Patriot’s Pen Winner Reprises Essay
Laura Drewer
At our March post meeting, we were honored to have Laura Drewer reprise her winning 1951 Patriots Pen essay.
In Memoriam
Leo William (Bill) LeFevre of Edmonds, one of our few remaining WWII combat veterans passed away on March 16. He was 93 years of age.
While not a member of our post, Bill was a veteran of WWII, serving in Europe as a BAR man with the 99th Infantry Division. He was wounded at Bastogne, just at the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge, for which action he received the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. He returned to his unit following recovery in England.
Bill was a widower of many years, the father of five and an engineer with Lockheed and later Boeing, working in defense projects. He was a poet, violinist and singer of considerable skill. A kinder man and a better friend you are unlikely to find. Your editor sang with him for many years in the Holy Rosary Church Choir, where he was the longest serving member at 43 years, until the last month of his life.
Speaker Slated for April Post Meeting
Sara Jane Ruggles, a public history graduate student at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, will speak to us about the The Edmonds Museum Oral History Project, which will begin with collecting stories about the wartime memories of Edmonds veterans.
Snohomish County Regional Job & Resource Fair
Wednesday , April 12th
10 – 11 am Veterans Preference
11 am – 2 pm Open to the Public
Armed Forces Reserve Center
13613 40th Ave NE, Marysville, WA 98271
Meet 60+ Employers in these industries and more
- Aerospace
- Law Enforcement
- Public Utilities
- Manufacturing
- Transportation
- Education
50 YEARS LATER
Vietnam Veterans Honored
Veterans of the Vietnam War were honored during a special 50th Anniversary commemoration ceremony held at Tahoma National Cemetery on Saturday, April 1.
Keynote Speaker for the event was Jim Martinson. A Vietnam Veteran himself, Martinson lost both legs above the knee as a result of an action near Da Nang in 1968.
The Department of Veterans Affairs Tahoma National Cemetery will honor the service, sacrifice, and enduring achievements of the Vietnam Veterans at this Vietnam War Commemoration 50th Anniversary event, through a special pinning ceremony. (Image of pin at right)
Those eligible include any living US Veteran who served on active duty in the US Armed Forces between November 1, 1955 to May 15, 1975, regardless of location. The pins were presented by Jim Martinson and Cemetery Director Thomas Yokes.
100 YEARS LATER
World War I Veterans Who Shaped Future Decades (A Century Ago)
World War I (1917-18) produced some of America’s most prestigious leaders from among the 2 million doughboys who served overseas. As we enter the month of April, 2017, 100 years after the U.S. entered the war, here are just a few of the notable combat veterans of that conflict:
Harry S. Truman
33rd President of the United States, Life Member, VFW
Christopher Mathewson
Baseball Player
Walter A. Brennan
Actor
Laurence T. Stallings
Author
Edwin P. Hubble
Scientist
Robert R. McCormick
Publisher
From an article featured in the April 2017 issue of VFW magazine written by Janie Dyhouse, associate editor, VFW magazine. For details of the service of these men and their later contributions, see the article in VFW Magazine, or follow this link to the online version:
https://www.vfw.org/news-and-publications/press-room/archives/ 2017/3/world-war-i-veterans-who-shaped-future-decades
The Chaplain’s Corner
by Dan Doyle
Meet The Man Who Survived The Kamikaze Attacks Below Deck On The USS Bunker Hill. They were the greatest generation, indeed.
Francois Joseph Richer was a regular guy, a teenager from New Bedford, MA when the WWII broke out. Like so many of his peers he entered the Navy to join the cause. He went through boot camp at Newport, RI and was trained to be a Water Tender, producing the steam to drive the huge turbine engines of the ships of that era. After training he was assigned to the aircraft carrier, USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) and he served aboard that mighty ship for his entire enlistment. I had the chance to interview him personally at his home in Carson City, NV recently, and this is his story, and the story of the Bunker Hill, which was hit by two kamikaze fighter while she was supporting the battle for Okinawa.
Read the entire account of Richer’s experience on The Veterans Site.com at: http://blog.theveteranssite.com/frank-richer/
This is the first of what will be an ongoing series from Chaplain Dan Doyle’s Veterans Blog.
From the Bookshelf
by Mike Denton
Men in Green Faces by Gene Wentz
“With just weeks remaining in his 180-day tour of Vietnam, Navy SEAL Gene Michaels hopes he will live to see his pregnant wife again, but he thrives on his dangerous missions. Michaels and his team are “inserted and extracted” literally every day, entering impenetrable jungles and engaging numerically superior forces.” (Publishers Weekly)
Wentz and Jurus are not the best writers I have read, with a penchant to distract us with repeated explanations of terminology. (How many times must the initials “PBR” be explained as Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, which seems to be in endless supply at this SEAL base, and there are numerous other examples)
Never the less, the operations described are in themselves gripping, if repetitive and I found the book well worth reading.
GENE WENTZ served in Vietnam as a SEAL. His many decorations include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, three Presidential Unit Citations, three Navy Unit Citations, and two Vietnamese Crosses of Gallantry. Wentz, says he’s had the story of “Men in Green Faces” bottled up inside him since he returned from his second combat tour in Vietnam in 1971.
Jurus is a writer and a director of the San Diego-based Southern California Writers Conference.
Kirkus Reviews, allowed that Wentz and Jurus “successfully re-create the manic intensity that characterized SEAL operations at their height during the Vietnam War. . . . All war, no politics. Grim but well done.” Wentz makes no apologies for the no-politics approach: “The people serving in Vietnam had nothing to do with politics. They were just following orders, doing a job.” If that kind of thinking makes you uneasy, “Men in Green Faces” probably isn’t for you.
April Meeting
The April Post Meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 11, Supper at 5:00pm, meeting starts at 6pm.
Our speaker will be Sara Jane Ruggles, a public history graduate student at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, who will speak to us about the The Edmonds Museum project, which is to begin with collecting Edmonds veteran’s wartime memories.
Keeping an Eye on the Edmonds Veterans Plaza
Veterans Plaza Report
Many Thanks to Past Commander Jim Traner for this Update:
“I had an interesting conversation with Cal who appears to be the foreman. Great guy and I like the crew. He said he and the rest of the guys were honored to be a part of this project. I’ll keep a photo log on the project. Right now they are putting up the forms for the KIA wall.”
New Post Officers Installed
At the Frebruary post meeting we installed two new officers: Shown at left are Dan Doyle, our new Post Chaplain and Rose Gilliland, who is taking on the Junior Vice Commander position. Officer of the Day Jim Collins looks on as Commander Crabtree (not shown) administers the oath of office.
Congratulations and a big thank you to Dan and Rose for taking on these responsibilities.