Speech at Sertoma Club by Diane Diekman, July 23, 2024 Good afternoon. Thank you, Ray [Brooks], for inviting me here today, and thanks to all of you for being interested in the Battleship South Dakota Memorial. I would like to introduce Karen Dunham, one of my fellow board members, who is with me today. She […]
By CAPT Diane Diekman, USN (ret), at Deuel School, Clear Lake, South Dakota, November 9, 2023 Good morning. It’s always great to be back in my hometown. Thanks to Superintendent Schiernbeck for inviting me here today. I would like to talk about what is possibly the most amazing document ever written, the United States Constitution. […]
At the South Dakota State Fair in Huron, on September 3, Sherwin Linton invited me to talk about my books and my Navy career. Here is my speech. (Thanks to John Mogen for the photo.)
Memorial Day Speech by CAPT Diane Diekman, USN (ret) May 29, 2017 American Legion Post 13, Willow Lake, South Dakota If South Dakota hadn’t passed a law in the mid-1960s to allow only 12-year school districts, I wouldn’t be standing here today. I’d be a retired country schoolteacher instead of a retired U.S. Navy captain. […]
Below is the speech I gave on May 30, 2016, at American Legion Post 131 in Valley Springs, South Dakota. Welcome to today’s ceremony and thank you for being here. This is one of those few years when Memorial Day falls on both the traditional date of May 30th and the last Monday in May. […]
Good afternoon, and welcome to the South Dakota Battleship Memorial on this beautiful, hot, sunny afternoon. I am CAPT Diane Diekman, and we’re here today to celebrate the promotion of Anastasia Quanbeck from commander to captain
Navy Birthday Ball, Sioux Falls SD, 15 October 2011: Good evening, happy birthday, it’s great to be with a bunch of Navy people, and to have an opportunity to wear my formal dress uniform again. I didn’t expect that to happen in Sioux Falls, so this is pretty nice.
Reprinted from Naval History magazine, July/August 1997  “Corsairs from Heaven” by Captain Diane Diekman, U.S. Navy Corporal Berry Rhoden, U.S. Army, crossed his arms over his head in a futile attempt to soften blows from the North Korean rifle butts that knocked him to the ground. One of his captors kicked him in the stomach, […]
Originally printed in the Clear Lake Courier — May 31, 1995 It was Saturday evening, December 6, 1941. Most of the sailors at Naval Station Pearl Harbor were on liberty. The Bloch Recreation Center was filled to capacity for what was expected to be the first annual “Battle of Music.” Three 21-piece bands had made […]
Originally published in the Clear Lake Courier — May 20, 1998 On my way to visit USS Belleau Wood near Australia, I spent a night in Cairns, Queensland. Well-known as an entrance to the Great Barrier Reef, the town seemed to exist only for tourism and diving. A Marine Corps helicopter came to the Cairns […]