Archive for March, 2008

April 2008 Scuttlebutt

Tuesday, March 18th, 2008

Dear Fellow Comrades,

First off, Betty and I had a very long but enjoyable trip to Washington DC on 02-07 March to attend the VFW yearly Community Service and Legislative Conference. There were over 1200 other VFW members from around the United States attending this conference.

The first day during the morning, I was attending a general session with opening remarks by National Commander George Lisicki, followed by guest speakers VA Secretary James Peake, Army Surgeon General Eric Schoomaker and Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England. During this session Representative Chet Edwards (D-TX) was presented the VFW Congressional Award for his support to veterans and military.  CBS News Bob Schieffer was presented the VFW News Media Award. The afternoon was committee meetings and also the briefing on National Security and Military Affairs. The guest speaker was Rear Admiral Mark Buzby Commander, Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

On Tuesday, it was to Capitol Hill. We attended the Joint House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing as National Commanders Lisicki presented the legislative goals of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. After the testimony, we broke up into 4 smaller groups to visit our various legislators. My group visited, Senator Kohl, Representative Ron Kind and Steve Kagen offices during the afternoon. Tuesday evening we attended the banquet, which was also attended by VOD Winners from each state, the National Patriots Pen Winner and the three Winners of Teacher of the Year.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Betty and I visited the new World War II, Korean, Vietnam, Lincoln and Navy Memorials and the Air & Space Museum. We also found some time to visit with several of our old military friends who reside in the DC area. We departed on Friday, drove thru the Blizzard that hit Ohio on Saturday and made it back to Rice Lake on Sunday the 9 of March. And yes, we did get to stop in Chicago and visit our kids and grandkids.

Now back to Rice Lake business. The 9th District Spring Conference will be held in Rice Lake on the 19th of April. We will need all members who can assist to be at this Conference. We will be working on the details at our March meeting and will finalize them at our April meeting.

At our last meeting, we held nomination of officers. We will be holding elections during the April meeting. We also decided to hold the annual Poppy Drive on 10 May.

    **** If you know of any member who is sick or could use some sunshine, please contact Ted Kuchera at 434-3123.

Upcoming Event:

    15 April  - Monthly Meeting (Election of Officers)
    19 April  -  9th District Spring Conference (Rice Lake)
    10 May  - Poppy Drive
    20 May  - Monthly Meeting

Yours in Comradeship,

John L. Fredrickson

9th District Commander

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April 2008 Scuttlebutt

Monday, March 10th, 2008

Hi Comrades,

Guess it must have been caused by daylight savings time change or something. Anyway, for some reason I arrived late for the meeting and was greeted with a seated ovation by all members already present. Thanks to our Adjutant, the meeting had already started.

Our first meeting of the year was on March 10th and we had the largest attendance of members that I can ever remember. We had 17 members attending the meeting. Thanks to all the members who attended. It was also great to see several of our newest members attend the meeting.

Our membership for the year is great. We are now over our 105% membership for the year and we have a couple more veterans who are still planning on joining our great chapter. We also have three members who are transferring into our chapter. Welcome Aboard to all our new members. Hope you can make it to meetings this spring.

We had a great meeting and discussed several up coming events. The first item we discussed was the upcoming 4th District Meeting. The meeting is being held on 26 April in Chippewa Falls. We will need to know at our next meeting who is planning on attending this meeting. It is a great opportunity to meet other DAV members from outside our chapter. We also discussed when we should have our annual Forget-Me-Not Drive. Since the Marines are not holding their annual SOS Breakfast this year, we decided to hold the drive on 03 May 08. We will need as many members as possible to assist with this year’s fundraiser. We will be discussing the details more at our next meeting.

At our April meeting, we will be holding nominations of officers for the upcoming year. If you are interested in holding an offices please attend our next meeting. We will then hold our election of officers at the May meeting.

There is nothing new to report this month regarding the CVSO. There was a meeting held regarding possible relocation of the office but I have not yet heard the results. Hopefully by our April meeting we will know more information about a possible relocation.

Remember all our men and women serving all over the world to keep us safe. Say a big prayer for each and every one of them. May they all come home safe. God bless each and every one of you.

Upcoming Events:

  • 14 April 08 - Monthly Meeting
  • 26 April 08 - DAV 4th District Spring Conference (Chippewa Falls)
  • 03 May 08 - Forget-Me-Not Fundraiser
  • 12 May 08 - Monthly Meeting
  • 12-14 Jun 08 - DAV State Convention (Appleton)

God Bless, Love Ya

Yours in Comradeship,

Ben (Walking Eagle) Anderson

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