Author: ateeter

Service Throwback: Bill Griffith

While in the U.S. Army Comrade Bill Griffith served in South Korea for the entire year of 1964 as a Crew Chief on a De Havilland U6A Beaver (pictured below).


He said he did that most days, except for one day a week when he had to drive to Seoul and pick up steaks for officers from the only butcher who was inspected by the USDA.


He goes on:


The route was complicated and had to be memorized because the street signs were in Korean and their was no GPS. After a couple of training runs with the current driver who was rotating back to the states I was qualified and on my own. Each Tuesday morning I would have breakfast and then check out a jeep or if none was available I would use a Dodge Power wagon.


The picture of the Dodge Power wagon below was taken during my lunch break on this drive. I would wire cans of C rations to the exhaust manifold and when I got hungry I would pull over and eat a warm lunch. I would spend the entire day exploring Korea, my only concern was getting the steaks back to the Officers Club on time.

After Korea I was retrained as a Flight Operations Specialist and served at the Presidio of California Crissy Army Airfield in 1965-66. The arrow on the attached picture shows my office. I don’t think that any window in the US Army had a better view than mine. In August of 1966 after three years in the Army I headed my red Fiat sports car north to Seattle.

We’d love to see your photos too! Submit them to Aly or drop a copy off at the office.

Commander’s Corner (December 2021)

Happy holidays…and a Christmas wish!


As we are about to close out yet another Covid year and become immersed in the Christmas holiday season that heralds in the New Year, I would personally like to extend a very “MERRY CHRISTMAS” wish to each and everyone of you!


As you know, next week will be our last business meeting of the year, and with that I do have a special Christmas wish of my own for that day and beyond. It’s a very simple wish.


That our post membership attendance at the business meetings increase to levels that are more in line with what our actual membership is.


I understand the crippling effect that Covid has had on attendance and that there are some who just won’t be able to attend yet. But as vaccinations increase and Covid levels decrease, the time has come for us to be getting back to post business. It’s time to start getting back to the post!

For some, it may be coming to your first business meeting. We have gained dozens of new members since this Covid stuff started a couple years ago, not to mention however many others we gained before that! Whatever those numbers end up being, we have only had one or two new members showing up at any given meeting.


The few other members that also attend are the old standbys: the staff and other regulars who are always there so we can actually conduct a meeting. We need more than that. We need both the old and the new membership in attendance. We need you to come to the meeting and see what we do. We need your input to help us as we move forward with the many endeavors that the post undertakes. That can only happen if you are in attendance. So please do your best to join us. It starts with next week’s business meeting! We look forward to seeing you.


One of the casualties of all this has been that our membership oath and induction ceremony has not taken place in a very long time. (Note: This is where you typically receive your Membership Pin.) In an effort to finally correct this, we will be conducting the induction ceremony at the onset of our January 6, 2022 business meeting. That’s in one month!


If you have not taken the VFW membership oath, please show up at the January business meeting. There will be others to join you. It is painless, and only takes a short amount of time. You need to do this. If you have already been through this ceremony please come and join us as we meet and welcome new members. Thank You.


Commander Joe Fitzgerald

Service Throwback: Joe Fitzgerald

Here’s a photo of our Comrade Commander Joe Fitzgerald during his time in the Navy in 1964. He served as an Electronic Technician from 1962-1966 and was stationed in Charleston S.C. on the USS BORDELON (DD 881) right after the Cuban Blockade. They were involved in the Santo Domingo Uprising 1965 and subsequently awarded the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal. The BORDELON operated primarily in what’s known as the Bermuda Triangle.

We’d love to see your photos too! Submit them to [email protected] or drop a copy off at the office.

Commander’s Corner (November 2021)

As we wind up the fundraiser auction and raffle, we must extend a heartfelt thanks to each of the people who stepped up make this happen. But while thanks just doesn’t seem to be enough, the post is truly indebted to Kay Seelig and the entire band of volunteers.  THANK YOU ONE AND ALL!

Additionally, I want to focus on a special thanks to the members of the Burien Kiwanis in, you guessed it, Burien, of which I have been a member for several years now.

This club sits on ten acres in the heart of Burien located 20-25 miles south of Ballard and provides the use of their camp to any youth group in the state free of charge! That is their volunteer shtick. 

A couple years ago while attending yet another Tuesday evening meeting at their clubhouse, I happened to mention to a couple of the members about our post’s upcoming spaghetti fundraiser in the hopes of selling a couple tickets.  
Shortly after the meeting started one of them stands up and announces to the group of about ten or so (typical attendance numbers) of our fundraiser that benefits veterans, etc. and that they should pony up for the vets! 

Before I left I had a full book of tickets sold to them! (worth $200) and no questions, “Just give the tickets to needy vets.” Not only that but one of the other members announced that they should put together gift baskets to help us with the auction. Well, they did that too to the tune of four or five specialty baskets (Lego, golf, wine, cigar, dog/pet) gifted to the post. The retail value of each basket was between $100 -$150.  (This is what they do for their own fundraisers.)

Point is, they jumped at the opportunity to help vets in any way that they could! “If it’s for the vets, we’re in!” Their generosity has continued each year since. No questions asked other than, “What can we do?!” 

This year things got a little convoluted with the Covid restrictions and unfortunately no tickets went to them. But they still managed to come up with the same type of gift baskets for our raffle. 

Then, during the Oct. 26 meeting, the Kiwanis past Lt. Governor put out an unsolicited plea even though our fundraiser was all over. “These are vets- they need our help!” In the spur of the moment, $20 bills started popping up on the table next to me! They totaled $300 from a total of 16 members who happened to be in attendance! 


“IF IT’S FOR THE VETS, WE’RE IN!!” 
This is obviously a very patriotic group which in itself tends to warm the cockles of your heart,  but their generosity and willingness to help vets, “in any way we can,” speaks volumes to the character of the entire membership of the Kiwanis Club of Burien. So very appreciated!

Just thought you ought to know.

-Commander Joe