News – Page 44 – Ballard Eagleson Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3063

Service Flashback: Harold Rodenberger

Then Sgt. 1st Class Harold Rodenberger is pictured on May 3, 1967, at the Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) II compound at 606 Tran Hung Dao, Cholon (a large mostly Chinese section of Saigon) where the MACV J1 and subordinate offices were located. He worked in the Operations Division, Office of the Adjutant General.

According to Harold:

Our boss said we would work longer than the troops in the field, so we worked 10 to 12-hour weekdays, eight hours on weekends but sometimes got a Sunday off. I proofread MACV Directives, wrote final copies of award citations for MACV personnel, proofed Blue Bell letters (no errors, corrections or strikeovers allowed in those pre-computer days) after the daytime secretaries had gone home. Helped keep the administrative functions running to support field operations.

I could hear better then than I can now, but with a deaf ear, I was ineligible for any of the combat arms so ended up in the administrative field. I found that I enjoyed writing and other administrative tasks so it turned out to be a good fit. I had returned from overseas in July 1965. The troop buildup was in full swing, so my number quickly came up and I headed off to Vietnam less than a year later.

In this photo I was happy to be nearing the end of my tour and returning to CONUS and my wife and young son. Was a little nervous about being assigned to the South Carolina National Guard Advisory Group because I was in an interracial marriage in the days when anti-miscegenation laws were still in force in SC as well as some other states, particularly in the south.

Goodbye to Smoke Stained Ceilings

By Harold Rodenberger

Those of you who have been in our hall in the past few years may have noticed that the ceiling tiles are yellowish from the days of inside smoking and stained from water leaks.

A few weeks ago, our contact at FRIHET 402, VASA (Swedish Freedom Assoc), called and wanted to know if we could use some almost new ceiling tiles. They were removing a dropped ceiling in their recreation center at Lake Sammamish and were willing to donate them to our post. During normal times they meet in our hall once a month and had noticed the stained ceiling.

On January 16th, we rented a truck and, with the help of several volunteers, loaded up about 600 ceiling tiles and brought them to our post. The following weekend we changed out the tiles in the small meeting room. Next we will replace the tiles in the main hall. It’s a big project so we’ll do it over upcoming weekends.

Here’s a big THANK YOU to the folks at Frihet and many thanks to volunteers Dan Stokke, Bryce White, Russ Seelig, Pat Ronan, Joe Tiffany, Campbell Krawitz and our Commander, Joe Fitzgerald. Their help made it work.

You can really see the difference here between the new and old tiles.

Get Vaccinated at the VA

Quartermaster Harold Rodenberger receives his COVID-19 Vaccine at the VA Medical Center in Seattle.

Vaccines are now available for eligible veterans at the VA (for more info go here). Quartermaster Harold Rodenberger received his vaccine and here’s a write-up about his experience:

After we became eligible, I spent several days trying (and being disappointed) to get appointments for my wife and myself on the various sites handling vaccination appointments.

Thursday afternoon I received an email from the VA saying that eligible veterans could call to schedule appointments. It also stated that the VA was proactively calling eligible veterans to schedule appointments. Knowing that at least two of our older members had received unsolicited VA calls and been scheduled for the vaccine, I thought about waiting, but decided to try calling. After spending 37 minutes on hold, I was connected to a helpful clerk who went through the COVID questions, then asked if I wanted to be vaccinated as soon as possible. I responded with a hearty “yes” and she scheduled me for noon yesterday (Friday).

Arriving about fifteen minutes early, I joined the socially distanced line, was tagged with a red ribbon indicating I had been screened, completed the paperwork, received shot number one, waited the required fifteen minutes, and was on my way. I felt relieved that I finally was on track to help defeat this virus by being immunized. Almost danced a jig as I followed the light at the end of the tunnel back to my car.

Now I’m back to trying to schedule a vaccination appointment for my wife. Still the same grind – check the sites to find all appointments taken, wait an hour, check again, ad nauseum.

For non-VA vaccine information, visit the Washington State Department of Health’s website.