You don’t have to be a principal or teacher to nominate a teacher. If you have a teacher that your kids (or in most of our cases grandkids) had who you think exhibits the qualities that reflect VFW standards, by all means nominate them or bring them to the Post’s attention and we will do the paperwork for you.
If you haven’t signed up yet for Buddy Poppies, Bob Crawford has the signup sheet and will be at the October meeting so look him up. We do well every year but a couple of folks pull all day shifts because of a shortage of help. If you are physically able, please consider pulling at least one shift. Remember, all the good we do for our fellow veterans, promoting democracy, and supporting students through scholarships comes from 4 days out of 365 days of the year. So consider helping out. Even if you haven’t attended meetings due to work, we will be handing out Poppies on Saturday. If nothing else, you can avoid a day of “honey do” chores.
Rock Roth maintains the list of members willing to speak to schools and classrooms. This year will be particularly busy so we need to get our ducks in order earlier than usual. His email address is [email protected] or catch him at the October meeting since our November meeting has been postponed until after Veterans Day (more on that later). Rock’s list will indicate if you just want to show up and look pretty, will speak to a classroom, or will speak to an entire student body. Not everyone is comfortable with public speaking so we can fit your comfort level. If you do go out to a school, wear your VFW cover. I have found that taking out my dog tags which are still imbedded with red clay dust to an elementary school class is a big hit while the older kids you can just kickback and talk to them (I know everyone is careful, but nothing too vivid.)
Most of you will read this newsletter on our Post’s website. Take some time to look around. We have updated it to be more user friendly. If you have any suggestions to improve it, let us know. It’s there for our members and your suggestions are welcomed.
— By Rock Roth
I have (or had) a very long ‘Chaplain’s Corner’ for the month of September. Upon re-reading it, I found it could be viewed by some as ‘partisan’ and leaning toward ‘conservatism’. That started me thinking. How much latitude do I have as Post Chaplain? For answers, I went to VFW’s By-Laws and Manual of Procedures to see what it said about ‘The Chaplain’. I could find little, which is not surprising. What I did find stated that the Chaplain “shall be concerned with the spiritual needs of the members and by precept and example point the way toward a high moral plane for the organization.” Boy that was helpful!
In searching for that “high moral plane”, what could be higher than the First Amendment to the Constitution which states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….” Freedom of religion not freedom from religion, clearly a much different perspective than ‘some’ would have us believe. Nowhere in the Constitution could I find any mention of a separation the church and state; in fact our Founding Fathers clearly believed in religion and in God. (A vast majority of our Founding Fathers attended church on a regular basis.) Read the Declaration of Independence if you doubt they believed in God – “…Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”, “…endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights”, “…Supreme Judge of the World”, “…divine Providence.” My point is we are (or should be) “One Nation Under God”. We each should be free to worship God in the manner we choose and not as someone chooses for us. Of course, we should also be free to not worship – if we so choose. An American who is of the Muslim faith has the right to worship as he or she sees fit. However, a Muslim, or anyone else, has no right to dictate or influence (beyond the use of the freedom of speech) how you or I choose to worship. Freedom of religion not freedom from religion!
As a student of the Bible’s Old Testament, I am constantly reminded that Israel ‘seemed’ to be successful as long as she follow God’s Commandments. When Israel drifted away and worshiped “other or foreign gods” they ran into serious trouble; they never seemed to learn – drift away, return to God, drift away, return to God. I frequently ask myself, “Why? Can’t they learn? Don’t they see what happens to them each time they turn away from God? Are they that dumb?” No, they weren’t dumb and, unfortunately, the Israelites were not so much different than modern American. Can’t we learn? Don’t we see the lessons offered by history? Don’t we see what happens when nations turn away from God putting themselves – man – in God’s position? Apparently not! We as a nation need – must – reaffirm and follow policies that reflect that we are “One Nation Under God” and that we recognize God is in charge and not us. God has granted – given us as Americans a wonderful gift – “certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” If we don’t protect our God Given Rights we will lose them. Without God we cannot continue to serve humanity as that “Shining Beacon of liberty”.
– Barbara Miller, District Chairman
Please save Campbell Soup labels to help get the seventh van for the home. (We need 200,000 more to get the seventh van).
Order Life Memberships for $35.00.
Order Bricks (more on this at a later date).
Send .25 per member (to National not Department) for Health and Happiness Christmas Cheer now so that they will have the money for Christmas.
By Ruth Herren, District Chairman
Start your program this year by paying your $2.00 donations for Cancer from your Auxiliary. This is based on your June 30, 2012 membership total.
Don’t forget to order Cancer pins for $2.50 each by sending your money to Department.
Plan to attend the Cancer Seminar October 13, 2012 at Everett Post Home in the basement. You can bring your members, friends, family and community. Just let Barbara Miller (425-314-8078 or 425-252-1906) know how many are coming.
— Pete Farmer, Chair
Greg served active duty with the US Navy 1963-66 and was awarded the Vietnam Service Medal. He served aboard the USS Constellation. He was recalled from Inactive status for Operation Desert Shield in 1991. Greg and wife Lilly, a Post 8870 member, reside in Edmonds.
Lilly has served in the US Navy and Navy Reserve over 20 years. She served in Bahrain as part of the Global War on Terrorism. Awards include Navy Achievement Medal and Navy Reserve Meritorious Service medal. Lilly and Greg, a Post 8870 member, reside in Edmonds.
Jon is an Edmonds native and joined the US Navy in 1989. He is currently serving in the Naval Reserve as a Master Chief Petty Officer. He served in Iraq and in Afghanistan. He has also served in the Horn of Africa. Awards include the Joint Service Commendation Medal and Navy Commendation and Achievement Medals. Jon was a Navy Seabee and works in construction now. Jon and wife Cheryl reside in Edmonds and have 7 children.
Bill’s hometown is Long Beach, CA. He served in the US Army 1966-68 with 1 year in Vietnam. He was an Aircraft Repairman. Bill has a BS in Business Management and is a Quality Manager at Boeing. He and his wife have 3 children and reside in Mukilteo.
Our search for our MIA’s is an on-going effort, and at the forefront of this effort is the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC). JPAC was officially established and activated on October 1, 2003. The organization was created from the merger of the Army’s 30 year old Central Identification Laboratory and the 11-year-old Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA). This Command was established to combine the expertise and resources of these two organizations into one so that the DOD mission could be more effectively accomplished. Over 400 military and civilian personnel from all branches of the Armed Forces are assigned to JPAC, and their mission is to conduct global search, recovery, and laboratory operations to identify unaccounted-for Americans from past conflicts. The Command is located at Hickam AFB in Hawaii and continues the search for the Americans who remain listed as missing.
The Command maintains four permanent detachments that provide logistics and in-country support during investigation and recovery operations. These Detachments are located in Bangkok, Thailand; Hanoi, Vietnam; Vientiane, Laos; and Honolulu, Hawaii. Day-to-day operations of JPAC involve researching case files, investigating leads, excavating sites, and identifying Americans who have been killed in action.
Once a recovery mission succeeds in finding some remains of an MIA and artifacts from the site, the Central Identification Laboratory (CIL) uses its state-of-the-art facilities and forensic techniques to establish the identity of the military personnel. Based on the conclusions of the CIL, JPAC prepares an extensive report of its findings, which is given to the surviving family members of the deceased. These comprehensive reports summarize all of the actions that had been taken to investigate the conditions and locations of the disappearance, recover the remains and artifacts, and identify the MIA. Family members are given copies of these reports and the remains of the family member are returned to the family with full military honors.
JPAC and its predecessors have recovered the remains of thousands of MIA’s. We salute the efforts of JPAC to bring closure to the surviving family members of our nation’s MIA’s.
September 11th has been proclaimed Patriot’s Day. The President requests that flags be flown at half-staff (sunrise to sunset) and a moment of silence be observed in honor of those who lost their lives on that day.
It’s an effort each year to run down folks for their annual dues. If you haven’t opened that envelope from National and you are a continuous member (as opposed to a Life Member), please pay your dues as soon as possible. If you are a student or active duty military and need assistance, the Post will cover your dues. Also, if you are unable to pay your dues due to hardship, please let our Quartermaster know. Your membership in VFW will never be denied due to your inability to pay your membership dues.