Newsletter Articles

Our Post was selected the Post of the Year for District 1.  While membership is key, our support of our veterans and active military, our involvement in our community and schools, supporting National projects such as the National Military Services and USO, and having all of our various reports completed such as Community Service and Hospital Reports (thanks to Al Boyett) and passing our inspection with flying colors (thanks to Liz Mather) went a long way in helping us achieve this honor.  This is definitely a Post award as there were a lot of individuals who performed their duties diligently throughout the year.  You may see the award on our Award Wall at our website.

Erv Schmidt was the guest of honor at this year’s Memorial Day ceremony at the Edmonds Cemetery.  His story about his WWII experiences were told in the “first person” by a young and very talented student from Edmonds-Woodway high school.  Fred Apgar explained the White Table honoring our MIA and POW brothers and sisters still missing or held to the large crowd attending the ceremony.  Of course, Katarina Nguyen is almost a standard fixture now reading her award winning Voice of Democracy essay.  In addition, a number of us attended Naval Station Everett’s service held on the “real” Memorial day, May 31st.

Here we are in June already. Can you believe it! I’m sure you all are making beautiful plans for how you’ll be spending your summer. Hopefully, you will still be adding attending your auxillary meetings throughout the summer.

June is the transition month. The month between one Auxiliary President ending her term of office and another just starting hers. Why not come and say ” goodbye” to your outgoing President, and say “HI!” to the incoming President?  You might want to come and hear how we did with the Buddy Poppy drive in May too.  God bless you for the support you give to your auxiliary, our veterans and their families. Looking forward to seeing you at the meeting on June 8^th!

While the weather wasn’t exactly balmy for our fund raiser, it beat a cold November day.  Bob Crawford, as always, did a great job in getting the right number of people to the correct locations while Tom Hallums worked as courier.   While we had perhaps the best participation in recent memory, it was a bit disappointing we didn’t have a few more turn out and help us with handing out Buddy Poppies and telling folks what the VFW does and particularly what Post 8870 does to assist veterans, their families, and promote patriotism in our schools and community.  As I say every 6 months following Memorial Day and Veterans Day, those of us who participate get more out of it than you would have the right to expect.  From the “thanks for your service” to hearing about grandfathers, fathers, uncles, wives, mothers, and children serving or having served in virtually every theatre of war is rewarding beyond measure.  We raised just over $10,000 for our Relief Fund and all of it will be put to good use in assisting our fellow veterans, widows, and our community as a whole.

We have a ton of new members.  I know when I first started attending meetings, I had a lot of questions (well, perhaps 3 or 4) but didn’t want to show my ignorance to the crusty old vets in my first Post.  One of my questions was the significance of the White Hat that a few of the members wore.  The answer is that every year Department selects Commanders and Quartermasters that have met certain criteria and gives them a White Hat as an award.  Only a handful are given each year so it is a significant achievement.  However, as far as the Commander goes, it is a Post award as much as an individual award.  Without a lot of people doing their jobs correctly the Commander would never get a White Hat.  The Quartermaster, on the other hand, really earns their hat based on their individual performance.  The Quartermaster is the bookkeeper of the Post and is audited by the Trustees every month.  In addition, there are a variety of reports they must submit throughout the year, and the VFW keeps the QM very busy.  Elizabeth Mather has more White Hats then anyone in our Post for her excellent work and we hope Tom Hallums gets his this year.  Along with different colored covers, there are different colored braids on those covers.  Silver means the wearer holds a National position, Red is for Department officers i.e. Washington state, Green for District Officers, and Gold is for the general membership where the real work of VFW is done.

It is now official, Post 66’s home for the past 80 years has been sold.  It is a sad day for the veterans of Edmonds but deferred maintenance finally caught up with the structure.  The estimated cost of fixing the building far exceeded the resources of the Legion.  In the near future, the Legion will seek a facility that they can rent or lease.  As a great majority of our members are also members of the Legion, we will keep you apprised of the new meeting  location.

On May 1^st, a representative of Post 8870 participated in an awards program that honored cadet members of the Northshore Civil Air Patrol.  The cadet program has over 30 members, and members attend weekly training sessions that are conducted by members of the Civil Air Patrol.  The cadet program is led by Charles Jackson, CAP Commander.

Senior Vice Commander Fred Apgar represented the Post and presented the VFW Cadet NCO Award to Cadet Chief Master Sergeant Aaron Johnson.  Aaron has achieved a GPA of 3.52 during his high school years and serves as the Squadron’s First Sergeant.  Throughout the years in which he has been a Cadet, Aaron has demonstrated a high level of integrity and leadership skills.  His military bearing has served as an inspiration for the younger members of the Squadron.  Aaron has taken an active role in organizing and leading the Squadron’s color guard.  He hopes to attend the Naval Academy next year.

For the first time in the 30 year history of Post 8870 a member has been named as District Commander.

Jim Traner will take over the leadership of the District following the Department Convention in June.  In addition, Les Abel was elected Judge Advocate.  Don Whedon was appointed to be the District’s Service Officer while Fred Apgar will head up the Teacher of the Year committee.  Last year, his selection of the Elementary Teacher of the Year, Debra Howe,  went on to win the National competition.  Bob Crawford will be the District Poppy Chair and Jim Collins, the District Safety-Law and Order Chair.

Muriel Jean Whalley took her Honor Flight during the first weekend in May.  She is the fourth member of Post # 8870 to participate in this nation-wide program, joining Erv Schmidt, Robert Otto, and Harry Miller.  Honor Flight flies veterans of World War II to Washington, D.C. so they can visit the WW II Memorial.  In addition to visiting the Memorial in their honor, Honor Flight participants also visit many other memorials including Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  Post #8870 underwrote a portion of the expenses to fly Muriel and her son, Jack, who served as her Guardian, to our nation’s capitol. Muriel was one of twelve area WW II veterans who participated in the most recent flight.  They left Sea Tac on Friday (May 4) morning and returned Sunday afternoon.  Several members of the local Honor Flight Hub were joined by other veterans and active duty personnel to welcome the group home.

The Edmonds Chamber of Commerce, the VFW, and the American Legion invite you to march in the City of Edmonds Annual Fourth of July Parade honoring service men and women returning from deployments in support of the Global War on Terrorism, such as Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. If you have earned the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal or the Afghanistan Campaign Medal or the Iraq Campaign Medal, we want to honor you for your service by inviting you and your family to participate in patriotic fun and fireworks on the 4^th of July in Edmonds. There will be a special reserved seating area for military families for the evening concert and fireworks show. For more information and details, and to register to participate, contact Master Chief Koenig at [email protected] or by phone at 425-232-6244. You must register before June 15^th to secure a place for your family in the festivities. To register, submit the following information:

Rate/Rank, Name

Branch of service

Unit

When and where you served (include all deployments)

Number of family members who will be attending

Email address and phone number