The Wednesday’s Mr. Sid’s Video Series will feature an original video by Sid and Beulah Lenger.
The video is “America Then,” which will be followed by a presentation by Mike Martin on “Presidents We Need to Especially Remember in 2023.”
Mr. Sid’s Video Series is Wednesday, Feb. 15, at 2 p.m. at Marge’s Donut Den, 1751 28th St. SW. There is a 15-minute hymn sing that starts at 1:45 p.m.
The series runs every third Wednesday of the month. Upcoming presentations are:
March 15: WOTV’s Terri DeBoer will lead discussions of her new book “Grieving Well: A Healing Journey Through the Seasons of Grief”
April 19: Will feature several immigrants sharing their stories of hopes and challenges and adjusting to a new world.
May 10: Grand Valley State University History Professor and Director of GVSU’s Veteran History Project James Smither will present “Death and Life in the Big Red One: A Soldiers Journey from North Africa to Germany.”
Wednesday, Nov. 13, Mr. Sid’s Wednesday After Video Series will host a special program honoring area veterans.
The program will be at 2 p.m. at Marge’s Donut Den, 1751 28th St. SW. Feature presenter will be Fred Johnson, PhD, who is an associate professor of history at Hope College and a frequent presenter at Calvin Academy of Lifelong Learning.
The program will have a special guest, World War II Veteran Virgil Westdale, who is a 101-years-old. Westdale was a farm boy who was a pilot, TSA office and WWII solider serving with the all Japanese/American 442nd Regimental Combat Team and 522nd Artillery Battalion helping push the German’s out of Italy, France, and freeing prisoners from the Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany. Westdale’s book “Blue Skies and Thunder” will be available for purchase ($20) during the event.
Upcoming Mr. Sid’s Wednesday Afternoon Video Series programs are “Feel Like You Belong” host and producer Alan Headbloom on Dec. 4. Headbloom has 30 years of experience in cross-cultural communication on six continents. He is interested in the stories of those who are immigrants and refugees and the challenges that they face. “Feel Like You Belong,” which airs on WKTV, features interviews of immigrants and expatriates faced with the challenge of adjusting to a new culture.
On Dec. 18, the Mr. Sid’s Wednesday Afternoon Video Series will host a Christmas Extravaganza. Mike Martin and guests will lead the group through Christmas Season music, songs, video and surprises.
Mr. Sid’s Wednesday Afternoon Video Series is in honor of Sid Lenger, a former Wyoming resident and World War II veteran who loved to share his stories and video travelogues at Marge’s Donut Den. Lenger passed away earlier this year at the age of 100.
Sid Lenger, better known as Mr. Sid, loved sharing his stories of World War II and his travel adventures around the world.
The founder of Lenger Travel and World War II veteran passed away May 13 at the age of 100 but his love of sharing stories will continue, according to his friends who plan to honor Lenger’s memory by continuing his already scheduled Mr. Sid’s Wednesday Afternoon Video Series at Marge’s Donut Den, 1751 28th St. SW.
Tom Sibley, a WKTV volunteer and one of Lenger’s helpers in organizing the series, said after consulting with Lenger’s daughter, Lavonne Ritzema, Marge Wilson owner of Marge’s Donut Dent, and Fruitbasket/Flowerland owner Rick Vuyst, who is the scheduled guest speaker, it was decided to continue with Vuyst’s scheduled presentation. The program is set for Wednesday, May 15, at 2 p.m. at Marge’s Donut Den. Lenger is one of the military veterans featured in Vuyst’s newest book “Operation Rumination.”
“With a heavy heart – but comforted knowing that faithful Sid is at peace in the open arms of his Savior and reunited with his lifelong partner Beulah and son Sidney, we report that our Mr. Sid passed away Monday morning,” Sibley said, when announcing Lenger’s passing.
Filmaking always had been a hobby of Lenger who had crated hundreds of films. As part of Lenger Travel, Lenger would make travelogues that he would often show at Godwin Heights High School to help increase interest in the tours his company offered. The films became popular because they not only highlighted the well-known places such as Munch or Berlin, but captured what life was really like in those communities.
Sibley once noted “When [Lenger] took tour groups, he often would take smaller groups so that they could get up close to the whales or access to places larger groups could not visit.”
One of Lenger’s more popular films was his tour of Muskegon’s LST 393 (landing ship tank), where he was a volunteer tour guide. During World War II, Lenger served on such a ship, the LST 651, during the first wave in Okinawa. Lenger often told the story of a Japanese World War II plane headed toward the ship and how his gunner David “Goldie” Goldsboro save the ship. Last fall, Goldsboro and his family came for a special Mr. Sid’s Wednesday Afternoon Video Series program, which featured the story of Lenger’s time on the LST 651.
David “Goldie” Goldsboro and Sid Lenger served on the same ship, the LST 651, during World War II. The two were together last fall for a special Mr. Sid’s Wednesday Afternoon Video Series. (WKTV)
Sibley said the spring Mr. Sid Wednesday Afternoon Video Series will continue on May 29 with the film on the LST 393, which is still docked in Muskegon and is one of only two surviving vintage LSTs (landing ship tank). It will be followed by a question-and-answer session with staff from the LST 393. On June 12, there will be an “Honoring Fathers” program lead by Mike Martin.
Visitation for Lenger will be at Zaagman’s Memorial Chapel, 2800 Burton St. SE, from 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, May 15, and one hour (from 10 – 11 a.m.) prior to the 11 a.m. Thursday, May 16, service at Seymour Christian Reformed Church, 840 Alger St. SE. Lenger is survived by his children, Lavonne Ritzema, Robert and Lori Lenger, Richard and Carol Lenger, Ruth Lenger; his sister-in-law, Joan Lenger; 11 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren, and one great-great granddaughter.
For those who have attended the Wednesday Sid Lenger film programs at Marge’s Donut Den, the story of a Japanese World War II plane headed straight toward the ship Lenger was standing on is probably a familiar one.
“I had the trigger pulled and Goldie just snapped in the box, and boom,” Lenger said. In his film “Sid in WWII on LST 651,” the 99-year-old still gives credit to Goldie for his quick action that saved the entire ship. “He’s the hero,” Lenger states in the film.
“We’ve heard so much about Goldie, but have never meet him,” said Tom Sibley, one of the people who helps Lenger organize his regular film series. Everyone finally got the chance to meet David “Goldie” Goldsboro when the two old friends, through the help of family, came together on Wednesday, July 11, for a screening of Lenger’s World War II film about his time on the LST 651.
“We had just comeback from Florida and he was telling us about the invitation to come to the screening,” said Goldsboro’s son Larry. “I could just tell he wanted to go. He had a tear in his eye when he was talking about it.”
Goldsboro now lives in Brownstown, Ill., almost a six-hour drive from Grand Rapids. It was a trip that the 91-year-old could not make on his own. So his son and wife offered to bring Goldsboro and his wife of 74 years, Geraldine, to Grand Rapids.
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs statistics, 558,000 of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II were alive in 2017. The Department estimates that the U.S. loses about 372 WW II veterans per day. Of the 139 who served on the LST 651, Lenger and Goldsboro are two of the remaining four who are still living. So it was a rare treat for those in attendance on Wednesday to meet the men with the event encouraging two other local World War II Navy veterans, Bert Ponstine and Donovan R. Joslin, to attend.
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An LST is a landing ship tank used during World War II to carry tanks, vehicles, cargo, and land troops directly onto the shore with no docks or piers. One of the few surviving ships, the LST 393, is located in Muskegon, and Lenger has been a longtime volunteer for the LST 393 Museum.
“We have kept in touch over the years through reunions,” Goldsboro said. Lenger added that about 15 years ago the reunions ended, but the two have remained in touch with others who have served on the LST 651, which at the end of the war was given to the Japanese according to Goldsboro.
It wasn’t hard to stay in touch since the two returned to their hometowns, Lenger to Wyoming where he graduated from Lee High School in 1937 and eventually would establish Lenger Travel, and Goldsboro to Brownstown, Ill, where he originally enlisted as a senior at the age of 17 with a friend.
“Actually, my friend and I went in together with plans to be buddies,” Goldsboro said. “When we got to the Great Lakes (a naval station in Illinois), we got separated. On the ship, we refueled a lot of other ships, one being a LCS 11 (a littoral combat ship). Sid gave me a picture of that.
James Smither of the GVSU Veterans History Project interviews David “Goldie” Goldsboro and Sid Lenger
“When I got back and was talking to my friend, he told me he was on the LCS 11 and I told him I had a picture of it. So at the time, he was on the LCS 11 and I didn’t know it and I was on the LST 651 and he didn’t know it.”
The LST 651 refueled and moved troops during the last major battle of World War II, the Battle of Okinawa. Lenger and Goldsboro were assigned to man one of the guns, Lenger was the gunman and Goldsboro was the loader.
“We worked as one, we had to,” Lenger said. “Goldie was a farmer so I just knew the (ammunition) would be there.”
The two would be in the Pacific near Japan when the United States dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but neither realized how quickly it would bring the war to an end with Imperial Japan surrendering on Aug. 15, 1945. In fact, the LST 651 would be docked near the USS Missouri and Goldsboro said he made his way over to the ship via the gang planks to watch the signing.
But the single event that still stands out for both men was that Japanese suicide plane heading toward the ship.
“Goldie said he could see the whites of his eyes,” Lenger said of the pilot.
“I could, too,” Goldsboro said. “How he missed us, well, the good Lord had something to do with it.”
Sid Lenger is one of only four men left who served in the South Pacific on LST 651 in WWII. One of the other remaining men is his friend David “Goldie” Goldsboro who was the “loader” on Lenger’s 20mm gun. Lenger was the pointer.
Goldsboro, who resides in Illinois, has accepted Lenger’s invitation to come to Marge’s Donut Den, 1751 28th St. SW, and join Lenger for the showing of his video “Sid in WWII on LST651.” While serving on the LST 651, Lenger had a video camera with him.
The LST 4, similar to the LST that Sid and Goldie served on.
Sid Lenger has great respect and admires Goldsboro, and has said “Goldie was the best ‘Loader’ in the Navy and was responsible for saving many lives.”
Come and join us at Marge’son July 11 at 2 p.m. as Goldie and Sid renew the special relationship they developed while serving together on LST 651 during WWII.
Schedule for Mr. Sid’s Wednesday Afternoon Video Series
July 11 “Sid’s Video in WWII on LST 651” with Sid and Goldie
August 15 The Presidents – Mike Martin Presents
Sept. 5 New Zealand / Hawaii – Sid & Beulah’s Travel Video
In the film “America Now,” Sid Lenger talks about why George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln are featured on Mt. Rushmore.
“We were about ready to retire,” said Sid Lenger. “I was 69 at the time and we were showing films at Godwin Heights High School when this person came up and said ‘Would you like to go to India?’
“So we retired right into visiting India for the next 24 years.”
Lenger has never missed an opportunity to film. While serving on a landing ship, tank (LST) during World War II, he received permission to have a camera “and I brought a video camera as well,” he said.
The former owner of Lenger Travel has created hundreds of films. At age 99, he is not the globe-trotter he once was, but his travel films remain popular keeping Lenger busy with scheduling various series at Marge’s Donut Den. Starting on Jan. 2, WKTV will be featuring a selection of Lenger’s travel films, which will air at 2:30 p.m. on WKTV 25 and repeat at noon on Fridays.
“What makes his films so unique is that its not just the usual overview of well-known places such as Munich or Berlin, but Sid captures what life is really like,” said WKTV volunteer Tom Sibley, who has worked with Lenger on his series at Marge’s Donut Den. “When he took tour groups, he often would take smaller groups so that they could get up close to the whales or access to places larger groups could not visit.”
Lenger also built a lot of relationships with people because he kept coming back to those smaller communities, Sibley said. Such was the case when Lenger headed to the mountains of Northern Italy and film the history and art of the Anri wood carvers, recording a century-old tradition.
“The narration is clear,” Sibley said. “He doesn’t waste a lot of words and yet you can tell, he has done a lot of research.”
Sid Lenger with WKTV Managing Editor Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
“In ‘America Then’ (the first in the WKTV series), I take each of the presidents on Mt. Rushmore and explain why that president is there and what is going on during their lifetime,” Lenger said, adding the film also discusses the history of the U.S. flag. “A teacher came up to me and said that it is the best history lesson she had ever seen.”
In his partnership with Pastor John Devries, the founder of Mission India and the person who asked Lenger and his wife Beulah if they would be interested in visiting the country, Lenger filmed scenery and life in a country that was not always welcoming to Christians.
Filmmaking always has been a hobby for the World War II veteran. He created many of his travel films and showed them at Godwin Heights High School to help increase interest in some of the tours offered through his agency. Today, it still remains a hobby with Lenger maintaining a studio space in his home where he edits on a regular basis, according to his daughter Lavonne Ritzema. He also has an area for painting as well, she noted.
“I’ve got this Michigan film I’ve put together,” Lenger said. “I need to redo it. This summer, I am going to head over to Frankenmuth and get some footage of the Silent Night Chapel.”
As we all await for the Michigan film, take some time to check out some of Lenger’s earlier travel films on WKTV. Also, Lenger film series is every other Wednesday at 2 p.m. at Marge’s Donut Den, 1751 28th St. SW. The Marge’s Donut Den series will restart on Jan. 10.
Take time on Wednesday mornings to travel with Sid Lenger at Marge’s Donut Den to places where Sid and his wife Beulah traveled to and documented on video.
Mr. Sid’s Travel Series begins May 25, the Wednesday before Memorial Day, with a 24 minute video that will take you with Sid on a Tour Of LST (Landing Ship Tank) 393 anchored at the Mart Dock in Muskegon. Sid has long been a volunteer tour guide on the ship. Sid served on a similar ship, LST 651, in the South Pacific during World War II.
The programs begin with Gospel and Patriotic Song from 9:30AM to 9:45AM with the video to follow.
The videos will be shown at Marge’s Donut Den every other Wednesday with coffee provided by Marge.
After the videos, Mr. Sid (Sid Lenger) will be available for questions. (Average length of videos 40 minutes.) The full schedule is as follows:
May 25 – Video Tour of LST 393 with Mr. Sid
June 8 – Austria
June 22 – Nepal
July 6 – Netherlands
July 20 – India
August 3 – Italy
August 17 – Mission India – Amazing Story of John Raj & 5 Days in India
August 31 – Canada
September 14 – New Zeeland
September 28 – Alaska
October 12 – The Challenge of India – Mission India
October 26 – Switzerland
November 9 – Mr. Sid Goes to War – Sid’s Documentary of his wartime experience
November 23 – The Presidents of Mt. Rushmore – America Then
By: Tom Sibley