From the Desk of the Chairman
December is here and the end of another year is at hand. The weather is in full wintery transition and the days are shorter. December 7th is a somber day which marks the trigger for entry into WW2. For those that have been to Pearl Harbor and visited the Arizona Memorial, it is a somber and sacred reminder of war and its impact on all of us. Many of you were touched in some way by the war in Iraq and December 15th marks the end of that conflict. Happy birthday to Space Force on the 20th. Winter officially begins on the 22nd, although some of you may have already gotten a sample of the winter ahead. Finally, Christmas on the 25th marks the birth of our Lord and a special time of giving and family togetherness. I wish all of you a Happy and Merry Christmas!
Your Rogue Chapter continues to lead the entire NCOA in the number of Medallions that have been presented. As of this writing at least 20 members of the chapter have been involved in the presentation of over 915 Medallions covering WW2, Korea & Vietnam. There will be some medallions presented at our Christmas social on the 2nd so we are well on our way to reaching 1,000 Medallions presented by this chapter. If members of this chapter residing in other parts of the country are close to one of the Honor Flight operations and can coordinate with me ahead of a flight, we may be able to assist you with honoring these honored veterans. If you wish to take me up on this idea, please send me an email and we will work together to see if we can make this happen.
The final tally for our 7th annual VeteRun was $43,200 that will be presented on December 2nd. Each of the three charities will receive $14,400. So far, your chapter has raised and donated over $131,800 to various charities that deal with issues like veteran suicide, service dogs for disabled veterans and much more.
Our chapter has been working on a project to bring an 80% size replica as a permanent installation here to southern Oregon. The Wall will have all 58,479 names on it in exactly the same location as the wall in Washington DC. The Wall has already been purchased and we await funds to cover the installation. The chapter has been collecting money at a local barber shop and at various veteran’s breakfasts and has raised almost $2,400 for the Wall. I am challenging all of the veterans in this chapter to donate a minimum of $5 to this project. A lot of Vietnam veterans can’t make it to Washington DC to view that healing wall and this makes it easier for those on the west Coast to have that healing experience that a visit to the one in Washington provides. Please go to https://ncoarogue.org and make a minimum of a $5 donation on our donate page and all funds will help get that Vietnam Wall installed with honor!
Please review the full newsletter and pay attention to the recruiting article.
If you have any ideas or suggestions, either contact me at retiredveteran89@outlook.com and I can assure you that your leadership will take note.
Strength in Unity & Leadership By Example,
MCPO (SCW) Terry M. Haines, USNR Retired
Chairman, Rogue Chapter #1260