JULY - AUGUST 2008 NEWSLETTER
| VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA, INC. P.O. BOX 6608 TEXARKANA, TX 75505-6608 www.vva278.org
OFFICERS JOIN VVA and AVVA |
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| VVA # 278's NEXT MEETING |
| VVA # 278's next meeting will be Sunday, May 18, 2008 at the American Legion Post at 525 East Broad Street.
The meal will begin at 1:30 pm and will consist of: potluck, soft drinks and coffee.. We ask all members to bring a covered dish and/or dessert to share. The business session will begin immediately after the meal is finished. Topics to be discussed will include: Veterans' issues updates; Committee reports: Replacemnt DAV van (local); Fundraising ideas; Upcoming events (Fairs, Festivals, POW/MIA Vigil, etc). Remember: Sunday, July 20 at 1:30 pm at the American Legion Post at 525 East Broad Street. We hope to see you there! |
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| VVA # 278's AUGUST MEETING |
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VVA # 278's June meeting will be held on Sunday, June 15, 2008 at the American Legion Post at 525 East Broad Street. The meal will start at 1:30 pm and will consist of: potluck, soft drinks and coffee. We ask members to bring a covered dish and/or dessert to share. The business session will start immediately after the meal. Topics to be discussed will include: Veteran's issues updates; Committee reports; Upcoming events; etc., etc. Sunday, August 17 at 1:30 pm at the American legion Post at 525 East Broad Street. We hope to see you there! Remember, VVA # 278 won't have a meeting in September due to all the set-ups and all. See you October 19. |
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| VVA # 278's LAST MEETINGS |
| At our May meeting we approved a $200 donation to the St. Jude's Hospital. We also discussed using a black vest for offical chapter functions, ie, funerals, services, etc.. We also discussed assisting the "Snowball Express," see article elswhere in this newsletter. |
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| VVA #278 MEMBERSHIP |
| As of June 30, 2008 VVA # 278 has 139 members: 45 IND (annual or 3-yr), 62 LMT (Life Members paid), 2 IVI (Incarcerated), 10 ALP (Life Associates, paid) and 20 ASC (Associates, annual or 3-yr). Since our last newsletter we have one new member: Richard Raney. He transferred from a chapter in California where he served two terms as chapter president. We would like to welcome this member into the VVA # 278 family! WELCOME ABOARD & WELCOME HOME!!
We ask all members of VVA to check their membership cards. Look at the expiration date. Keep your membership current. If you are a Life Member, make sure your card states that. If there is any problems let us know and with documentation we can take care of it. Sadly, we lost one member, Charlie M. Jones passed away Friday, June 6. We offer our sincere condolences to Charlie's family and friends. He will be missed! Join VVA & AVVA. |
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| VVA TEXAS STATE COUNCIL MEETING (TSC) |
| At the last Texas State Council meeting an election was held to elect the Officers for the 2008-2010 term. The officers are: President - Buster Newberry; Vice-President - Don Kennedy; Secretary - Jim Boyd; and Treasurer - Lee Derby (Fingers). We will have copies of the minutes to pass out as soon as we receive them.
We would like to congratulate the Denton chapter for the excellent TSC they put on. Thanks!!! February 2009 TSC meeting to be held in Tyler, hosted by VVA # 932. |
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| VVA #278 WEBSITE |
| VVA # 278's website is still up and running thanks to Stacey. If you haven't checked it out recently, you need to do it now at: www.vva278.org. Stacey has added photos, info on POW/MIAs. Agent Orange, PTSD, etc., etc. We also put our newsletter in it. There are some very good links to hook up to and more to be added. Remember, that this is a living website, it will be added to and changed from time to time, so keep check on it. And if you have any ideas let us know.
As you probably know Stacey is expecting and her due date is July19, so she may not make any changes, additions and/or corrections for a little while. I'm sure she will get back to it as soon as she is able. |
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| PRISONERS OF WAR/MISSING IN ACTION - POW/MIA |
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As of June 30, 2008 there are still 1759 Americans unaccounted for from the Vietnam War. Captain Barclay B. Young, USAF, and Staff Sergent James K. Caniford, USAF, both listed as MIA in Laos on March 29, 1972 have been accounted for. Their remains were recovered November 21, 2006 and recently identified. We hope this brings the family and friends some closure. Of the 1761 still unaccounted for: 561 Army, 370 Navy, 577 Air Force, 217 Marines, and 34 civilians. Of this 1759, 20 are from Arkansas, 24 are from Louisiana, 36 are from Oklahoma and 114 are from Texas.Of these 1759, 1353 are missing in Vietnam (North-481, South-872), 342 are missing in Laos, 55 are missing in Cambodia and 7 are missing in the territorial waters of China. This brings the total of those returned and identified since the end of the war in 1975 to 822. Sadly this does not include any live returnees.
There are three Americans unaccounted from the ongoing war in Iraq, Matt Maupin's remains were recently identified by DNA. There is one American unaccounted from the 1st Iraqi war - Desert Storm. There are 120 Americans unaccounted for from the Cold War. There are over 8100 Americans unaccounted for from the Korean War, over 78,000 Americans unaccounted for from World War II and 3349 Americans unaccounted for from World War I. |
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| 21st ANNUAL POW/MIA VIGIL/15TH ANNUAL "RIDE TO REMEMBER" |
| Plans are being made for VVA # 278's 21st annual POW/MIA Vigil and our 15th annual "Ride to Remember."
This Vigil will be held Friday & Saturday, August 29 & 30 (Labor Day weekend) at the Korea/Vietnam Memorial at Seventh Street and State Line Avenue. As of this time we will spend 1799 minutes (19 hours & 59 minutes) in this vigil. That's one minute for each of the 1759 from Vietnam, 36 minutes for the 36 names engraved on this memorial who are still unaccounted for from the Korean War, and one minute for each American unaccounted for from Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom (4). The "Ride to Remember" will start at 2:40 pm Saturday at the Tourist Bureau on North State Line Ave (Hwy 71) and proceed to the Korea/Vietnam memorial where a service will be held. We would like to make this the biggest Ride we've ever had. We need your help on this! Help us get the word out to all bikers, truckers, cars, etc.. We want them all there!! We need to show our elected officals that we won't forget and that we won't let them forget either! LEST WE FORGET |
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| TEXARKANA AREA VETERANS COUNCIL |
| The next meetings of the Texarkana Area Veterans Council (TAVC) will be July 3, August 7, and September 4. These will all be the first Thursday of each month, at 6:00 pm at the American Legion Post at 525 East Broad Street.
I have recently found out that the local van has died and the VA won't fix it as it has almost 300,000 miles on it. We will be looking for a replacement for this local van ASAP. Remember, funds raised go to the purchase of a new DAV van to transport veterans to the Shreveport VA Medical Center and to the local VA Clinic. We are starting a Corporate sponsorship program. More details as they are worked out. |
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| THE SNOWBALL EXPRESS |
| The mission of Snowball Express, an all-volunteer, non-profit organization, is to help create new memories and a few days of joy for lives that have been shttered by the loss of their fallen hero. It's America's chance to give a gift of gratitude to the children and spouses of those men and women in the U.S. Armed Forces who have died since September 11, 2001.
Snowball Express does this by arranging a three or four day event for these children consisting of concerts, amusement parks, tours, gifts, etc., etc. They want our help in finding these children and getting their names and addresses to them. But I also believe that there is something we can do locally for these children and spouses once we find them, plus getting them in touch with Snowball Express. We have already gotten an article in the Texarkana Gazette concerning this, but we haven't received any response yet. In 2007 over 1,100 children and their surviving parents and guardians attended as guests of Americans, corporations and service groups who donated time, money and resources to create another healing event. Nearly 400 family members attended Snowball Express for the first time. They are planning for over 2000 on the next event. Let's make sure they get that many. Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc. 's National Board of Directors endorsed this project and urges chapters and State Councils to get involved which many have. Look at their website at: http://www.SnowballExpress.org. |
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| CALENDAR OF EVENTS
July 20:VVA # 278 meeting July 27:Korean War Armistice(1953) August 7:TAVC meeting August 9:Hope Watermelon Festival August 15 - 16:New Boston Pioneer Days August 19:VVA # 278 meeting August 29 - 30:21st POW/MIA Vigil September 4:TAVC meeting September 12 - 20:Four States Fair & Rodeo October 2:TAVC meeting October 4:DeKalb October Fest October 11 - 12:Quadrangle Festival October 19:VVA # 278 meeting November 1:Bloomburg's Cullen Baker Day November 6:TAVC meeting November 8:Veterans' Day Parade November 12:Korea/Vietnam Memorial's 20th Anniversary November 16:VVA # 278 meeting December 4:TAVC meeting December 21:VVA # 278 meeting |
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| OPERATION EDUCATE |
| The Vietnam Veterans Assistance Fund of Texas (VVAFT) is sponsoring a essay contest amoung the Vietnam Veterans of America chapters in Texas. This essay, which should be at least 500 words, should be written on a project or event that the chapter sponsors or particpates in. The winning chapter will receive a check for $500 from the VVAFT. At our next VVA # 278 meeting we will discuss which event or project that we are going to write on and enter this contest. The winning entry will also be spotlighted in the Texas VVA newpaper. So think of which project/event we might work on. |
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