Newsletter Articles

Mike Reagan Honors Memory of Past Post Commander Duane Pounds

Mike Reagan Honors Memory of Past Post Commander Duane Pounds

At our March meeting, the Post charter was draped to honor the memory of Duane Pounds. During his many years as a member of Post #8870, Duane had served as Commander for five years and played a crucial role in keeping the Post active and successfully recruiting new members who, eventually, assumed leadership roles. Duane died on February 19 due to complications from a stroke. Julie, his wife of 66 years, had passed away last July, and Duane never fully recovered from her loss. Duane had also been an active member of many other community organizations such as American Legion Post #66, Nile Shrine Temple, Lakeside Masonic Lodge, and many others. In honor of Duane’s many contributions to our Post, Mike Reagan presented a portrait of Duane to his family. Accepting the portrait on behalf of the Pounds family was Duane’s daughter, Randi, her daughter Kelly, and three of Duane’s great grandchildren. Mike, of course, founded the Fallen Heroes Project, and over the years, he has drawn portraits of over 4,000 soldiers who have been killed during our nation’s war on terrorism. Julie and Duane had five children, 10 grandchildren, and 14 great grandchildren.

Post Member Returns to Southeast Asia by Jim Traner

Post Member Returns to Southeast Asia by Jim Traner

The featured speaker at the March meeting was Past Commander Fred Apgar. Currently, he serves as Post Chaplain. During the Vietnam War, Fred served as an Air Force Intelligence Officer, flying missions in an airborne command post. His unit controlled the air war in northern Laos, and his responsibilities included the location of targets of opportunity, providing air support to friendly ground forces, and to maintain an order of battle of opposing forces. During December, 2014, Fred returned to Southeast Asia, spending two of his three weeks in northern Laos, visiting the villages and remote landing strips that were the sites of numerous battles between the CIA’s so-called “secret army” and opposing forces (i.e. North Vietnamese regulars and Pathet Lao). During his trip, Fred interacted with many Lao who proved to be most generous and friendly hosts. Some of whom he met had suffered physical and emotional trauma from the war and had lost family members. Incredibly, these victims felt no anger toward the United States, indicating “that was in the past”. In addition to meeting several men who had fought for the United States, Fred also met a man who had been a Captain in the North Vietnamese Army and another man who had fought for the Pathet Lao. In both instances, once they learned that Fred had served in the United States Air Force, there was an instant bonding and friendship. During his trip, he found a lot of evidence of the war; numerous bomb craters littered the landscape as did bomb casings and fuel tanks, destroyed armored vehicles and anti-aircraft guns.

Post Member Norm Goldstein Publicly Recognized by Former Student—Fred Apgar

Post Member Norm Goldstein Publicly Recognized by Former Student—Fred Apgar

Following his Naval service in the Pacific during WW II, Post member Norm Goldstein pursued a teaching career for the Seattle Public Schools that spanned for more than 30 years. Norm taught Chemistry and during his long career, he touched the lives of hundreds of students. Reacting to publicity regarding Norm’s recent induction as a member of VFW Post #8870, one of his former students, Douglas Johnson, sent a letter to the Post in which he expressed his thanks for the many contributions Norm had made to his education, lessons that taught him to “think, watch, and wait for those ‘Aha’ moments.” Douglas surprised Norm at the March meeting so he could personally recognize Norm as an outstanding teacher and for the positive contributions he had made to his personal life and subsequent career.

Dignity Sticks for Veterans

Dignity Sticks for VeteransI first learned of Art King of Startup, WA from one of Post 2554’s members. Post 2554 is located in Sultan and Comrade Dave Silvewright , also known as the “Highway 2 Freedom Runner” (another story all to it’s self), was approached by Art during one of his runs and offered a Dignity Stick. The word spread to the Post that Art gave his sticks away for free to two sets of groups, the elderly and veterans. He doesn’t sell them to the public so those two groups are the only ones able to get them. Art doesn’t carve the figures that top the staffs but finds them in thrift stores or from other sources. However, he carefully shaves the staff of its bark, attaches a rubber cup to the base, and mounts whatever figure he has at the time. The assortment is endless, ranging from eagles, elephants, and even turtles. My father in law is a WWII Navy veteran and a life member of a VFW Post in San Jacinto, CA. He also has a couple of donkeys so I let it be known to Post 2554 Commander Chuck Donahue that I would like to get something with that theme from Art for my father in law. Sure enough, Art finally had the perfect walking stick which I then had carefully wrapped and shipped to CA. Art was recently featured on KOMO News and their website received emails from all over requesting the sticks. Assuming we have similar requests from our Post members, I contacted Chuck and asked him how we would get in contact with Art. He said he would Dignity Sticks for Veteranscoordinate getting the sticks from Art so either contact Chuck directly at

[email protected]

or let me know you wish to have one and I’ll give your information to Chuck. I am generally up at Goldbar, Sultan, or Monroe every month attending VFW meetings so I can make a Dignity Stick run in conjunction with one of the meetings.

 

VFW Banner Ready for Next Meeting

VFW Banner Ready for Next Meeting

Dennis Peterson and Terry Crabtree have come up with a way to personalize the American Legion Hall for our VFW meetings. As most of you know, there is an American Legion symbol that is approximately 6 feet in diameter behind the podium. While a number of us (and all us should be) are members of the American Legion, having a backdrop of the American Legion symbol during photo ops with speakers, students, or other guests at our VFW meetings is a bit confusing. We submit a number of pictures to the local newspapers and it is nice to push VFW when it is a VFW activity.   The cover can quickly be removed and the Hall put back into the American Legion décor when the VFW meeting is finished.

Post Nominations Coming Up

We will be nominating new officers in the March meeting. Nominations will remain open until the April meeting when elections will take place. Installation of officers will take place in May the new officers will take command following Department’s convention in early June. If you are interested in be-coming an officer, let the nomination committee know. Jim Blossey, Fred Apgar, and Jim Traner comprise the committee this year.

Post Member Worked at Ground Zero Following 9/11 By Fred Apgar

Post Member Worked at Ground Zero Following 9/11

Terry Crabtree, who serves as our Junior Vice Commander, was our featured speaker at our February meeting. He described the rescue efforts in which he participated following the col-lapse of the World Trade Center in the 9/11 at-tack. At the time, Terry was a construction engineer for Bechtel Corporation and was a member of a team of Bechtel employees who volunteered their services to assist in the rescue and clean-up efforts following the attack on our homeland. In addition to the nine construction specialists, of which Terry was a part, 25 other Bechtel employees served as safety inspectors. The team played a leadership role in the recovery of victims of the attack and the removal of construction debris. All debris had to be in-spected, and Terry described the reverence that was afforded whenever human remains were discovered. He also explained the efforts that had to be made in order to stabilize the slurry wall that prevented the water from the harbor from invading Ground Zero. Terry and his Bechtel colleagues worked at the site for six weeks. He indicated the most difficult part of the job was when the family members of victims came to visit Ground Zero.

Post Draps Charter for Neil Johnsrud — Fred Apgar

Post Draps Charter for Neil Johnsrud

Neil was born and raised in North Dakota. Like many boys during the Great Depression, he quit school after the 8th grade to work on the family ranch. At the age of 17, he also worked as a roustabout in the oil fields. Neil enlisted in the Army at the age of 23 and served in the Philippines and the Battle of Leyte Gulf. He served as a mortar man and received the Philippine Liberation Medal, Asiatic Pacific Theater Service Medal, Victory Medal, Army Occupation Medal, and the Good Conduct Medal. He was honorably discharged at the rank of Corporal after two years of service. Neil worked as a machinist at Boeing for 29 years and enjoyed good health during 24 years of retirement. Neil died at the age of 92 on February 5th after a brief illness. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Doris, three children and nine grandchildren.

The Post was asked by the family to conduct a graveside service for Neil. Commander Jim Blossey and Chaplin Fred Apgar lead the ceremony and Senior Vice (and 1st Sergeant) Chris Edwards provided troops to perform a flag folding ceremony. Post 1040 provided their honor guard.

Past Commander Duane Pounds

Past Commander Duane PoundsI’ve included the obituary that Duane’s family provided to me which had a lot of facts that I didn’t know about Duane. Duane was Commander for 5 years at a time that the Post was going through some struggles. He and the other Officers kept it together and we owe him a great deal of thanks. Duane Pounds passed away on February 19th from complications of a stroke and a broken heart. Julie, his wife of 66 years, passed away last summer and he was simply lost without her. He lived a long and wonderful life of 86 years filled with family, laughter, travel and community involvement. Duane was born in Minnesota on June 30, 1928, to parents, William and Marie Pounds. After moving to Seattle with his family, he met Julie after she winked at him while riding on the back of a Harley. They had many adventures riding motorcycles and later raising a family of five children in Shoreline. Always an active and engaged parent, Duane volunteered for many chaperoning duties with the Shorecrest High School Band and Thunderbirds Drum & Bugle Corps which made it hard for his children to get away with any mischief! He was fortunate to be able to support his family working as his own Boss as a contractor which allowed for many random, spur of the moment, camping trips or road trips to various Pacific Northwest destinations. Duane and Julie enjoyed many cruises as well as several trips to Norway, Hawaii and American Samoa. They en-joyed their life and were always ready for the next adventure. Duane was active in many organizations including Lakeside Masonic Lodge; Seattle Scottish Rite; Nile Shrine Temple; Nile Legion of Honor; Past Commander, Edmonds VFW Post #8870; Past Commander, American Legion, Edmonds Post #66; Military Order of the Cooties, Pup Tent #18, Bellingham; Eagles FOE #2288 and many more.