Newsletter Articles

Post member Mike Reagan was the Grand Marshall at the July 29th parade in Mountlake Terrace and 8870 members Jim Adams and Jim Harkness were majored participants. Jim Adams carried our Post‘s flag in the parade while Jim Harkness determined the parade route was too steep and long so he rode in the front seat of Reagan‘s car and waved to the folks along the route. I haven‘t received any reports that the two were confused with each other but Jim enjoyed the ride. This was a bit of a last minute organization and Jim Adams stepped up to carry the parade, bum knee and all. So a special tip of the hat to Jim Adams.

Military Appreciation Days are September 12th and the 19th at the Puyallup Fair. All active, reserve and retired military and National Guard and their dependents, plus disabled veterans are admitted free on those two days. And to top it off, you will get 50% off all of the midway rides including the Roller Coaster. Let me know if anyone actually rides the Roller Coaster and I will do an article on you.

The Scouts (Cub and Boy) had a flag retirement ceremony at the Nile Country Club and VFW Posts 8870, 1040, and American Legion Posts 66 with two other Posts had a picnic for the Scouts. Unfortunately, most of the Scouts were on an outing so members of 8870 and 66 outnumbered everyone else. However, the food was good, the weather was nice, and we all had a good time. Trustee Les Abel is going to approach the new Fire Marshall in Edmonds and seek permission to have the flag retirement ceremony conducted in Edmonds were it was held for a number of years before the previous Fire Marshall decided, for unknown reasons, to ban the burning of flags in the City park.

Since a large number of our Post are also members of the American Legion in Edmonds, I thought I would pass along the latest news regarding that Post‘s home. As many of you know, the building is badly in need of repair. The roof needs replacing as does the siding. The floors have been damaged due to roof leaks. Therefore, at the August meeting of Post 66, a resolution was passed to sell their building. We wish Post 66 the best and, hopefully, they will find a buyer and a new building quickly. If you know of anyone that is interested in purchasing the real estate, let Ron Clyborne (452-771-1303), their listing agent, know.

There are 1,741 American personnel listed by the Defense Department’s POW/MIA Office as missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War, as of April 2009. The number of United States personnel accounted for since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 is 841. About 90 percent of the 1,741 people still missing were lost in Vietnam or areas of Laos and Cambodia under Vietnam’s wartime control, according to the National League of Families website (cited in the United States Army website).

The United States Congress passed a resolution authorizing National POW/MIA Recognition Day to be observed on July 18, 1979. It was observed on the same date in 1980 and was held on July 17 in 1981 and 1982. It was then observed on April 9 in 1983 and July 20 in 1984. The event was observed on July 19 in 1985, and then from 1986 onwards the date moved to the third Friday of September. The United States president each year proclaims National POW/MIA Recognition Day. Washington state also proclaimed POW/MIA Recognition Day on the third Friday in September.

On Saturday, August 20th, 10 members of the Post (excluding Mike) and a number of spouses attended a presentation by Mike at the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field. Thanks to Phil Sacks, the Museum of Flight waived the entrance fee for VFW members. It was a great presentation since there was enough time to see several video clips that various news organizations had done about the Fallen Heroes Project including national broadcasts by NBC and ABC, At the conclusion of the presentation, Mike presented a portrait to the family of Bill Holloman, a Tuskeegee Airman who had passed away. Two Tuskeegee fliers were present in the audience for the presentation.

We will be handing out special 9/11 Poppies at the Auto Show in Edmonds on 9/11.  If you can help, please let the Quartermaster know.

HM2 Charles L. Milam, Navy, 5/14/81-9/25/07 from Lake Forest Park;  Cpl. Steven Rintamaki, USMC, 6/17/83-9/16/04 from Lynnwood;  1st Lt. Nicholas A. Madrazo, USMC, 11/14/82-9/9/08 from Bothell.  Carrying the banner from our Post are Jeffrey Carlock (in the dress whites) and next to him is John Harrison.   Brian Seguin from Post 1040 is on the right.

Timm, on the right, and Bob Woodruff in the center spoke on TBI (traumatic brain injury) during a symposium on veteran issues during a recent Town Hall Meeting in Seattle.  Both Bob and Timm suffered TBI in Iraq, Bob as a reporter and Timm while serving as a sergeant with the Army.   It was an interesting evening.  Bob Woodruff spoke of his career and the devastating injury to his brain and the long road to recovery.   The panel of experts then discussed veterans issues such as transition back to civilian life, homelessness, suicides among veterans, and many other issues that plague the veteran community.  While only two of us from 8870 were able to attend due to the short notice, we made sure that Timm knew we were there to support him.  Its great to see our younger vets like Timm, have a positive influence on veteran’s issues.  By the way, Timm graduated from Seattle University the day before this event took place and is now enrolling in the Masters program at SU.  He works as a Vet Corp representative in the Washington State Veterans Affairs and travels to the colleges in Washington discussing TBI and how the student veteran can cope and the support services the colleges can provide.

The picture above was taken in a private reception for Bob preceding the panel discussion.  I more or less (mostly more), invited myself to the affair after walking through a monsoon and looking like a wet dog.  However, Bob Woodruff was a gracious guy when Timm asked if the two of us could have our photo taken with him.  It ended up the reception was more or less a Who’s Who of veterans issues and it was great spending some time chatting with the folks there, even if I didn’t have an official nametag.

When Martin Spani, Post 1040’s Commander and I attended the Convention in Yakima, the meeting hall, hallways, and dining room were draped with the pictures of our young KIA’s from this state.  It was a sober reminder why we need to be here for the next generation of veterans.  Martin borrowed five of the banners shown following the convention.  These young men were all from this area.  The project is the creation of a Gold Star mother from Spokane who has created a banner for each KIA from the state of Washington and we were honored to carry them and show the crowd the face of sacrifice—not just some name published in the newspaper.  I wasn’t sure of the impact these had until a fellow in my office building popped into my office and told me his wife who attended the parade, was brought to tears when she saw these banners.

We had a great turnout for the parade and even a bigger turnout for the BBQ at the  Legion Hall afterwards.  Of course, there were a few faces in there eating our food we didn’t recognize, but what the heck, it was a great BBQ thanks to Tom Hallums of our Post who put the entire event together by himself.  He is now permanently in charge of it.