Newsletter Articles

Veterans Day: Buddy Poppy Time

Veterans Day: Buddy Poppy TimeBob Crawford, our stalwart organizer of poppy distribution, asks that you be certain November 6-7 are on your calendar and arrange your scheduled hours with him. We will have four locations to staff this time around. Bob can go over the opportunities with you, so be sure you get together with him at the September meeting, or call him to make arrangements. If all of our active membership participates, it will be an easy and productive weekend. There is no more rewarding activity to participate in as a VFW member.

Edmonds Veterans Plaza Update

The Edmonds Veterans Plaza Committee is moving ahead with its work of designing and raising funds for the new community recognition of all Veterans, past, present and future.

 The crucial job at the moent is, of course, fund raising and our craft fund raising committee is hard at work.

 If you have business or organizational contact who might help with donations, large or small, please do what you can to either solicit the donation yourself, or make the organization known to the committee. If you have questions, see either Commander Blossey, or Plaza Committee Chair Ron Clyborne.

Edmonds Veterans Plaza Update

New VFW Auxiliary Now Welcomes Men

HISTORIC CHANGE REFLECTS TODAY’S MILITARY AND VETERAN FAMILIES

August 21, 2015

The former Ladies Auxiliary VFW, founded in 1914, is the VFW’s highly regarded support organization and is considered its “Partner in Service.”

Under its former name, Ladies Auxiliary VFW, membership within the organization was offered exclusively to female spouses and family members of any member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The gender-specific eligibility requirement remained for more than 100 years until July 20, 2015, when delegates to the VFW’s 116th National Convention in Pittsburgh voted to amend the dated by-law to extend the same membership opportunity to eligible males and the name changed appropriately to simply VFW Auxiliary.

“It’s an exciting time to be a member of the Auxiliary,” said National President Francisca Guilford. “Women comprise nearly twenty percent of our nation’s military, and this change allows all spouses, fathers, grandfathers, sons, grandsons and brothers to serve others in honor of their veteran.”

For more information about the VFW Auxiliary, please visit www.vfwauxiliary.org.

Jim Traner Recognized for District Newsletter

Jim Traner Recognized for District Newsletter

Jim, with Dist. Commander Wischman and Dist. Aux. Pres. Tami Wagoner

At the District 1 meeting on August 29, 2015, Jim Traner was recognized by the Department for publishing what has been judged to be among the best District newsletters in the state of Washington. A certificate of recognition was presented to Jim by Department Adjutant, Fred Green. Jim served as District 1 Commander for two years, and he is the founder and editor of the award winning newsletter. He has served in that capacity for the past four years and has worked diligently to publish the monthly newsletter.

Jim was elected Post Commander in July 2009 and served in that role for three years. Prior to being elected to that leadership position, he created our Post newsletter, which, since its inception, has also received Department honors. Both the Post and District newsletters are published monthly.

Jim served as District 1 Commander from 2012 until 2014. For the past two years, he has served as Chief of Staff for District 1 Commander Don Wischmann.

Post Member Michael Reagan Receives Well Deserved National Recognition

By Fred M. Apgar

Post Member Michael Reagan Receives Well Deserved National RecognitionAt a recent ceremony held at Arlington National Cemetery, Michael Reagan, an active and loyal member of our Post, was awarded the Citizens Before Self Honor Medal. Referred to as the Civilian Medal of Honor, this prestigious medal was awarded to Michael by the Medal of Honor Foundation, an organization comprised of recipients of our nation’s highest military medal, the Congressional Medal of Honor (MOH). This recognition is one of the highest and most prestigious awards that is bestowed on private citizens.

The Medal of Honor Foundation was founded in 1999 for the purpose of perpetuating the legacy of the MOH through outreach and educational programs. The program to honor private citizens was created to recognize those ordinary Americans from across the country who perform extraordinary acts of courage or through a continued commitment to service by placing the needs of others first. Post Member Michael Reagan Receives Well Deserved National RecognitionMichael was selected as a 2015 honoree “for his service in founding the non-profit Fallen Heroes Project, which provides hand-drawn portraits to the families of all servicemen and women who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan”.

Michael is a Seattle native, and following his high school graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. Following a combat tour of duty in Vietnam, he attended art school. He worked as a graphic arts designer for the Seattle Public Schools, which led to a position at the University of Washington, an affiliation that remains today. Michael is a portrait artist, and during his 40 year career, he has drawn over 10,000 portraits of celebrities, professional athletes, U.S. Presidents, as well as other heads of state. Early in his career, Michael made the decision to use his skill and reputation as a much sought after portrait artist to perform charitable work for a wide range of benevolent organizations such as Boys and Girls Clubs, Children’s Hospital, the Humane Society, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. To date, his signed celebrity portraits have raised over $10 million for these deserving organizations.

Post Member Michael Reagan Receives Well Deserved National Recognition

Mike appears with this year’s class of recipients, fourth row up, fourth from right.

Memory of Past Commander Dennis Gaasland Honored

Memory of Past Commander Dennis Gaasland Honored

At the age of 17 and with the permission of his parents, Dennis Gaasland joined the Navy to serve his nation during WW II. Trained as a radar operator, Dennis also served in a combat amphibious unit. While serving in the Pacific, Dennis was sent to the Solomon Islands, New Hebrides Islands, Guadalcanal, and the Russel Islands before his convoy participated in the landing at the Gulf of Leyte in the Philippines. Following the war, Dennis married his childhood sweetheart, Helen, and graduated from UW with a degree in Business Administration. He was a successful businessman, working with several Seattle law firms. Dennis served at Post #8870 Commander from 1992-1994 and again from 1995-1996. He passed away in March 2015.

At the July meeting, Post member Mike Reagan honored the memory of Dennis by presenting a portrait of a young Dennis in his Navy uniform to his wife of more than 67 years, Helen. Also in attendance was her son, Greg. Mike, of course, is the founder of the Fallen Heroes Project, and to date, he has drawn portraits of over 4000 American veterans who have lost their lives while in service to our great nation. In his remarks, Mike assured Mrs. Gaasland that the Post would, “always remember one of our own”.

World War II Veterans Honored

World War II Veterans Honored

Post 8870 members Edgar Shepherd and Benton Webb were honored at the July Post meeting with engraved plaques recognizing their service in the United States Navy during World War II.

Both men served from 1942 to 1945. We are proud to have these WWII veterans as our Post Comrades.

These comrades are included in the group of our remaining WWII vets so honored earlier.

An Edmonds Veterans Kind of 4th!

Comrades of Post 8870 and their families gathered after the parade to share some great food prepared both on site and brought from home.

An Edmonds Veterans Kind of 4th!

Cooking up a batch of burgers and dogs.

An Edmonds Veterans Kind of 4th!

Post members and their families enjoy some traditional 4th of July fare.

An Edmonds Veterans Kind of 4th!

A great opportunity to celebrate the reason we served.

Purple Heart Night at the Mariners!

Monday, August 10 – 7:10 PM at Safeco Field. Mariners vs Orioles.

Get a specially priced ticket, receive a Mariners Purple Heart T-shirt and support a great cause. Tickets start at $22 and a portion of the proceeds will benefit your local chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

The icing on the cake: Our own Phil Sacks who is a member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, will be throwing out the first pitch!

Put it right over the plate, Phil!

Edmonds Veterans Plaza

Edmonds Veterans Plaza Update Design Elements

The Plaza project is going full steam ahead and our fundraising committee wishes to remind all of our members that this is our project for the memory of all veterans past, present and future.

Each of us needs to look at ways in which we can contribute to the raising of the necessary funds; from our own contributions, large or small and from other community resources with whom we may have influence.