If you are a friend or family member of a Veteran looking for ways to lend your support to Veterans and your community, then the VFW Auxiliary is the place for you. VFW
Post 8870 meets the second Thursday of each month at Edmonds Senior Center at noon. No host lunch.
For further information contact Ruth Herren at 425-337-1559
by Dan Doyle
The 100th anniversary of one of the most storied battles of the long Marine Corps history will be remembered this year: the Battle of Belleau Wood in WWI.
Late in the war, the Germans, knowing that the Americans were entering the war in numbers, undertook a desperate, last ditch effort to defeat the Allies before the Americans could bring sufficient forces into the war on the side of the Allies. But, as usual, the Marines were already there. The German offensive was launched in a place called Belleau Wood, near the Marne River in France, near Paris. It was in the spring of 1918 and the Germans would bring everything they could to the offensive. They would be countered by the 1st Bn, 5th Marines, among other allied troops.
One of the most famous Marine Corps quotes comes from a Marine 1st Sgt. by the name of Dan Daly who shouted to his Marines in their attack on the German lines, “Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?”
As battered as they were, those Marines never fell back, never gave up, and fought with such wild abandon that the Germans began calling them “TeufelHunden,” or Devil Dogs. That name has become an unofficial moniker for all Marines.
On June 26, 1918 Marine Maj., Maurice Shearer sent a message: “Woods now entirely U.S. Marine Corps.” The battle had lasted 3 weeks and by the end the Marines had suffered more casualties in that battle than in all of its history to that point.
Like the Spartans at Thermopylae, this small force of Marines had held back and stopped a superior force. Because of this, all Marines who serve in the 1st Bn, 5th Marines (and a unit of the 6th Marines) can wear the French Fourragere insignia on the left shoulder of their uniform. They are the only Marine units allowed to wear this device. These units also were awarded the French Croix de Guerre with two palms and one gilt star for their actions at Belleau Wood.
We will drape our charter at the February Post meeting in honor of the passing of two of our Life Members. Rest in peace Comrades.
Post 8870 member Joseph Kuchinski passed away on December 31, 2017. Joseph was born in Moosic, PA August 13, 1929 to Henry Sr. and Cecelia Kuchinski. He was preceded in death by his parents and brothers, Henry Jr. and Vincent Kuchinski. “Ski, as he was he was affectionately known, enlisted in the Navy in 1948. He defended our freedom with honor and pride for 30 years in which he served in both the Korean and Vietnam wars. He was a proud member of the Knights of Columbus and VFW post 8870. A devoted member of Holy Rosary Church in Edmonds. Ski is survived by wife, Wanda, of 57 years; sister, Dorothy; daughters, Angela Kuchinski, Trina Myers, Lisa Beavin (Ron) and son, David Kuchinski; grandchildren, Bryce, Mckenzie, Breeahna, Lereana, Ryan, Kyle, Jamie and three great grand children. Services were held at Tahoma National Cemetery, January 26, 2018.
Richard Clyde , World War II Veteran and Life Member of VFW Post 8870 died January 24, 2018 at age 92 in his home town of Langley, on Whidbey Island.
The Clyde name is ubiquitous in Langley. There’s Clyde Alley and Clyde Road. The famous Clyde Theatre, built in 1937, still shows movies. Clyde Motors was once adjacent to the theater at the corner of First and Anthes.
Richard grew up in Langley during the Great Depression. He worked at the family garage in high school and frequently ran the projector at the theater. Richard went back to work in his father’s garage after he returned from World War II. He eventually bought the business in 1954.
The Silver Bells Carolers brought a mood of heightened festivity.
To the caroler’s left is a beautiful hand-made quilt donated by Dorothy Harkness, which was bought at auction by Buck Weaver.
Ron Clyborne displays raffle winnings.
Dinner which included turkey, ham and all the trimmings was enjoyed by a nearly full house.
Many thanks to Paul Bustard for providing turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy.
Raffle items donated by the post leadership brought over $ 1,000 for the general fund. Members also donated food for the Edmonds Food Bank and new toys for disadvantaged children, long-standing traditions for this event.
VFW District 16 Commander Donn Dale passed way on the evening of Dec. 18, 2017
Services were held on January 6, 2018 at 11:00 a.m. at the Toutle Christian Church, 5067 Spirit Lake Hwy, Toutle, WA 98649. Condolences may be addressed to Doreen Dale at the family home: 323 Cornell Rd Toutle, WA 98649.
The family requests donations to The Puget Sound Honor Flight, Northwest Battle Buddies or VFW.
Harley Crain. Just prior to going to press, we learned of his death last summer. We had sent birthday greetings to Harley to which his wife responded to inform us of his passing in August, 2017. Harley was a Life Member of Post 8870 and resided in Edmonds.
We will drape our charter in honor of our departed comrades at the January meeting.
The rifle team from VFW Post 1040 in Lynnwood marches into the Wreaths Across America ceremony at Evergreen Washelli on Saturday Dec.16. It’s the eighth annual ceremony held here. (Photo: Alan Berner/The Seattle Times)
At more than 1,200 locations across America, including Seattle-area cemeteries, more than half a million wreaths were placed. VFW Post 8870 donated funds toward the purchase of wreaths for the Evergreen Washelli ceremony.
by Mike Denton
P.T. Deutermann’s novel Sentinels of Fire tells the tale of a lone destroyer, part of the Allied invasion forces attacking the island of Okinawa and the Japanese home islands.
By the spring of 1945, the once mighty Japanese fleet has been virtually destroyed, leaving Japan open to invasion. The Japanese react by dispatching hundreds of suicide bombers against the Allied fleet surrounding Okinawa. By mid-May, the Allied fleet is losing a major ship a day to murderous swarms of kamikazes streaming out of Formosa and southern Japan. The radar picket line is the first defense and early warning against these hellish formations, but the Japanese direct special attention to these lone destroyers stationed north and west of Okinawa.
Author’s Note:
“My father was a division commander (Commodore) of destroyers at Okinawa in 1945. I wish I could say that he told me all about it; he did not. He wouldn’t speak of it. It was simply that bad.
Navy KIA exceeded those of the ground troops in the campaign. Considering the meat-grinder nature of the Okinawa land battle, with hundreds of thousand engaged, that is truly significant. Navy losses were driven by the ferocious Japanese kamikaze assault. I’ve long believed that the Okinawa campaign played a significant part in the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan. The Japanese knew they could not hold Okinawa, but were determined to make the Americans bleed for it and perhaps think twice about invading the home islands. I think they succeeded in that.”
P.T. Deutermann spent twenty-six years in military and government service, including command of the guided missile destroyer USS Tattnall for a three-year tour of duty, which included combat operations off Lebanon.
On Dec. 14, VA sent veterans an email promising they would receive claim decisions in 30 days by working with organizations like the VFW through the Decision Ready Claims (DRC) process. To set the record straight, VFW National Veterans Service Director Ryan Gallucci put together a video explaining why the 30- day promise is misleading, and what the DRC process really means for veterans seeking to access their earned benefits. Gallucci also joined CBS Radio’s Connecting Vets on Friday morning to spread the word on how this program really works and why veterans need to have a candid conversation with their accredited VFW Service Officer about whether or not DRC is right for them. Watch the video.
Voice of Democracy WINNER Olivia Olson; RUNNER-UP Lara Wahid Olivia is once again also the District 1 winner and will represent Post 8870 and District 1 at the Department competition in Spokane later this month.
Patriot’s Pen WINNER Mohuwa Wahid (No Patriot’s Pen runner-up)
Youth Essay 5th grade WINNER Cole Harris; RUNNER-UP Nikolas Lopez
Youth Essay 4th grade WINNER Sara Ambachew; RUNNER-UP Brianna Reyes
We are very proud of all of the young people who entered and will feature photos and further details in the February newsletter.
by Dan Doyle
Painting depicting the Tarawa landings
This is one of those stories that are weighted down with melancholy. It has equal parts of sadness, joy, and closure in it. It began 72 years ago on the sandy beaches of the small South Pacific atoll of Tarawa. Over a period of only three days (November 20-23, 1943) the battle for that tiny atoll would become one of the bloodiest battles of WWII.
The small atoll of Tarawa had a garrison of 4,500 Japanese soldiers. They had dug in and heavily fortified the island against such an attack and would put up a fierce defense of it when the Marines began to land. 18,000 Marines and Navy Corpsmen were sent ashore to take the island on November 20th. As with so many military endeavors, things happened that were not prepared for.
It was low tide when the Navy landing craft approached the beach and, they became grounded on the reefs off shore. The Japanese raked them with heavy machine-gun fire. (My uncle was a Navy driver on one of those landing craft.) The Marines waded ashore through hundreds of yards of chest deep waters and withering machine-gun fire, to be met on the beach with brutal hand-to-hand combat.
In the course of those three days, 990 Marines and 30 Navy Corpsman and LCI drivers were killed in action, but the Marines were able to take the island. 520 were listed as MIA. A private group called History Flight, based out of Marathon, Florida, has used ground penetrating radar to find the remains of some 139 missing Marines. On July 26, 2015, History Flight brought 36 of them on the first leg of their return home to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu, Hawaii.
The identification process continues under the auspices of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. When the identifications are completed, the Marine Corps will return the remains to their families. A military ceremony was held there to mark their return on Sunday, July 28th, 2015.
REST IN PEACE. YOU ARE FINALLY HOME.
The following table of statistics from VFW Natonal illustrates how the nearly 2 million members of VFW make a difference. There is much of which VFW members may be proud.
Your editor did a little arithmetic with these stats and the results gives Post 8870 good reason to be particularly proud of itself.
Dividng the $12 million dollars raised through the “Buddy Poppy” program nationally by the total number of Posts (6,380) results in an average of $ 1,880 per post for the year. You and I, Comrades, raised well over $ 25,000 in 2017, or thirteen times the national average!
Well Done!
