Reynolds County VFW Post 6660 Newsletter

Randle Tolliver, Post Quartermaster,

post6660@movfw.org

www.facebook.com/VFW-Post-6660

Our next meeting is 1 PM, Sunday, 20 September at the Reynolds County Courthouse in Centerville.

All please remember 12-13 September will be Military and Veterans Appreciation weekend in Lesterville.  Active duty Military and veterans will receive 25% discounts at participating restaurants, campgrounds, and outdoor outfitters. Just present your active duty or retired ID, VA Health Identification Card, veteran’s organizations ID (i.e. VFW or American Legion), or your discharge documents (DD-214). For more information, call Elmer Winingar at 573-637-2585.

    

In honor of POW/MIA Recognition Day, at 1 PM on 18 September the post is joining our Post Auxiliary for a wreath laying ceremony at the Reynolds county Courthouse in Centerville.  All are welcome to join us.  National POW/MIA Recognition Day was established in 1979 through a proclamation signed by President Jimmy Carter. Since then, each subsequent president has issued an annual proclamation commemorating the third Friday in September as National POW/MIA Recognition Day.

We are planning two Veterans Service Officer (VSO) events for October. The first will be in Bunker on 10 October from 9 AM – 1 PM.  The second in Ellington on 24 October from 9 AM – 1 PM at the Copeland Copeland-Shy House located at 155 W Walnut Street. VSO’s are accredited to legally represent a Veteran and help you understand and apply for any VA benefits you may be entitled.  Our VFW VSO events are free-of-charge, and please bring all of your documentation including your discharge documents (DD-214).  For more information, J Parks at (573) 689-1477 or Quartermaster Randy Tolliver at (573) 924-2382 / post6660@movfw.org.

In partnership with the Missouri Veterans Commission, Veterans Service Program we are also planning a Veterans Information Workshop for 1 PM – 3 PM on 17 October in Ellington.  The latest information concerning such issues as compensation, education, vocational rehabilitation and employment, will be followed by a question and answer session. The Ellington Chamber of Commerce is hosting the workshop at the Copeland Copeland-Shy House.

For some good news, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently announced that veterans undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures for stable angina had better outcomes at VA hospitals than at community hospitals.  This was based on a study  published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.  PCI is a non-surgical procedure that uses a flexible tube to place a metal scaffold (stent) into a narrowed coronary artery to allow blood to pass through more easily. For more information please see https://www.onlinejacc.org/content/76/9/1112

 

19 years ago this week, four coordinated terrorist attacks were made by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda against the United States.  The attacks of September 11, 2001 resulted in 2,977 fatalities, and over 25,000 injuries. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in human history and the single deadliest incident for American firefighters and police with 343 and 72 killed, respectively.  The attacks involved four passenger airliners that were hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists after departing from airports in the northeastern United States for California. Two of the planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, crashed into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan. In an hour and 42 minutes both 110-story towers collapsed. The resulting fires caused a partial or complete collapse of all the other buildings in the World Trade Center complex, including the 47-story 7 World Trade Center tower.  A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon killing 55 military personnel and 70 civilian employees. The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, was being flown toward Washington, D.C., but crashed into a field in Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania, after passengers attacked the hijackers.  We responded by launching the War on Terror and invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, which refused failed to comply with U.S. demands to expel al-Qaeda, and extradite their leader Osama bin Laden. After evading capture for almost a decade, bin Laden was located in Pakistan in 2011 and killed during a U.S. military raid.

 

 

Now for a few reminders:

 

Our annual education related awards programs, Teacher of the Year, Patriot’s Pen, and Voice of Democracy are underway.  The Patriot’s Pen youth theme is “What is Patriotism to Me”.  The Voice of Democracy audio-essay theme “Is this the Country the Founders Envisioned?”.  Children who are home schooled are also welcome to participate.  For more information, please contact Quartermaster Randy Tolliver at (573) 924-2382 / post6660@movfw.org.

For information concerning the status of our remaining local VA medical facilities, John J. Pershing VA Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, and the Farmington outpatient clinic please contact https://www.poplarbluff.va.gov/services/index.asp or call 1-573-686-4151.

If you would like to donate memorabilia to a “Desert Storm until the Present” exhibit at the Reynolds County Museum, please contact Mr. Bill Swyres at (573) 663-2486.

If you need to obtain military service documents such as a DD 214/ Separation Document or Official Military Personnel File (OMPF), please contact the National Archives, National Personnel Records Center at https://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records, call 1 (866) 272-6272 or mail “The National Archives and Records Administration”, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001.

 

For veteran’s in crisis, call the Veterans Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255 and press “1”.

For more information, call Commander Elmer Winingar at (573) 637-2585, Senior Vice Commander Lyndell J Parks at (573) 689-1477 or Quartermaster Randy Tolliver at (573) 924-2382 / post6660@movfw.org.  For more information concerning the VFW at the national level please go to www.vfw.org and at the state level, http://movfw.us.

“Here to Serve”