of who made great sacrifices during World War I for our country. Stories like these are so important to helping us all appreciate and honor the meaning of Memorial Day. What a wonderful day it was. You helped make it memorable for so many – Ronald A. Gjerde, Jr., President, Lakewood Cemetery Association

It was fantastic – Julia Gillis

I greatly appreciated your message because you made you comments very personal explaining that the soldier who fought in the war grew up in a neighborhood nearby and was eventually returned to this neighborhood to be laid to rest at Lakewood.  You also personalized other parts of the message too, which I appreciated.  Thank you, Sincerely  – Judy

 One week after Memorial Day was the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Belleau Wood, a seminal battle in Marine Corps history. I focused my remarks on Stephen G. Sherman of Minneapolis, who served in 20th Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. Sergeant Sherman lost his life on June 6, 1918, the first day of the Marine assault on Belleau Wood. The Marines suffered 1,087 casualties on that single day. The family had Stephen’s remains returned home in September 1921 and reinterred them in Lakewood Cemetery.  The location is Section 24, Lot 438, Grave 5.

AUDIO FILE OF MY ADDRESS

It was nice to see you and meet your wife on the Stillwater Veterans Boat Cruise on Monday.  We had a very enjoyable evening …   You hit an absolute out of the park grand-slam in my opinion.  I’ve been on at least five of their annual cruises and your presentation was by far the best.  It was a great story of one of our thousands of relatively unknown heroes and you did a wonderful job   –    Jim Sullivan, Vietnam Veteran

Many people have mentioned how much they enjoyed your talk  –  Captain David Ratte, U.S. Navy

We certainly enjoyed your wonderful speech  –  John Kraemer, Chairman, Minnesota Medal of Honor Memorial

On Sunday, July 14, at the AirExpo, Steve talked with European Theater World War II veterans Hiram Mann, an original Tuskegee airman and P-51 RedTail pilot, and B-17 airmen Bob Clemens, Vince Parker and John Scholl.

photo of Hiram Mann
by Steve Chicoine

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On Saturday, July 13, 2013, Steve Chicoine interviewed Pacific Theater World War II veterans Dick Cole of Doolittle’s Raiders and Wayne Johnson of the Flying Tigers at the Wings of the North AirExpo in Eden Prairie.

Steve Chicoine spoke again on the subject of Henry Mack
on Friday September 20, 2013
in conjunction with Sumner Library on Minneapolis’ North Side.

Shown here with some of the Red Hat ladies in attendance.

Short Audio Clip of Steve Chicoine
Speaking About Henry Mack

On September 2, 2014, Steve delivered his popular Henry Mack talk to the Central Minnesota Civil War Roundtable in St. Cloud.

Reviews

Steve Chicoine was a recent speaker at our St. Cloud Civil War Roundtable. As an historian, I was deeply impressed with Steve’s scholarship, especially the research he has undertaken to present the life story of Henry Mack, a Black veteran of the Civil War who lived to age 107. Mack’s saga is at the center of African-American history–a story that Steve tells well.
-Bill Morgan, Professor Emeritus, St. Cloud State University

“Thank you so much for your lively and informative presentation to our Roundtable. I heard many positive comments on your talk. We are eager to have you back! You are an energetic and engaging speaker. I’m sure the U students love your courses!
– Winn Anderson for the Central Minnesota CW Roundtable