- The meeting was held as usual in the meeting room of Mikeska's BBQ, located just off Hwy 59 in El Campo, TX.
- There were 40 members and 8 guests present.
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President Leonard Sternadel declared the meeting open at 1900 hours.
The following business was transacted... - The Pledge of Allegiance to the flag was recited and a prayer was said.
- Augustine Limas and Paul Joki were introduced as new members.
- The meeting was then recessed for the meal and reconvened at 1945.
- The minutes of the last meeting were approved as presented.
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Sternadel then introduced Dr. Gus Gross of the Palacios Community Medical Center.
Dr. Gross informed the chapter that he is a veteran and is dedicated to providing the best care possible for veterans. He welcomed all members present, and all other veterans, to visit the Palacios facility. He added the veteran’s health system is far from perfect, but his staff was doing everything possible to help veterans in any way possible. He also provided a clinic phone number, 361-972-2000, in addition to his personal phone number, 830-491-2151. CLICK HERE to visit the Palacious Community Medical Center website -
VVA Chapter 1069 Service Officer Dwight Winkler gave a short presentation to the members.
Dwight presented the members a handout of VA benefits that included certain businesses that recognized veteran’s discounts, birth defects associated with Agent Orange, the Honor Flight to Washington DC, and six resolutions regarding the Toxic Exposure Act of 2015. - Sternadel then read Resolution 01-15, Terms and Election Results. Neumann made a motion, seconded by Boone, to approve the resolution. Vote for approval was unanimous.
- Leonard then reminded the members that the Everyday Heroes fundraiser Tractor Pull will be Father’s Day weekend
- Also, the 3rd Annual Fish, Catch, Clean, Fry and Eat family gathering will now probably be held in September.
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28 chapter members then practiced for the upcoming Memorial Service that will be held on July 18th at the Vietnam Traveling
Memorial Wall, when it comes to El Campo next month. As you all know, the service will include 28 members of our chapter
participating in a ceremony, whereby each member will march out to the Wall and place a rose at the foot of each small white
cross. Each cross representing a Vietnam War KIA or MIA soldier. Following are some pictures taken of all the crosses that
were setup in the Mikeska banquet room and pictures of the members practicing marching and hand-saluting for the ceremony.
Above photo shows chapter member, Louis Milder, and chapter President, Leonard Sternadel, sorting out all 28 dog tags that we received from Don Dorsey this past week.
Much thanks goes out to Don Dorsey from chapter 1069, for his help and his time in stamping out all 28 dog tags for us. More information about Don can be found at the link below. CLICK HERE to read more about Don Dorsey
Above photo shows how we setup all 28 crosses for the practice session. Much thanks to Carolyn and Louis Milder for coming early and helping figure all this out and then helping setup everything.
Although the crosses are much closer together than when they will be when setup in front of the Wall, this at least gave us a way to practice and simulate the overall ceremony.
Above photo shows a closeup of one of the crosses with its hanging dog tag.
Above photo gives some idea of how we'll be lined up at the actual service/ceremony. However, at the actual ceremony, we'll be spread out across 288 feet, the actual length of the Traveling Wall. Once we march out in front of the Wall, and as each soldier's name is called out, a chapter member will place a rose at foot of the cross and then salute.
In the end, Leonard said it was a VERY good practice session and he thanked everyone for coming early and especially for participating in this really important project. This is really going to be a nice Service/ceremony on July 18. CLICK HERE for complete details on the 5-day Traveling Wall event CLICK HERE for complete details on the Memorial Service
And finally, much thanks to Dana for all the time she's put into this project. She's also spent a lot of time on the Virtual Wall website, collecting information on each KIA and MIA that we'll be representing in the Memorial Service.
On a sidenote, and along with the cross itself, the above photo shows an example of a memorial folder that we'll also be giving to the family of each KIA and MIA that we'll be honoring in the Service/ceremony.
Each folder will contain all the information that can be found on the Virtual Wall website for each soldier. We feel that this folder along with the cross itself will be a more complete memorial package for the family members. - There being no further business, President Sternadel declared the meeting adjourned at 2055.
- Much thanks to chapter Secretary/Treasurer, John Steelman, for providing the meeting minutes.