Name: April Erie Torch Club Meeting
Start: 2026-04-01T18:00:00-04:00
Location: Erie Yacht Club

The April Erie Torch Club Meeting will be on Wednesday April 1 at the Erie Yacht Club. Cash bar at 6 PM and dinner at 6:30 PM.
$32 per meal cash or check made out to the Erie Yacht Club payable at the door. Deadline for reservations and choice of entree is 5 PM Friday, March 27. Please respect the deadline. A reminder that no shows for dinner will be billed for the cost of the meal.
Our dinner will be a choice of two entrees: either Chicken Piccata or Vegetable Stuffed Tilapia with Dill Cream Sauce, with Mandarin Orange Salad with Red Onion, Toasted Almonds, Cranberries & Shaved Parmesan, Dauphinoise Potatoes, Garlic Roasted Asparagus, Peach Pie, and rolls and butter, tea and coffee.
Our speaker will be Mark Becker, JD
Mark Becker, returns that evening, having previously presented to the Torch Group. He is an Erie native who enlisted in the Army in 1975 before gaining admittance to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point - where he amassed 504 demerits in his 3 years, 10 months, and 22 days as a cadet. Upon graduation he served in command and staff positions in Explosive Ordnance Disposal (bomb disposal) and Special Forces (Green Beret) organizations where he learned Russian and planned for operations against the military forces of the former Soviet Union. He's a graduate of numerous military schools and is the recipient of numerous merit and service awards and decorations including the Bronze Star Medal earned during his several deployments to Afghanistan while serving on the National Mission Force.
Following his military career, Mark worked as a federal employee, overseeing research and development programs charged with developing energetics solutions, i.e. explosives, for Special Operations Forces.
He has a law degree from the Wake Forest University School of Law and took and passed the North Carolina and Florida bar exams.
Topic: The Panama Canal
Any account of engineering marvels of the 20th Century would be incomplete without the inclusion of the Panama Canal, the 51-mile passage that dramatically transformed global trade routes when it opened in 1914. After famed French diplomat Ferdinand De Lesseps failed in his attempt in the 1880s, the United States re-started construction in 1904.
Battling tropical diseases and incredible topographic challenges, the Army Corps of Engineers carved the canal through jungles and mountainous terrain, displacing enough earth and rubble to bury the island of Manhattan to a depth of 12 feet. At the cost of roughly 5,000 workers' lives, the ship channel was completed on time and on budget.

Reservations and choice of entree may be made by response to [email protected] or calling the Secretary at 814-864-2451