VFW NC Post 2573 - Wilmington

Post 2573 (All you wanted to know and dared to ask?)

Posted at 03:37 PM on Saturday, August 13, 2016 by post2573

Links: (click the link for more detail)

Support the post:

Hall rentals, rates, information

Bingo, Thursday 7PM open 6PM

Post Officers, meeting dates, other items:

Meetings and Events October through December 2008

Post and Auxiliary Officers

Where are we? Directions to find us.

Saturday Breakfast

Canteen is OPEN!

VA News Briefs

Posted at 09:43 AM on Thursday, January 1, 2009 by post2573

VA Ramps Up Job Search for Injured Vets

WASHINGTON – Thirty percent of employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) are veterans – the second highest ranking among cabinet departments after the Department of Defense -- and nearly 8 percent of VA employees are service-connected disabled veterans.  But the VA intends to increase the number of disabled veterans who obtain employment in its workforce.

"I am proud of this effort," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake.  "VA knows the true quality of our men and women, and we should be a leader in employing them."

Peake said all severely injured veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will be contacted by VA's Veterans Employment Coordination Service to determine their interest in -- and qualifications for -- VA jobs.  So far, that office has identified 2,300 severely injured veterans of those wars, of whom 600 expressed interest in VA employment.

Click here to read more

Some Veterans to See Another Travel Reimbursement Increase

WASHINGTON – Service-disabled and low-income veterans who are reimbursed for travel expenses while receiving care at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities will see an increase in their payments beginning January 9. 

A recently passed law allows VA to cut the amount it must withhold from their mileage reimbursement.  The deductible amount will be $3 for each one-way trip and $6 for each round trip -- with a cap per calendar-month of $18, or six one-way trips or three round trips, whichever comes first.  The previous deductible was $7.77 for a one-way trip, and $15.54 for a round trip, with a calendar-month cap of $46.62.

January Grassroots Survey

Posted at 09:31 AM on Thursday, January 1, 2009 by post2573

Last month, we asked, "With the election over, do you think our citizens will become more united?"

A majority of respondents—more than 65% percent—believe that the division of American citizens will continue in the years to come. Many noted, however, that people really need to put their differences aside for the health of the country.

• "America is strong as a people, and it's the people who will bring us back as the guiding light of the world, not the government."
• "These are tough times. We've used times like this to re-unite and get stronger. We're Americans first, as that we're all one."
• "We have to, and leaders in all organizations would best serve the goals of the organization and the country by encouraging everyone to do so."

Click here to see more results

Vets Visits on TV - December 2008

Posted at 08:29 AM on Monday, December 29, 2008 by post2573

VA Reaches 11,000 Survivors for Retroactive Benefit

Posted at 08:01 AM on Monday, December 29, 2008 by post2573

WASHINGTON (Dec. 24, 2008) -- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has identified nearly 11,000 surviving spouses of deceased veterans who will receive a lump-sum payment before the New Year to correct an error in their VA benefits.  Also documented were more than 73,000 who had been previously paid.  VA officials are still tracking down eligible survivors.

"I am pleased that our task force working to correct this problem has been able to identify this first group this week," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake. "We understand the difference these funds can make for these surviving spouses, especially during the holiday season."

Payments will be released to these survivors on Dec. 29.  The total value of the payments is about $24 million.

At issue is a 1996 federal law that makes a surviving spouse eligible to receive the veteran's VA compensation or pension benefit for the month of the veteran's death.  VA failed to properly implement that law in all cases.

Most likely to have been affected by this problem are surviving spouses who never applied for VA survivors' benefits following the death of a veteran.  Eligible for the payment are surviving spouses of veterans who died after Dec. 31, 1996.  The Department doesn't have current addresses for many of them, which makes the process of contacting them difficult.

VA has established a special Survivor Call Center (1-800-749-8387) for spouses who believe they may be eligible for this retroactive benefit. The Call Center is open Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Central Standard Time.  Inquiries may also be submitted through the Internet at http://www.vba.va.gov/survivorsbenefit.htm.

A Christmas Poem

Posted at 06:16 PM on Thursday, December 25, 2008 by post2573

I am not sure of the provenance on this one to give credit to the author but it tells a story:

 

A Different Christmas Poem   

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.   

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.   

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn\'t loud, and it wasn\'t too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn\'t quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.  

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child. 

\'What are you doing?\' I asked without fear,
\'Come in this moment, it\'s freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!\'

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire\'s light
Then he sighed and he said \'Its really all right, I\'m out here by choice. I\'m here every night.\'  

\'It\'s my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I\'m proud to stand here like my fathers before me.

My Gramps died at \' Pearl on a day in December,\'
Then he sighed, \'That\'s a Christmas \'Gram always remembers.\' 

My dad stood his watch in the jungles of \' Nam \',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I\'ve not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he\'s sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home. 

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother.. 

Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.\'
\'So go back inside,\' he said, \'harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I\'ll be all right.\'

\'But isn\'t there something I can do, at the least,
\'Give you money,\' I asked, \'or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you\'ve done,
For being away from your wife and your son.\'

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
\'Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we\'re gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long. 

For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.



PLEASE, Would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many people as you can?  Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our U.S. Service Men and Women for our being able to celebrate these festivities. Let\'s try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.



LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN

30th Naval Construction Regiment

OIC, Logistics Cell One

Al Taqqadum , Iraq.

VA Urges Vets to Sign-up for Direct Deposits

Posted at 03:50 PM on Monday, December 15, 2008 by post2573

WASHINGTON (December 15, 2008) -- Every month, 730,000 veterans or survivors look for their compensation, pension checks or educational assistance payments in their mailboxes.  Nearly all receive them, but theft and mail delays cause problems for some veterans, which can be prevented by direct deposits.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is urging those veterans and family members now receiving paper checks to join nearly 3.1 million others whose VA payments are safely deposited electronically.

"VA is teaming up with the Treasury Department in a new campaign to protect government beneficiaries against the theft of funds and of their identities," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake. "Veterans earned -- and rely on -- the financial support we send them every month.  I urge them to help VA ensure they get those funds reliably and safely by signing up for direct deposit."

Peake cited several easy ways to sign up for direct deposit -- calling VA toll-free at (800) 333-1795 or enrolling online at www.GoDirect.org.  Veterans, and family members who receive VA payments, also can sign up by contacting a VA regional benefits office or their financial institution.  Information about direct deposits will be included in VA's monthly compensation and pension envelopes throughout 2009.

The VA Secretary urged veterans to remember that direct deposits relieve worry about mail delivery being delayed by severe weather or natural disasters.  The deposits also eliminate trips to banks or credit unions to deposit checks, while providing immediate access to money at the same time each month.

December 7th Pearl Harbor day in Wilmington, NC

Posted at 06:10 PM on Sunday, December 7, 2008 by post2573

Don't forget the Showboat our own battleship.

 

World War II Wilmington

Home Front Heritage Coalition

 

P.O. Box 425, Wilmington, NC 28402

 

For immediate release

November 30, 2008

 

Contact: Wilbur Jones

793-6393; JonesWD@aol.com

 

Congressman McIntyre Featured Speaker

at 67th Anniversary of December 7

Pearl Harbor Attack

 

Southeastern North Carolina's commemoration of the December 7, 1941, Japanese sneak attack on U.S. military installations at Pearl Harbor and on Oahu, Hawaii, which propelled the country into World War II, will be observed next Sunday at 1:25 p.m., at Battleship Park, across the Cape Fear River from downtown Wilmington.

 

This commemoration is sponsored annually by the World War II Wilmington Home Front Heritage Coalition.

 

Ten Pearl Harbor Survivors, those military personnel stationed on Oahu at the time, and two civilian eye witnesses from throughout our region are expected to attend this 67th anniversary program.

 

The public is invited. Attendance for the previous two years has exceeded 125.

 

United States Representative Mike McIntyre (7th District, N. C.) again will be the featured speaker. He is a member of the House of Representatives Armed Services and Agriculture Committees.

 

Two speakers will recall their remembrances of that day. They are navy veteran Bud Hollenbeck of the battleship USS Pennsylvania, damaged in the attack, and Wilmington native and historian Wilbur Jones, seven years old then, who will recall what Wilmington was like.

 

This is the first anniversary in years to fall on the same day of the attack, Sunday. The ceremony's hour is the exact time in Wilmington when the first wave hit Pearl Harbor at 7:45 a.m.

 

For further information, contact Doris Ayers at 796-3292 or Dayers91@aol.com.

 

My old NJ post is gaining members

Posted at 09:12 AM on Friday, December 5, 2008 by post2573

The Somers Point New Jersey VFW post is unique.  It is growing new memberships at a time that most posts are in decline.  The Press of Atlantic City article is linked below.  They didn't have a pool table when I lived there but it seems to play a part in recruitment of younger members.

With the refurbishment and retargeting of our post canteen it seems to me that we have the tool to help recruiting efforts.

Press of Atlantic City article

VFW Launches Campaign to Attract Women Veterans

Posted at 11:34 PM on Monday, November 24, 2008 by post2573

Soup for the Troops fundraiser Saturday at Mayfaire

Posted at 07:53 AM on Sunday, November 9, 2008 by post2573

The second annual Soup for the Troops fundraiser benefiting wounded soldiers is slated for November 8th...yes next Saturday.  The event is held within the Mayfaire complex and offers the opportunity to sample soups from local restaurants while making a contribution to help our wounded brothers.  Each sample is $2, entertainment is provided, and it is a good time for a good cause.  Here is the event link which also has a list of participating restaurants.

Soup for the Troops

Combat Dogs get wounded and need therapy too

Posted at 10:22 AM on Thursday, October 23, 2008 by post2573

Now there is a facility to deal with wounded dogs.  Is this the Walter Reed Hospital of dogdom?  See the fox news article linked below:

Fox News

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