By Greg Corrales
“He which hath no stomach for this fight, let him depart. We would not die in that man’s company.”
- William Shakespeare, “Henry V”
Due to computer problems, I was unable to get last month’s column submitted. The computer issues have been addressed and I am happy to report that Post 456 has a new lineup of elected officers. Elected to the position of Sergeant-at-Arms was Jeremiah Morgan, 2nd Vice-Commander was Paul Wallace, 1st Vice-Commander was Mario Gonzalez, and elected as Commander was Peter Mellett. I have agreed to accept the position of Adjutant, which Rene LaPrevotte has filled so capably for years. John Scully had been re-appointed as the Post Finance Officer.
Due to the severe fiscal crisis the City is experiencing, I have spent all my spare time pondering ways in which the Department can save money. In the spirit of embracing “best practices,” I suggest that Captain Celaya, commanding officer of our Mounted Unit, follow the example of the Royal Horse Artillery.
In an energy conservation move, horse manure will be burned to provide heating and electricity in new British military barracks. Starting in November 2011, the Royal Horse Artillery will use pellets made from manure from the regiment’s 111 horses to cover the energy needs of its new base outside London, according to a Reuters report.
Manure, mixed with bedding such as straw, is considered an odor-free, chemical-free, and clean burning energy source, to the point that some racetracks and horse-breeding farms make a little extra revenue selling what had long been considered waste.
Forty-two years ago, they promised us that Agent Orange wouldn’t harm us, as they sprayed us over and over again. Last year VA Secretary Eric Shinseki decided to add ischemic heart disease, Parkinson’s disease, and B-cell leukemia to the list of illnesses presumed caused by Agent Orange. While veterans await VA’s final regulations on ischemic heart disease, Parkinson’s disease, and B-cell leukemia so they can start collecting earned disability benefits, The American Legion is urging Congress to grant claims now. The House of Representatives may soon consider a Senate-approved amendment that would add a 60-day period of limited spending on the new benefits while Congress reviews the underlying scientific data that led to link the three diseases to Agent Orange exposure.
VA estimates it will spend more than $42 billion over the next decade on claims stemming from the new regulations. “We can certainly understand why Congress wants to be fiscally responsible in this matter,” Said Barry Searle, director of the Legion’s Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation Division, “But thousands of veterans who suffer from these diseases have waited too long already. The findings are valid. The connections to Agent Orange exposure are real. Let VA and Congress hash it out together, but we urgently recommend that they do it without further delay.”
Marines, including Commandant James T. Conway and Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Carlton Kent, recently gathered at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina, to honor Black Marines who trained at a segregated camp there during World War II. A ceremony was held August 26 to remember those who trained at Montford Point, now known as Camp Johnson. About 20,000 Black Marines trained there from 1942 to 1949, after President Roosevelt issued a directive allowing Blacks to be recruited into the Corps. Rather than be sent to the boot camps at Parris Island, S.C., and San Diego, however, Black Marines were segregated and sent to train at Montford Point. A Senate resolution last month names August 26 Montfort Point Marines Day, which was the first day that Black recruits began training there.
Sixty years ago, on August 3, 1950, a 35-man U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group advance team arrived in Saigon. It had authority to bolster its strength to 128 men, and 65 were in place by fall. The group was officially established in September and began operating in October. Its mission was to inspect French and Vietnamese use of American equipment. The French, however, prohibited U.S. observers in the field during combat operations. Marine Major General Graves Erskine had conducted a preliminary survey that July. Five years into the French Indochina War, Erskine asked, “The French haven’t won a war since Napoleon, so why listen to a bunch of second-raters when they are losing this one?”
A former slave who fought as a Union soldier during the Civil War is lying under a gravestone fitting his service for the first time. When Samuel Brown died in 1923, the 90-year-old former Union Army private and emancipated slave was mistakenly buried under a Confederate headstone at a cemetery in Vallejo. More than 100 of Brown’s descendants and Civil War buffs in period dress gathered at the cemetery July 24 for the dedication of Brown’s new headstone. Brad Shaw, a national officer with the Sons of Union Veterans, said the ceremony with “Taps,” color guard, and gun salute was needed to “render long overdue honors” to Brown. The memorial organization held the ceremony with the American Civil War Association.
A new Web portal is up and running for Iraq and Afghanistan vets. Called Warrior Gateway, it is designed by Google with vets in their 20s in mind. Devin Holmes is the executive director of Warrior Gateway, which is funded strictly by individual donations and grants. Information on a variety of issues is readily available on the site. www.warriorgateway.org.
Speaking of new vets, San Francisco Police-Fire Post 456 is eager to recruit every veteran in the Police Department and Fire Department. We are particularly anxious to recruit the newer vets and female vets who are very under-represented. Please contact me at Mission Station 558-5455 or at gc1207@comcast.net. The Post meets on the second Tuesday of every month, at 1800 hours. We meet at the Veteran’s War Memorial Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue, Room 212. Hope to see you there!
