Flag Day 2017
Category: News
In Memoriam (July 2017)
During the June business meeting on June 1, 2017, the post charter was draped with a black cloth for the following comrades who recently passed away. The charter will stay draped for 30 days in their honor.
James A. Kessler, U.S. Army, World War II
Jimmie B. Souther, U.S. Army, Vietnam War
Gerald L. Yager, U.S. Army, World War II
Redding VFW Post 1934 Goes Above and Beyond
By Jon Guncay
On May 15, 2017, my family and I were in Redding, Calif. for a wedding. While visiting around the town, I happened into the local VFW, Post 1934. My son and I were looking at some of the photos on the wall when a picture of an Armored Security Vehicle (ASV) caught my eye, as it was my vehicle in Iraq. Upon a closer look, I noticed that the bumper number not only had my company’s number on it, but it was in fact MY exact vehicle from that deployment. I was so taken aback by this, as no one from that unit was from this part of the country, so I have no idea how it came to be there in this high plateau town.
In seeing this, I asked the post if they wouldn’t mind adding “In memory of 1LT Ashley Henderson-Huff” to the photo, to honor my platoon leader we lost that deployment.
To make a long story short, the post invited my family and I back the next day, prior to having to make a flight home, to hold a dog tag and flag folding ceremony in her honor. Complete with a chaplain rendering a prayer, honor guard with military police (our job in Iraq), and dog tags made with Ashley’s information on it, the post made sure to pull out all
the stops to honor my LT as if she and I were life members of their post. I was moved to tears, which made telling her story in front of that impromptu crowd all the more difficult, but important.
This VFW post was a stout reminder that we are all brothers and sisters — that we share each other’s pains and joys. My family, 1LT Henderson-Huff’s family, and I will never forget this post’s outpouring of support and above expectation hospitality. While post 3063 is our home, this only goes to prove that we are welcome to hang our hat at any VFW post that we happen into.
June Newsletter Available for Download
Ballard Eagleson VFW Post 3063’s June 2017 newsletter is available for download here. Highlights of June’s issue include: Commander Tamayao’s Farewell Note; Post and Auxiliary Officers Installed During May Meeting; How to Gain an Honor Degree…With the Cooties; Service Officer Update: Get Your Documents in Order; New Yoga Instructor, New Time.
Quartermaster’s Update (June 2017)
By Harold Rodenberger
I’m writing this update from the east coast of our amazing country, where my wife, Ikuko, and I are visiting our younger son and his wife in North Carolina.
For those of you who travel, it’s no secret, but it always reassures me to travel to widely separated parts of our country and our world and observe yet again that people are pretty much the same wherever they live.
Here in Durham, there are friendly faces, distracted faces and faces racked by some private pain. There are young people, and those not so young, walking along oblivious to their surroundings while absorbed in private communication on their handheld device. As we approached a store yesterday, a gentleman smiled and held the door for my wife and me. He didn’t ask our political party, religion or economic status, he was simply one human being courteous to others.
Sometimes in our world of instant news, alarmist headlines and finger pointing journalism where people are put into buckets labeled “Democrat, Republican; Jew, Gentile; rich, poor; Northerner, Southerner; good, bad,” I need to be reminded that people are people no matter external conditions.
All of this reminds me that the people in our own post and auxiliary are great people. We come from different walks of life, have different occupations, ages and beliefs and we have fought in or supported loved ones who have fought in different wars, yet we all have joined in the goals of the VFW to support our troops, help those who have served and to further patriotism and community service.
Just as when I travel, I’m reassured by people right here in our post who, despite surface differences, are uniformly friendly and willing to help. This month I’d like to choose two out of the many and thank Kay and Russ Seelig for all they do to help our post.
Five or six years ago we were introduced to Kay’s famous spaghetti at a fund raiser put on for service dogs. Russ beat the bushes for supporters and Kay cooked. It was very successful and with the help of other post members, raised over five thousand dollars for a worthy cause. Since then they have been instrumental in putting on more fund raisers and for the past few months have been putting on the dinners at our post socials.
For those of you who are not regular attendees at our socials, the menus are enticing and the camaraderie embracing so plan to attend and enjoy a night out with friends right here at our post social. Speaking of socials and spaghetti, again this month, by popular request, we’ll have Kay’s spaghetti.
Flag Day is June 14. Remember to fly your flag. We’ll have a flag retirement ceremony in the post parking lot at noon.
We’ll be leaving NC soon to head back home. I will remember the storefront gentleman for his courtesy and thank the rest of the NC people we’ve met for their reminder that down deep we are all the same.
Thanks to each one of you for being in our post. With your help our post is making good headway in our mission to help members, veterans, their families and our community.