May 2008
NEWSLETTER
PLACE: THE
SIZZLER, 1401 N. HARBOR BLVD.
May’s
speaker will be William R. Mimiaga,
Major, USMC, (Ret). After
retirement, he became a Special Education teacher in Long Beach.
In 2006, he was chosen the California Troops to Teachers Middle School
Teacher of the Year. We will also
elect our 2009 officers.
May is our
month for volunteering. We have a
busy schedule and can use your help on one or several occasions.
Please help at least one of our events.
It would be nice to see some new faces at these
events.
No prior experience is necessary for any of them.
1. May 3 and
4. Railroad Days. 9:00a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Once again we are
having an information and recruiting booth at Railroad Days,
Saturday and Sunday. We
need volunteers for an hour or two on either day.
No heavy lifting required.
Chairs provided. If you can help, please call
Marilyn Harris at (714) 879-5812 or Dick Wakefield at (714) 871-4743.
It is very easy duty and you will enjoy the exhibits at Railroad Days.
It is located at Fullerton
Transportation Center where you get the Amtrak or Metrolink. We always have
fun and usually pick up a few new members.
2. May 6, City Council
Meeting. 6:30 p.m.
A Fullerton man. Lance Cpl. Moses
Cardenas, USMC of the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion,
Camp Pendleton, was awarded a Silver Star for heroism in Iraq.
The City Council will recognize him.
We would appreciate as many Post Members as possible to show up for his
recognition. Wear your caps.
This will occur soon after 6:30 and you can leave after the presentation.
3. Memorial
Day Ceremonies. We need volunteers to help
with program on the following days at
Loma Vista Memorial Park located at 701 E. Bastanchury Rd. You can come for
one day or all three. Many bring
kids and grandkids to help them understand the importance of Memorial Day.
If you can help on any of these days, contact Ed Paul at (714) 871-2412.
Saturday, 5/24 – 7:00 AM
Help organize the 400 volunteers who will come to place the flags
and
crosses but need instructions on how to do it.
Easy jobs sitting down available with
no heavy lifting required.
Refreshments provided by CVS/pharmacy.
Monday,
5/26-10:00 AM
Attend the ceremony, honoring the U. S.
Coast Guard
Tuesday, 5/27–
7:30 AM
Pick up the
flags and crosses and return to storage.
Chaplain’s
Message to the Members: “There are many virtuous
and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all! Charm is deceptive and
beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.
Reward her for all she has done.
Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.” (Proverbs 31:29-31 NLT)
(Don’t forget Mothers Day!)
If we can be of service to you, please give us a call.
Jim Howland and Hal Dixon
Commander’s
Corner:
The Post election is coming up soon.
If you would like to hold a position in the Post, please call Ed Paul.
He is acting as the election committee.
By the time you receive this, our booth at Railroad Days will be upon us
(May 3/4). Call me if you haven’t
signed up to work and want to. I’ll
pen you into a time slot. Following
R/R Days are the school awards programs and Memorial Day weekend activities
(Monday ceremony). I encourage you
to find a place to participate. In
mid-May, our
three Youth Environmental
Leadership Conference students (one from each of the Fullerton schools) will
head off to the north for a power-packed educational weekend.
Following the end of the school year our
six high school juniors will head off to Boys and Girls State.
Thank you again to the Commander’s
Club for making it possible to do so much for the community and the young
people of Fullerton. A big “thank
you” our 1st Vice Commander
George Miller, who continues to give us entertaining and informative
speakers every month.
This month we transferred
Russell Ball and Paul Gunder
to Post Everlasting. “Army Seeking DNA:
The Army is hoping to collect DNA samples from more
than 6,300 families to identify missing soldiers from World War II, Korea and
Vietnam, according to the American Forces Press Service.
Mitochondrial DNA is passed through the maternal line, so the Army must
locate eligible donors from the mother’s side of the missing soldiers’ families.
The samples are collected through an oral swab kit that is mailed to the
donor. The Army has a record of
missing soldiers’ next of kin from personnel files, but the lapsed time has made
it difficult to track down current information on family members.
Interested families of missing soldiers, or anyone who knows of a family
with a missing soldier, should contact the Past Conflict Repatriation Branch by
calling 1-800-892-2490 or sending an e-mail to
tapscper@conus.army.mil.” (Army
Times, March 31, 2008)
Please jot this
number down in case someone you know needs it. 800-342-9647 or
www.militaryonesource.com.
It is the number that all active service members can call
24/7 for help of all kinds. Their
slogan is “You name it. We can
help.”
Upcoming
Events: The officer’s meeting is
always the Wednesday prior to the Post meeting and the Post meetings are always
on the second Tuesday. The next few
monthly meetings are: June 10th
July 8th and August 12th.
Please mark your calendars.
Hospital/Rehabilitation Program.
Please continue to bring things to the meetings or call me (Marilyn) or
Mike/Pat Hyland (996-8743) to
coordinate a home pick up. For more
information about this unique project sponsored by Cloudbreak Development, UC &
United States Veterans Initiative, Inc. (a 501(c)(3) organization), call (562)
499-6717 or visit their web site at www.usvetsinc.org.
To request your DD-214, go to the National Archives
and Records Administration at
http://www.archives.gov/veterans/evetrecs/.
Follow the instructions. You
can also get assistance from the Veteran
Service Office.
(714) 567-7450
Important
Dates:
May 1, May Day/Law Day/Loyalty Day/National Day of
Prayer; May 3/4 Railroad Days
(Railroad Plaza 9-5); May 7, Officer’s Meeting at Marilyn’s 7pm;
May 9, Military Spouses Day; May 11, Mother’s Day (Fly Flag);
May 13, Post Meeting;; May 15,
Peace Officers Memorial Day (fly your flag half-staff until sunset); May 17,
Armed Forces Day (Fly your flag); May 19, Victoria Day (Canada); May 22,
National Maritime Day; May 26,
Memorial Day (Observed), Program at Loma Vista, 10am; May 30, Memorial
Day.
Memory Lane
Dates:
April 25, Spanish-American War Began (1898);
April 29, German Unconditional
Surrender to Italian Allies (1945), US Forces Evacuated Vietnam/Operation
Frequent Wind (1975); April 30,
Hitler Commits Suicide (1945).
May 1, Cambodia Campaign Began (1970), Operation Northern Watch Ended
(2003); May 2, Women’s Overseas
Service League Established (1921), Berlin Falls to Red Army, Germany Surrenders
in Italy (1945), Axis Forces/Germans Surrender in Italy (1945);
May 4, Battle of Coral Sea Began
(1942), Operation Restore Hope Ended (Somalia) (1993);
May 5, Fall of Corregidor (1942), SS
Black Point, Last Merchant Ship Sunk by U-Boat (1945), Occupation of Germany
ends (1955), Mini-Tet Began (1968); May 6,
Battle of Chancellorsville ends (1863), Corregidor Falls, Germans Surrender in
the West (7th also listed) (1942);
May 7, Battle of the Coral Sea (1942), Unconditional Surrender of
all German Forces Signed (Berlin) (1945);
May 8, Battle of Spotsylvania begins (1864), Battle of Coral Sea Ended
(1942), V-E Day, German Unconditional Surrender Signed (Berlin) (1945), US Navy
Mined North Vietnamese Ports (1972); May
10, American Forces capture Fort Ticonderoga (1775), Germans Begin All Out
Offensive in the West (1940), Last US Forces surrender in the Philippines
(1942), Battle of Hamburger Hill (1969), Operation Linebacker (1972);
May 11, Fourth Battle of Monte
Cassino and Rome Offensive Began (1944), Battle of Dong Ap Bia (Hamburger Hill)
begins (1969); May 12, Charleston, SC
falls to British (1780); May 13, US
Navy Nurse Corps Established (1908), Axis Forces Capitulate in North Africa
(1943); May 14, Army Ordnance Corps
established (1812), Operation Junction City ends (1967);
May 15, Valley Campaign begins (1862), Dutch Army Surrenders (1940),
Women’s Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) Established (1942), The Mayaguez Incident (1975);
May 20, 20 -
Battle of Dong Ap Bia (Hamburger Hill) ends (1969);
May 21, Battle of Spotsylvania ends
(1864), American Red Cross Founded by Clara Barton (1881);
May 22, Battle of Cold Harbor begins
(1864); May 24, Allies break out of
Anzio beachhead (1944); May 27, The
Army Historical Foundation is founded (1983), Air Force Opened All Aircraft to
Women (1993); May 28, Battle of
Cantigny (1918), Belgium Army Surrenders (1940);
May 30, Memorial Day (First Designated in 1868).
Notes from March
Meeting.
Guest speaker was Frank Micadeit, Feature Reporter for the Orange County Register.
Frank writes a daily column that appears in the Local Section.
He writes what he believes is interesting and happening in Orange County.
He covers politics, the Courts, arts and personalities.
His interest in newspapers began when he grew up in Lompoc where it was
one of the few places in the State where the daily papers were delivered from
both San Francisco and Los Angeles.
He discussed his column that would appear the next day.
It concerned another OCR reporter and friend, Ahn Do.
She has had to cope with protesters who objected to her newspaper showing
a picture with the old Vietnamese flag on a footspa. She apologized, fired two
editors and offered to buy back any of the issues but the protesting continued.
She applied to the Court for an injunction, which was granted.
However, the protesters said they would not stop.
Frank’s goal is to make you feel like you are in OC when you read his
column
Minutes for the March meeting and financial report were reviewed and approved as
presented. Chaplain Jim Howland.
He indicated we stay in touch with 30 widows on with our newsletter.
Adjutant Paul
announced this was the second
announcement of nomination of officers for 2008-2009.
We will have a third announcement and election in May, and installation
in June. Positions available are
Commander, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Vice
Commanders, Finance Officer, Chaplain, Sgt. at Arms and 3 Executive Board. Please
contact Ed Paul at (714) 871-2412.
For a complete list, see the left margin of page 1 of the Newsletter. No
prior experience necessary.
Member Blake Smith was
introduced as the winner of $2,000 as part of this year’s Rehabilitation Drive
by the Department of California.