Mike Lacche Boxing Magazine: January, 2014

Let the countdown begin! 

One more month until the centennial birthday celebration of a boxing champion!

Mike Lacche Boxing Magazine: December, 2013

Happy Holidays! Mike Lacche Boxing welcomes you, one of the more than unique 2,410 readers in 10 countries. 

This month in our family has two very important anniversaries: 

December 26: Joseph N. Ermer (WWII veteran, athlete: billiards), 95th birthday anniversary (centennial is 2018).

December 31: President Truman Proclamation WWII cessation of hostilities (centennial is 2046).

Joe Ermer's legacy remains alive, strong and vibrant in many people today and we celebrate a true mentor, friend and leader who lived by example and brought out the good in everyone around him.

Like many of those who serve in war, Joseph "Joe" N. Ermerlooked at every day after returning home as partially having a responsibility to honor those who didn't come home. Joe Ermer's memoirs, in part, were his way to keep light on those years and those greatest of American heroes. Click here for audio version.

"I was at a Health Seminar yesterday and the moderator asked the crowd 'do you know what day tomorrow is? 'I piped up, 'Pearl Harbor Day'. She was looking out at us and said, 'Um, I was thinking more of the last day to  change your HMO,' "Joe Ermer wrote December 7, 2011. "I remember those day, very vivid, just like it was yesterday. Faces -- all very clear. Still makes me think why I got to come home and others didn't."

By the early 1940s, Joe Ermer was a young man doing well: he had his parents and brother Bobby, friends, health and hope for a better future. But turmoil was growing in Europe; Joe, like many of his generation, had a deep sense of duty and gratitude to his country; this also was strengthened coming out of the Great Depression. "Everyone was tired of being tired."

"War clouds were beginning to gather. There was a draft lottery. I wound up with a very high number, but wanted some experience, while still keeping my job at the bank; so I joined the (New York) State Guard," Joe Ermer wrote. "I really enjoyed the experience: lots of drills, some firing practice, a few maneuvers on the beach (hunting saboteurs). The main benefit was getting military experience. That may have been a reason that the Navy put me right on active duty and bypassed Boot Camp. I made Corporal in the Guard and joined the Navy as a 3rd class PO, equivalent to a Buck Sergeant."
"I was inducted into the Navy in March '42. My first duty assignment was at Floyd Bennett Field. I was only there long enough to get my uniform and gear when orders came to transfer three (men)...to D.C. for further assignment. That 'further assignment' worried the rest of the guys, so they gave it to the last three on board: Egan, Eschbacher and Ermer. The three Es. We got traveling money and went to DC on the old Baltimore and Ohio. When get got there, the chief told us we would be the night shift and we'd get a living allowance and to go get a place to stay. This was wartime Washington DC. We were riding a trolley out the NW area, when the motorman heard us talking and said he might have something for us. 

He gave us the address and a note to his wife. They had an extra furnished bedroom with twin beds and a connecting closed-in sun porch with a couch. We took it gladly. They were nice people with a little girl. Our work was in the Precedence Section, which had to do with Officer Promotion. I learned so much about politics and the ins-and-outs of officer promotions that, later on, I was fairly popular with the Officers on the Elmore. 

Ruth A. Ermer

It turned out also that Phil Egan was engaged to another Ruth, who had also gone to Bayridge High School about a year ahead of my Ruth. We decided that the opportunity was too good to pass up and we collaborated in writing persuasive letters to our Ruths (identical letters). Phil had been a newspaper man in a small midwest town and between the two of us, we really put on the pressure. Ruth and I got married on August 23rd. I think Phil and his Ruth got married a week later.

I managed to find a furnished apartment with a nice old southern landlady. She would bring fruit cobblers. Ruth and I had a great honeymoon in the Poconos. We got pretty friendly with some of the other sailors and their wives. We'd picnic on the Potomac, go to amusement parks and eat out. Obviously, it couldn't last.

When we were advised that if we volunteered for Sea Duty, we might get what we asked for - I requested Destroyer Escort in the North Atlantic. I figured that I'd make it back to Brooklyn once in a while. I got it alright: Attack Transport in the South Pacific. Except for knowing my chances of getting home were now nil, I had always been fascinated  by the islands of the Pacific: read everything I could get on them.

Soon, Joe Ermer would see the best and the worst of 1942 South Pacific. Stay tuned for more on the life of a true friend, mentor, artist and role model: Joseph "Joe" N. Ermer. 
Joseph "Joe" N. Ermer Memoirs (click links below to view/hear):
Celebration of Life: Joseph N. Ermer
Celebration of life: early childhood: Joseph N. Ermer
Celebration of Life: sports in the early years: Joseph N. Ermer
Celebration of Life: early years: Boy Scouts: Joseph N. Ermer
Celebration of Life: WWII part one: Joseph N. Ermer
Celebration of Life: WWII part two: Joseph N. Ermer
Celebration of Life: WWII part three: Joseph N. Ermer
Celebration of Life: WWII part four: Joseph N. Ermer

Mike Lacche Boxing Magazine: November, 2013

Mike Lacche Boxing welcomes you, one of the more than unique 2,327 readers in 10 countries. 

The countdown is on! Less than 100 days until the centennial birthday anniversary of S/Sgt. Michael "Mike" Anthony Lacche (La'KAY), United States Army Welterweight Base Boxing Champion, Fort Kamehameha, Hawaii, 1942. 

During WWII,  S/Sgt. Michael "Mike" Anthony Lacche, was part of the Army's 304th Regiment, 4th Battalion, which helped liberate Europe; the 304th Regiment was later assigned to the 76th Division during post WWII stabilization work in Germany.

Key organization dates (info credit, Wikipedia.org) includes the 304th Regiment ordered to active duty on June 15, 1942; disbanding August 31, 1945 in Germany; and reconstituted and assigned to the 76th division on October 7, 1946.

During the Allied push into Germany, the 304th Regiment, 4th Battalion crossed into Eisenach, Germany, February 24, 1945 and pushed all the way to Penig, Germany when Germany's surrender was completed May 9, 1945.

Click here to see a very thorough web site honoring the 76th division.
During the Allied push into Germany, the 304th Regiment, 4th Battalion crossed into Eisenach, Germany, February 24, 1945 and pushed all the way to Penig, Germany when Germany's surrender was completed May 9, 1945.

Click here to see a very thorough web site honoring the 76th division.

Mike Lacche Boxing Magazine: October, 2013

Mike Lacche Boxing welcomes you, one of the more than unique 2,259 readers in 10 countries.

Armed Forces athletes are preparing to continue their respect athletic seasons this month in the face of the Federal Government shutdown. This includes the Armed Forces Championships the first week of February 2014.

Memories of Mike: Long before Mayweather, Ray Leonard, Mosely and De La Hoya was the World Welterweight Champion, Freddie ' Red' Cochrane.  The pride of Elizabeth, New Jersey, Cochrane and was the reigning Welterweight champion in 1942 but would not get to defend his title until the war ended. 

The WWII and Korean War eras marked a unique time in American sports history where many professional athletes joined the Armed Forces and would compete there in the sports they championed. This was perhaps the greatest unified venue of American athletics in our country's history.

Mike Lacche was an amateur but trained with the knowledge the Fort Kamehameha Boxing Championships could be his last. At the end of his journey, Mike would be an Army Champion - and then join his soliders overseas in the real fight of his life.

Mike Lacche Boxing Magazine: September, 2013

Mike Lacche Boxing welcomes you, one of the more than unique 2,194 readers in 10 countries.

September is an important month in the family history of S/Sgt. Michael "Mike" Anthony Lacche (La'KAY), United States Army Welterweight Base Boxing Champion, Fort Kamehameha, Hawaii, 1942.

September 10: Nick Lacche (brother, 125th birth anniversary is 2035)

September 19: Vildo Cerasoli (brother-in-law, family patriarch), birthday anniversary (centennial is 2016)

September 21: Mike Lacche enlistment anniversary in United States Army (1939).

When reflecting on his boxing career, Mike Lacche stressed the importance of boxing being a thinking sport; Mike compared boxing with chess except "when the king fell someone would get really hurt."

All of the Army athletes competing for the title were in good shape -- eight hours a day PT training in courses that most civilian athletes today would gladly sit out or only attempt one portion.

Part of Mike's training involved innovative uses of sand -- Fort Kamehameha was a short run from the Pacific Ocean and sandy beaches offered a good venue to train legs and core. Mike also practiced punching into sand to harden and develop muscles that his opponents may otherwise ignore.


Mike was a confident boxer but always approached each bout with the assumption his opponents were bigger, stronger and better. That 'me versus the world' attitude kept Mike alive during his 1942 title run, as well as, throughout World War II.