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IN SERVICE
Members of New City, New York, Chapter
333 went
on a humanitarian mission to Vietnam last October and November
with other Vietnam veterans from Seattle, Washington, and
delivered 1,000 pounds of clothing and shoes and 42 wheelchairs,
along with hygiene supplies and toys, to some 800 children
at four orphanages. The group also visited a school built
with funds provided by American Rotarians and held a memorial
service near the spot where Sgt. Howard Querry was killed
in May of 1968. Chapter members had learned about Querry
from letters written by his wife and daughter that were
left at the chapter’s
traveling museum.
Dade County, Florida, Chapter 121 in Miami
had a very visible presence in the Homestead, Florida,
Veterans Day Parade with two vehicles and about 30 individuals
marching under its banner. The vehicles were driven by
new chapter member Samuel Mender and Collette Conroy, the
wife of chapter member Marc Conroy. The group included
at least one World War II veteran, 90-year-old Juan Lao,
and a contingent of veterans from the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Chapter member Dennis Mango coordinated the
event.
Rochester, New York, Chapter 20 celebrated its 25th
anniversary on September 29 and 30 in grand style with two
special events. On the first night, VVA Vice President Jack
Devine addressed chapter members at the Rochester Armory,
and September 30, the chapter held its Silver Celebration
dinner at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Pat McGonigle, the morning
anchor on Channel 10 News, served as master of ceremonies,
and the keynote speaker was famed former AFVN DJ Adrian Cronauer.
Among the awards presented were the Roger Robach Award to
Fred Elliott; the Don and Rori Murrell Humanitarian Award
to Gail Bologna-Melens and Ray Melens; the Veterans Service
Award to Peter Galle; and the Outstanding Service Award to
Bruce McDaniel.
Members of Ferndale, California, Chapter
781 played an integral role
in a three-day Stand Down held at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds
in Ferndale, October 14-16. Chapter Vice President Carl
Young served as co-director of the event, and AVVA member
Rhonda Nicolas was one of the main organizers of the clothing
distribution operation. The chapter posted the colors at
the beginning of the event and two members manned a chapter
membership and information booth. During the three days,
chapter members and others provided services to 176 veterans
and their families.
Among the notable events that took place
at the Queens, New York, Chapter
32 25th anniversary celebration
on September 20 was the induction of Chapter President
Pat Toro into the New York State Virtual Veterans Hall
of Fame by State Sen. Frank Padavan. The Hall of Fame pays
tribute to New Yorkers whose gallantry in the military
is complemented by their significant accomplishments as
civilians in service to their communities.
Volunteers and
members of Central New Hampshire Chapter
41 held a one-day
car wash in September to benefit food pantries in Manchester
and Concord, the chapter’s home. “The
volunteers and members put in a long day of hard work,” said
Chapter President Alan Grant, “but we all had fun and
raised more than $600.”
Region 5 Director Leverett Hobbs
and Buckeye State Council President Tom
Burke visited the Mansfield Correctional Institution on October
9 to present
Incarcerated Chapter 616 AVVA member Jimmie
D. Messmer with the AVVA Fellowship Award, the first Ohio
AVVA member and the first incarcerated person to receive
the honor. At the same time, Chapter 616 President John Johnson
received his high school diploma under a recently enacted
Ohio law that awards diplomas to veterans of World War II,
the Korean, and the Vietnam Wars who left school prior to
graduation in order to serve in the military and were not
able to return to school after serving.
Quabban Valley Chapter
405 in Ware, Massachusetts, led the annual Veterans
Day parade through the streets of Ware on November 5 with
chapter members carrying the unit’s
colors. On the same day, Chapter Vice President George Desotell
took part in the Mohawk Pow Wow in Canada for the seventh
year. The chapter was invited to attend by the Royal Canadian
Legion Mohawk Branch 219, and Desotell presented a commemorative
wreath honoring the Mohawk veterans. The chapter also recently
presented its annual donation to the Open Pantry in Springfield
and to veterans incarcerated Hampden County Correctional
Center at Stony Brook in Ludlow, Massachusetts.
The Fort Sam
Houston Library in San Antonio was rededicated on November
14 and is now known as the Keith A. Campbell Memorial Library
in honor of Spec. 4 Keith A. Campbell, the brother of Judy
Campbell, an AVVA member of VVA Liberty
Bell Chapter 266 in Philadelphia. Keith Campbell, who served as a combat medic
with the 82nd Airborne, 11th Special Forces, 3rd Airborne
Brigade, trained at Fort Sam Houston. He was killed in action
on February 8, 1967, in Bien Hoa during Operation Big Spring.
Members
of Mt. Clemens, Michigan, Chapter 154, including Chapter
President Pat Daniels, have mounted an effort to get the
word out to area veterans about the recent court ruling that
adds new locations of presumptive service coverage due to
exposure to Agent Orange. “We run into three
or four Vietnam veterans a week who have diabetes and are
eligible for benefits but don’t know it,” Daniels
told The Detroit News. “And the VA doesn’t exactly
advertise.” Among other things, the chapter has posted
a billboard that reads “Veterans: Get the Benefits
You’ve Earned.”
Masschusetts State Council President
and Region 1 Director Al Cummings was on hand at
the State House in Boston on Veterans Day and was presented
with a copy of Gov. Mitt Romney’s
Veterans Day Proclamation, which is issued annually and calls
for a proper observance of November 11th as Veterans Day “in
lasting recognition of the service and sacrifice of those
sons and daughters of Massachusetts who served in the armed
forces of the United States in time of war or insurrection.”
Memphis
LZ Chapter 875 in Tennessee held its annual Christmas
party December 7 in support of the Memphis Child Advocacy
Center. Chapter members collected more than 250 teddy bears
that were donated to abused and neglected children in the
Shelby County area. In October, the chapter reached a long-time
goal when members delivered two electric carts to the Memphis
VA Medical Center to transport patients from their vehicles
to the doors of the facility. The chapter raised more than
$18,000 to purchase the much-needed carts.
Two past presidents
of South Jersey Chapter 825 in Mays
Landing, Al Rhodes and
Jack Charlesworth, gave a $250 contribution to the eighth
Annual Buddy Walk for Downs Syndrome Awareness and Acceptance
held on September 16 in Ocean City, New Jersey.
Members of
Texarkana Area Chapter 278 in Texarkana,
Texas, manned a
booth at the annual Cullen Baker Day festival in Bloomburg,
Texas. Members distributed information on Agent Orange, PTSD,
VA claims, POW/MIAs, and VVA membership, as well as other
veteran- related issues.
Phoenix Chapter 726 at Polk Correctional
Institution in Polk City, Florida, sponsored a Post-9/11
Day of Remembrance Ceremony on September 21 at the prison’s
multipurpose auditorium. The event, which featured the chapter’s
Color Guard and the singing of the National Anthem by associate
chapter member Larry Williams, marked the “first time
in the history of Florida’s prison system” that “nearly
two hundred guards, administrators, and prisoners came together
on common ground and sat down together for a peaceful and
somber meal,” according to the chapter’s Public
Affairs Chair, Ted Schultz.
Ross/Fallon Chapter 371 at the
Southern Michigan Correctional Facility sponsored
its second annual Spelling Bee in October. The object of
the competition, which drew 24 participants, was to promote
the chapter’s
educational tutoring program. Correctly spelling the word “claustrophobia” brought
first place to Jason Slaczka. The chapter’s AVVA representative,
Melvin Anderson-Bey, and James Carter coordinated the event
with help from Phil Klintworth.
VETS CONNECT
At ceremonies held November 13 at the Belgrade
Events Center, the Bozeman, Montana,
Chapter 788 honored
the memory of Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Nicholas Bloem, who
was killed in Iraq on August 3, 2005. The chapter presented
a plaque honoring Cpl. Bloem to Belgrade High School at the
ceremony with the entire student body in attendance. Music
was provided by the high school band and chorus.
Western New
York Chapter 77 in Tonawanda welcomed Paul Davidson, the
executive director of the Veterans of Modern Warfare, to
the chapter’s museum and offices last November.
VMW is the newly formed VSO that works on behalf of Americans
who have served in the armed forces since August 2, 1990.
Davidson provided Chapter 77 members and area veterans with
information on free membership and benefits of joining the
VMW.
Membership Committee Chair Bill Meeks reports
that the VVA Information Center set up at the two-day Veterans
Day commemoration on the National Mall in Washington last
November was a big success. “During those two days,
VVA and AVVA members, including board members and national
officers, and the VVA national office staff distributed thousands
of brochures, membership applications, VVA Veterans, and
other information and publications to people interested in
joining or supporting VVA and AVVA,” Meeks said. Those
who pitched in included Marsha Four, Sandy Miller, Robert
Pace, Jerry Yamamoto, Jack Devine, Alan Cook, Barry Hagge,
Dee Hagge, Rick Weidman, Michael Lunini, Michael Keating,
Mokie Porter, and Joe Sternburg.
Galveston County, Texas,
Chapter 685 President Jim Rose and his wife Marilyn, along
with chapter members Roland Castanie, Robert Rodriguez, Buddy
Farina, and Earnest Mathews, met in December with the family
of Sgt. Barry Meza, who was killed in Kuwait in 2004. “We
let them know how much their sacrifice and the sacrifice
of Sgt. Meza means to us,” Rose
said. “I explained to them that we will never let his
sacrifices be forgotten and that we will be there for them
if they should ever need us.”
Veterans of Graterford,
Pennsylvania, Chapter 466 held its 24th annual Veterans
Day Service on November 11 in the chapel area of the State
Correctional Institution that houses the incarcerated chapter.
The theme was “Keeping the Legacy
Alive,” and the chapter dedicated the service to the
555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, the famed all-black unit
that served on the home front during World War II, fighting
forest fires in the western United States.
As of October,
Washtenaw County Chapter 310 in Ann
Arbor, Michigan, had
shipped 693 care packages to American troops in Iraq and
Afghanistan. That includes a recent shipment of Harley-Davidson
tee shirts that went over very well. “Anytime
we can receive care packages, it is always appreciated,” Special
Agent John Monize of the 21st Military Police Detachment
in Tallil, Iraq, wrote to the chapter. “However, it
is with great privilege and pride to receive them from fellow
veterans. I know that as life goes on in the States, it is
the veterans whose memories never fade, and the camaraderie
embraced by veterans crosses the generations of those who
have answered the call before us.”
Quad Cities Chapter
299 in Rock Island, Illinois, sponsored a “Welcome
Home Dance for Vietnam and Gulf War Veterans” on
Veterans Day at the Col Ballroom in Davenport, Iowa. Partygoers
danced to live old-time rock-and-roll by Coupe De Ville and
feasted on tacos and tostadas prepared by members of the
Mexican American Veterans Association. In the first ten months
of the year, the chapter had donated $5,505 to veteran and
non-veteran local charities.
Greater Hartford Chapter 120
in Connecticut has given 25 phone cards with 25-30 minutes
each to military personnel serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The cards went to relatives of chapter members serving in
those two war zones. The chapter also memorialized Marine
Lance Cpl. Christopher B. Cosgrove III in the November issue
of The Connection, the chapter newsletter. Lance Cpl. Cosgrove
was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq on October 1. He served
with Charlie Company, 1/25th Marines Corps Reserve, which
was based in Plainville, Connecticut.
POW/MIA
Members of the Honor Guard of Rochester,
New York, Chapter 20 joined the U.S. Marine Corps Honor Guard on November
3 at Arlington National Cemetery at the funeral ceremonies
for Marine PFC James E. Widener, who had been listed as missing
in action in Vietnam for nearly four decades. “After
39 years, Jim’s remains were positively identified
and laid to rest with full military honors,” said the
chapter’s Marching Unit Commander Ray Melens. The Honor
Guard of Geno Lenyk, Tom Puff, Dick Oleksyn, Ralph Pascale,
Tom Gleason, and Bruce Van Apeldoorn was joined by the chapter’s
POW/MIA Chair Gail Melens and AVVA Liaison Kathy Gleason,
as well as members of the Widener family, who live in the
Rochester area.
Mike Lieber, Ed Krieser, and Jim Gourley of
Porter County, Indiana, Chapter 905 took part in a flag-folding
ceremony during “A Salute to Veterans—POW/MIA,” which
was held September 21 at the Portage Bus Barn. The event
also included a presentation on the history of the POW/MIA
movement.
Retired Army 1st Sgt. Matt Woods was the guest speaker
at the November membership meeting of Northern
Virginia Chapter 226, The Dean K. Phillips Memorial Chapter. Sgt. Woods discussed
his role as a Vietnam War MIA case worker at the Joint Task
Force-Full Accounting POW/MIA at Hickam Air Force Base in
Hawaii.
MEMORIALS
Members of Kentuckiana Chapter 454
in Louisville provided many hours of work during the September appearance
of the Moving Wall at Evergreen Cemetery. Members helped
set up and take down the memorial, provided overnight security
for two nights, and helped visiting Jefferson County school
students by participating in seminars about their experiences
in the Vietnam War. The chapter also left a wreath at the
memorial and hosted a POW/MIA candlelight service. Those
who volunteered were Wayne Shaffer, John and Judy Mitchell,
Jim Kuiper, Dona Schicker, Ron Eberle, Mike Settles, Gary
and Margaret Holmes, Art Decker, and Bob Keller.
The Color
Guard from Auburn, Massachusetts, Chapter
554 took part in
the October 21 dedication by the town of Auburn of the David
P. Kusy Memorial Square. Kusy, who served with the 1st Squadron
of the 1st Cavalry Regiment in Vietnam, was the first Auburn
resident to perish in that conflict. The 20-year-old Kusy
was killed in action on October 21, 1967, in Quang Tin Province.
The chapter also displayed its memorial wall at the ceremonies.
SCHOLARSHIPS
Every year, Sacramento Valley, California,
Chapter 500 awards scholarships to deserving students who are relatives
of Vietnam veterans and who will be attending institutions
of higher learning. The scholarships, which are given in
memory of chapter members B.T. Collins, Bill Wolf, and Gilbert
Murray, are judged on the merits of an essay. The 2006 topic: “How
Vietnam veterans paved the way for a psychological definition,
as well as treatment, for PTSD for themselves, future generations
of servicemen and women, as well as the public at large.” Three
$500 scholarships were awarded to Brandon Penrose, Jeff Cichocki,
and Michael Mackenzie Callahan Williamson.
Chillicothe, Ohio,
Chapter 810 recently awarded two scholarships to
deserving offspring of Vietnam veterans: $2,000 to John Daubert
and $500 to Kara White. The scholarships were presented by
chapter member Rick Grubb.
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2008, Vietnam Veterans of America. All Rights Reserved. 8605 Cameron
Street, Silver Spring, MD 20910