Friday, May 31, 2013

VVA Chapters 17 &1076

Just a thought I think it is time to build a memorial for the veterans from Las Vegas That died in Vietnam and after they came home. Pleas leave a comment  to let me know what you think



LAS VEGAS, NEVADA:

VVA Chapter 17 &1076

This Came from A friend from AZ VVA chapter 106


 This is really sobering. Click on the link and find the city you went to high schoolor any other you are familiar with and look at the names.
Click on the name and it will give details of the death.

Vietnam Wall


First click on a state. When it opens, scroll down to the city and the names will appear.
Then click on their names. It should show you a picture of the person, or at least their bio and medals. 

This really is an amazing web site. Someone spent a lot of time and effort to create it. 

I hope that everyone who receives this appreciates what those who served in Vietnam sacrificed for our country.
 
The link below is a virtual wall of all those lost during the Vietnam war with the names, bio's and other information on our lost heroes. Those who remember that time frame, or perhaps lost friends or family can look them up on this site. 
Pass the link on to others, as many knew wonderful people whose names are listed. 
http://www.virtualwall.org/iStates.htm

Thursday, May 30, 2013

got this from another Nam vet. it gave me chill bumps.

Amazing History!!!
You’ll want to watch this. It will send shivers down your spine.
IN GOD I TRUST!
 
FOR YOU YOUNG FOLKS, IT IS EDUCATIONAL, AND FOR US OLD AGERS, IT IS -------WELL-----YOU WILL UNDERSTAND>

The link below will take you to a video showing the very first public singing of "GOD BLESS AMERICA". But before you watch, you should also know the story of the song.

The time was 1940. America was still in a terrible economic depression. Hitler was taking over Europe and Americans were afraid we'd have to go to war. It was a time of hardship and worry for most Americans.

This was the era just before TV, when radio shows were HUGE, and American families sat around their radios in the evenings, listening to their favorite entertainers, and no entertainer of that era was bigger than Kate Smith.

Kate was also large in size, and the popular phrase still used today is in deference to her, "Ain't over till the fat lady sings". Kate Smith might not have made it big in the age of TV, but with her voice coming over the radio, she was the biggest star of her time.

Kate was also very patriotic. It hurt her to see Americans so depressed and afraid of what the next day would bring. She had hope for America, and faith in her fellow Americans. She wanted to do something to cheer them up, so she went to the famous American song-writer, Irving Berlin (also wrote "White Christmas")
and asked him to write a song that would make Americans feel good again about their country.

When she described what she was looking for, he said he had just the song for her. He went to his files and
found a song that he had written, but never published, 22 years before - way back in 1917. He gave it to Kate Smith and she worked on it with her studio orchestra. She and Irving Berlin were not sure how the song would be received by the public, but both agreed they would not take any profits from God Bless America. Any profits would go to the Boy Scouts of America. Over the years, the Boy Scouts have received millions of dollars in royalties from this song.

This video starts out with Kate Smith coming into the radio studio with the orchestra and an audience. She
introduces the new song for the very first time, and starts singing. After the first couple verses, with her voice in the background still singing, scenes are shown from the 1940 movie, "You're In The Army Now." At the 4:20 mark of the video you see a young actor in the movie, sitting in an office, reading a paper; it's Ronald Reagan.
Frank Sinatra considered Kate Smith the best singer of her time, and said when he and a million other guys first heard her sing "God Bless America" on the radio, they all pretended to have dust in their eyes as they wiped away a tear or two.

To this day, God Bless America stirs our patriotic feelings and pride in our country. Back in 1940, when Kate Smith went looking for a song to raise the spirits of her fellow Americans, I doubt she realized just how successful the results would be for her fellow Americans during those years of hardship and worry, and for many generations of Americans to follow. Now that you know the story of the song, I hope you will enjoy it and treasure it even more.
NOW HERE IS HOW "GOD BLESS AMERICA" SHOULD BE SUNG!

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Do you know this about Vietnam Veterans Wall

Facts about Vietnam Veterans wall in DC.






There are 58,267 names now listed on that polished black wall, including those added in 2010.
The names are arranged in the order in which
they were taken from us by date and within each
date the names are alphabetized. It is hard to
believe it is 36 years since the last casualties.
The first known casualty was Richard B.
Fitzgibbon, of North Weymouth , Mass. Listed by
the U.S. Department of Defense as having been
killed on June 8, 1956. His name is listed on the
Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl.
Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on
September 7, 1965.
There are three sets of fathers and sons on the
Wall.
39,996 on the Wall were just 22 or younger.
8,283 were just 19 years old.
12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old.
The largest age group, 33,103 were 18 years old.
Five soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old.
One soldier, Pfc. Bullock was 15 years old.
997 soldiers were killed on their first day in
Vietnam.
1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in
Vietnam.
Thirty-one sets of brothers are on the Wall.
Thirty-one sets of parents lost two of their sons.
54 soldiers attended Thomas Edison High School
in Philadelphia. I wonder why so many from one
school.
Eight women are on the Wall. Nursing the wounded.
244 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor
during the Vietnam War; 153 of them are on the
Wall.
Beallsville, Ohio with a population of 475 lost six
of their sons.
West Virginia had the highest casualty rate per
capita in the nation. There are 711 West
Virginians on the Wall.
The Marines of Morenci - They led some of the
scrappiest high school football and basketball
teams that the little Arizona copper town of
Morenci (pop. 5,058) had ever known and cheered. They enjoyed roaring beer busts. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the
Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache
National Forest. In the patriotic camaraderie typical of Morenci’s mining families, the nine graduates of Morenci High enlisted as a group in the
Marine Corps. Their service began on
Independence Day, 1966. Only three returned
home.
The Buddies of Midvale - LeRoy Tafoya, Jimmy
Martinez, Tom Gonzales were all boyhood friends
and lived on three consecutive streets in Midvale,
Utah on Fifth, Sixth and Seventh avenues. They
lived only a few yards apart. They played ball at
the adjacent sandlot ball field. They all went to
Vietnam. In a span of 16 dark days in late 1967,
all three would be killed. LeRoy was killed on
Wednesday, November 22, the fourth anniversary
of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Jimmy died
less than 24 hours later on Thanksgiving Day.
Tom was shot dead assaulting the enemy on
December 7, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.
The most casualty deaths for a single day was on
January 31, 1968 ~ 245 deaths.
The most casualty deaths for a single month was
May 1968 ~ 2,415 casualties were incurred.
Most Americans who read this will see only the
numbers the Vietnam War created. To those who
survived the war, and to the families of those who
did not, we see the faces, we feel the pain that
these numbers created We are, until we too pass
away, haunted with these numbers, because they
were our friends, fathers, husbands, wives, sons
and daughters. There are no noble wars, just
noble warriors.

Saturday, May 25, 2013

memorial day message

please attend our event and show your colers



Recent VA News Releases

To view and download VA news release, please visit the following Internet address:

A Memorial Day Message
From Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki

WASHINGTON (May 24, 2013) -- This weekend, Americans in large numbers will visit our national cemeteries and other final resting places to honor their loved ones, their friends, neighbors, colleagues, even some unknown to them—men and women who gave their lives in defense of our Nation. 

Memorial Day is a time to reflect on their service and their sacrifice, even as our Armed Forces are performing difficult and dangerous missions in distant lands.  They continue to safeguard our American way of life.

Memorial Day is set aside to honor the more than one million of our fellow citizens who have fallen in battle since the founding of our Republic.  Their service helped to shape us as a Nation and secured, for us and our friends and allies, our security in a troubled world.  Except for their service, we all would be facing different circumstances today. 

During World War II, American forces literally helped to save the world from tyranny and oppression.  Those who marched to the guns in the 1950’s saved a Nation.  And the most devastating conflict in our history, the American Civil War, preserved a Union that would, within a hundred years, emerge as a world power, dedicated to preserving freedom and liberty. 

Every generation has done its duty, just as today’s 1.37 million members of our Armed Forces are doing theirs under difficult circumstances.

On Memorial Day, their service in uniform stands in contrast to our ball games and backyard barbeques.  Our defenders are ordinary Americans performing extraordinary deeds, bearing all the risks for our way of life.  In remembering the Fallen, we honor the men and women who kept faith with our enduring principles of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”  We remember, as well, those who keep the faith today and honor their patriotism, valor, dedication, and loyalty.

A memorial written by Civil War-era orator, Robert Green Ingersoll, eloquently captures the significance of Memorial Day for all generations of our Fallen:

They died for liberty—they died for us.  They are at rest. 
They sleep in the land they made free, under the flag they rendered stainless. . . . Earth may run red with other wars, but they are at peace.
In the midst of battles, in the roar of conflict, they found the serenity of death.

I join with all VA employees in honoring those who have been called to the Altar of Freedom, in offering prayers for them and their families, who sacrifice still today, and in asking for the Almighty’s continued blessings on this great Nation.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Vietnam veterans Chapter 17



Some times we forget please read and leave a comment
You may have served in combat or while preserving peace.
You may have retired out or you may have served for a short time.
You may have been a draftee or a volunteer.
You may have served in the Corps, Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard or the Merchant Marines,

BUT YOU SERVED. YOU DID YOUR JOB HONORABLY and for that I am PROUD to call you 'Brother.'

You may have served during WWII, KoreaVietnamNicaraguaPersian Gulf,Iraq or Afghanistan, But you served, you did not run.
You have earned your DD 214 with those words "HONORABLY DISCHARGED" two of the most noble words in the world.
Again I am proud to know each and every one of you.

*
Today is Band of Brothers' Day*; send this to all your brothers, fathers, sons and fellow veterans you know. Happy Band of Brothers' Day!

To the cool men that have touched my life: Here's to you!!
I was never a hero, but I am thankful and proud to have served among them.

A real Brother walks with you when the rest of the world walks on you.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Vietnam Veterans of America






 From the desk of Robert Serge
Publisher of Vietnam Veteran Chapter 17 Blog

Too all who fellow our blog.

When you read our Blog if you agree or disagree with what is written. Please log on and go to the bottom of the blog. You will see this 
Posted by Robert Serge at 3:40 PM No Comments just click on the no comments and leave a comment. That way we can improve and just maybe have more members taking part in our events.

Thank you
Robert Serge
Blog Master