MAY 2009
Post Commander, Frank Molina
Auxiliary President, Deirdre Nye
SAL Commander, Kim Scott
ALR President, Michael Smith
Lead Bartender, Jeff Sweet
Bingo Chairman, Barb Klein
Adjutant, Don Aiton
Editor, Karen Goodman
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Meetings
Auxiliary Meeting, May 6, 6:30p
ALR Meeting, May 9, 9a
E-Board Meeting, May 13, 7p
Marine Corps League, May 17, 2p
SAL Meeting, May 20, 6:30p
Memorial Day Services, May 25
Post Meeting, May 27, 7p
Pot Luck, Monday, May 4, 6:30pm - Bring a dish to share. The theme is Mexican.
Shuffleboard Night, every Monday night @ 6:00p, except for Pot Luck night. Entry fee $5.
Pool Night, Every Tuesday @ 6:30p. Happy hour drink prices for all players. The entry fee is $5. Cafe Legionnaire is open and will serve pool night specials.
Karaoke, Every Thursday @5:30p. And it’s Taco Night too!!!
Bingo, Every Friday, Doors Open @5p, Early Birds @6:30p, Regular Games @7p. Enjoy Café Legionnaire’s Friday Fish!
Play SLINGO, Saturday 3-5p, sponsored by the SAL and Sunday 3-5p sponsored by the Ladies Auxiliary.
Café Legionnaire is open Tuesday, 6-8p, Wednesday thru Friday, 11a - 8p, Saturday, 9a – 8p (Breakfast 9 – 11a) and Sunday 2-6p.
Memorial Day Services;
Flag and poppy placement at the cemetery will take place at 6a. A memorial service, wreath laying, 21 gun salute and taps will follow at 8a with breakfast at the Post to follow. A ceremony will take place at the Post at 11a. Poppy and flag removal will take place at 6p.
AUXILIARY PRESIDENT
Dierdre Nye
May, many Mays ago, there were children dancing around maypoles in the streets. That tradition is gone, the Fairy Queen, on Earth shall be seen, no, we do not see Fairy Queens any more. There is one tradition that we have that is ever constant and that is The American Legion Auxiliary’s, "helping Veterans, their families and our community". Our members do this every day. It is a great organization and many new members have joined just to help.
The Spousal Support group meets every Monday at 7:pm. at The Veterans Outpost, 121 S. 4th Street Tombstone. Many wives and girlfriends have a difficult time relating to their husbands on returning from combat. Some of the wives of the Vietnam era are still facing difficulties.
Nancy Sperry, Susan Fox Smith and Deirdre Nye went to Walter J. Meyer School Tuesday the 28th to teach the second and third grade about the meaning of The Pledge of Allegiance. The children watched a movie called "For Which it Stands", they learned how to respect the Flag of The United States. They were given a booklet on how to display and respect the Living Symbol of Our Great Republic. The movie is full of information and history, and they loved it. Then there was George, a great little cartoon character that helped them learn the meaning of The Pledge of Allegiance. They were each given a poppy to wear, they learned why they wear it, who makes them and what happens to the donations. Our Auxiliary also included in their package a ruler with the faces of the Presidents of The United States, a comic book called I Pledge Allegiance and a Flag of The United States. We have been asked to do it again next year. Flag day is June the 14th.
Monday the 4th of May has a Mexican theme. The taco meat will be supplied by the Auxiliary.
Wednesday May the 6th we will be electing Officers and Executive Board Members. The Election Committee has their Slate ready, however it is not too late for those who think that they can make a difference and help us more, to be nominated. We have accomplished much this past year, this coming year lets go for some awards, we will start early, perhaps an award Chairman is in order with a monthly meeting, some thing to think about.
God Bless.
ALR PRESIDENT
Michael Smith
The ALR Post 24 will have our next meeting at 0900 on 9 May. We will go on a ride to Douglas for the Border to Border rally. On 15 May the ALR Post 24 will ride in the relocation of over 50 Cavalry and Infantry Soldiers and dependents, from 1860 to 1884, to the Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery’s new Historical Memorial Section. The time of departure from Post 24 is 0900 15 May 09.
VETERANS AFFAIRS AND REHABILITATION
Susan Schubert
For any veteran who wishes to visit the WWII Memorial:
The Honor Flight Network will pay for a vet's flight to and fromWashington D.C. to visit the WWII memorial. For terminally ill vetsrequiring assistance, a sponsor may be assigned at no cost to the vetto accompany him or her to and from their home to the memorial.
To learn more:http://us.mc1108.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=info@honorflight.org www.honorflight.orgPhone # 937 521 2400 (9 AM - 5 PM EST)Honor Flight, Inc.300 East Auburn Ave.Springfield, Ohio 45505
DISTRICT 3 PRESIDENT
Sencie Patchin
The next District 3 meeting will be May 9th (Saturday) at 11:30AM at Post 52 in Sierra Vista. Please attend as there will be nominations for District 3 Officers and then Elections.
Following the meeting there will be a picnic at the park across the street from Post 52. The Auxiliary members have been asked to bring deserts and other items not needing to be kept hot or cold.
Don’t forget that convention will be in Glendale June 19th thru the 21st. For more information on the convention check with your Unit President or call me at 520-457-3749.
God Bless America.
Marine Corps League
Bill Pakinkis
The Wild West Detachment Marine Corps League meets every 2nd Sunday of the Month, at 2:00 P.M, (Unless otherwise noted).
But, due to Mother's Day on 10 May, (the 2nd Sunday) the regular General Membership Meeting has been re-scheduled for 17 May, at 2:00 P.M.
Membership in the Marine Corps League is open to all Active Duty, Reserve, Retired, Former Marines and FMF Navy Corpsmen who served at least 90 days on Active Duty.
Associate membership is also available. For any additional information you can contact Detachment Commandant, Frank Sutherland at 249-2120, or Past Department
Commandant, Bill Pakinkis at 457-3511.
"ONCE A MARINE, ALWAYS A MARINE"
POST AND UNIT NEWS AND VIEWS
Elections have taken place. Congratulations to the following officers; Commander Frank Molina, First Vice Michael Stout, Second Vice David Weed, Finance Officer Jim Burns and two year term Executive Committee Members Terry Weipricht and Ronald Cole.
A request from Justine Bayne for help with a school trip was approved. The following improvements have been discussed and approved; cleaning of the ramada, new exit signs, new stool in the ladies room, exhaust fan in the club room, repairs to the freezer and drip flashing in the kitchen and signs for the parking lot.
HAPPY MAY BIRTHDAY
Irma Escarcega May 10, Jerre Johnson and Kay Scott May 16, Gary Reroest May 20, Ronald Henry May 23, Ed Johnson May 26, Tom Kern, Jerry Goggins May 28, Mary Field and Jerome Richardson May 30.
A HISTORY OF MEMORIAL DAY
Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women's groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War: a hymn published in 1867, "Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping" by Nella L. Sweet carried the dedication "To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead" (Source: Duke University's Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920). While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it's difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860's tapped into the general human need to honor our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen Logan giving his official proclamation in 1868. It is not important who was the very first, what is important is that Memorial Day was established. Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.
Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 - 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis' birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.
In 1915, inspired by the poem "In Flanders Fields," Moina Michael replied with her own poem:
We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.
She then conceived of an idea to wear red poppies on Memorial day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. She was the first to wear one, and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers with the money going to benefit servicemen in need. Later a Madam Guerin from France was visiting the United States and learned of this new custom started by Ms. Michael and when she returned to France, made artificial red poppies to raise money for war orphaned children and widowed women. This tradition spread to other countries. In 1921, the Franco-American Children's League sold poppies nationally to benefit war orphans of France and Belgium. The League disbanded a year later and Madam Guerin approached the VFW for help. Shortly before Memorial Day in 1922 the VFW became the first veterans' organization to nationally sell poppies. Two years later their "Buddy" Poppy program was selling artificial poppies made by disabled veterans. In 1948 the US Post Office honored Ms Michael for her role in founding the National Poppy movement by issuing a red 3 cent postage stamp with her likeness on it.
Traditional observance of Memorial Day has diminished over the years. Many Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored, neglected. Most people no longer remember the proper flag etiquette for the day. While there are towns and cities that still hold Memorial Day parades, many have not held a parade in decades. Some people think the day is for honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country.
There are a few notable exceptions. Since the late 50's on the Thursday before Memorial Day, the 1,200 soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing. In 1951, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of St. Louis began placing flags on the 150,000 graves at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery as an annual Good Turn, a practice that continues to this day. More recently, beginning in 1998, on the Saturday before the observed day for Memorial Day, the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts place a candle at each of approximately 15,300 grave sites of soldiers buried at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park on Marye's Heights (the Luminaria Program). And in 2004, Washington D.C. held its first Memorial Day parade in over 60 years.
To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans "To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to 'Taps."
The Moment of Remembrance is a step in the right direction to returning the meaning back to the day. What is needed is a full return to the original day of observance. Set aside one day out of the year for the nation to get together to remember, reflect and honor those who have given their all in service to their country.
But what may be needed to return the solemn, and even sacred, spirit back to Memorial Day is for a return to its traditional day of observance. Many feel that when Congress made the day into a three-day weekend in with the National Holiday Act of 1971, it made it all the easier for people to be distracted from the spirit and meaning of the day. As the VFW stated in its 2002 Memorial Day address: "Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed greatly to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day."
On January 19, 1999 Senator Inouye introduced bill S 189 to the Senate which proposes to restore the traditional day of observance of Memorial Day back to May 30th instead of "the last Monday in May". On April 19, 1999 Representative Gibbons introduced the bill to the House (H.R. 1474). The bills were referred the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Government Reform.
In Flanders Fields
John McCrae, 1915.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
http://www.usmemorialday.org/
FROM THE EDITOR
Karen Goodman
If you would like to have a copy of the newsletter emailed to you, send your email address to karengoodman66@msn.com or leave the information at the Post. The same can be said for information, articles or commentary you wish to publish. Deadline for the Newsletter will be May 28. Please follow the Post News and photos on our blog at http://post24az.blogspot.com/
Reports received from Post and Unit Officers after the Newsletter deadline will be published in the blog only.
http://www.usmemorialday.org/
FROM THE EDITOR
Karen Goodman
If you would like to have a copy of the newsletter emailed to you, send your email address to karengoodman66@msn.com or leave the information at the Post. The same can be said for information, articles or commentary you wish to publish. Deadline for the Newsletter will be May 28. Please follow the Post News and photos on our blog at http://post24az.blogspot.com/
Reports received from Post and Unit Officers after the Newsletter deadline will be published in the blog only.
