Yorkfest returns Aug. 30-31

The Yorkfest Fine Arts Festival returns to the York County Rail Trail Aug. 30-31. Yorkfest will feature art exhibitions, a fashion show and an awesome Kids Lane, and artists and vendors will set up along the Rail Trail from Market Street to Princess Street. The Colonial Courthouse will be open for free tours from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30. There will be no tours of the other Colonial Complex sites that day.

The Story of Monroe S. Lease

December 7, 2021

The attack on Pearl Harbor eighty years ago awakened a sleeping giant and led to the 1945 Allied defeat of militarist Japan, as well as racist authoritarian Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. But 1941-42 was a tough year for Americans serving abroad, including Monroe S. Lease (1906-1950) of York. Lease entered the regular Army in 1924 and was stationed in the Philippines when the Japanese invaded. He became a POW and endured the horrific Bataan Death March as well as years of Japanese captivity in Formosa (Taiwan). Recently, the YCHC Library & Archives gratefully received his papers and dog tags from his relatives (he had no descendants). Lease returned home to York after the war, in and out of treatment at VA hospitals. He never did recover from the brutality he suffered. Lease’s story is a poignant reminder of the sacrifice and patriotism of our prisoners of war.

More details of Lease’s story are forthcoming as we analyze the documents received.