“’Safety first’ is the road to ruin in war.”
- Sir Winston Churchill, November 3, 1940
On December 8, members of Post 456 met at 32nd & Clement to stuff Christmas cards with twenty-dollar bills. Then, led by Post Commander Peter Mellett, the group proceeded over to Fort Miley to visit the old vets there. Besides Commander Mellett, Mario Gonzalez, Jeremiah Morgan, Paul Wallace, Bill Wakefield, and John Scully were in the contingent. Also participating were Mike Edmond and Gary Gee, who recently transferred into our post from other posts. We were able to give one hundred vets Christmas cards containing twenty-dollar bills. This annual Christmas visit is one of the highlights of our year. Many of these vets have out-lived all their family and friends. They get very few, if any, visitors. They really appreciate our visit and Christmas gifts.
The Marine Corps Times reported that the fiancée of a fallen Marine will soon find herself on the yellow footprints at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C. Just weeks after Lance Cpl. Travis M. Nelson, 19, was shot and killed on patrol in Afghanistan, Madeline Cates decided to follow in his footsteps. She wants to carry on his mission.
“I’m going to finish what he started,” she said during a Nov. 8 dedication ceremony to name a park for Nelson in Escambia County, Florida, a spot where he used to play as a child. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C. Now a poolee in the Delayed Entry Program, Cates is working with recruiters to prepare for the rigors of boot camp. She ships out in March, the same month the couple planned to say their wedding vows.
“People say, ‘Oh Travis wouldn’t want you to do this,’
But I know Travis better than anyone,” she told CNN. “I think he would be OK with it as long as it is what I wanted to do.”
A Belgian nurse who saved the lives of hundreds of American soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge at the end of World War II was given a U.S. award for valor on 12 December, 2011, 67 years late. Congolese-born Augusta Chiwy, 93, received the Civilian Award for Humanitarian Service medal, from U.S. Ambassador Howard Gutman at a ceremony in the military museum in Brussels.
“She helped, she helped, and she helped,” Gutman said at the ceremony. He said the long delay in presenting the award was because it was assumed that Chiwy had been killed when a bomb destroyed her hospital.
The Battle of the Bulge was a ferocious encounter in the final stages of World War II. In desperation, Adolf Hitler ordered a massive attack on Allied forces in the Ardennes, in southern Belgium. More than 80,000 American soldiers were killed, captured, or wounded.
Chiwy had volunteered to assist in an aid station in the town of Bastogne, where wounded and dying U.S. soldiers in the thousands were being treated by a single doctor in December 1944 and January 1945. Chiwy braved gunfire, helping whomever she could, and saving the lives of hundreds of Americans. After the battle, Chiwy slipped into obscurity, working as a hospital nurse treating spinal injuries. She married a Belgian soldier and had two children. She was finally located several years ago by a British author and historian, Martin King, who heard stories about a black nurse at Bastogne. Chiwy was knighted by the Belgian king in June.
The Veterans Affairs Department’s Fry scholarship program, which provides Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to surviving children, would be amended to include surviving spouses, under legislation introduced by Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Barbara Boxer. The program, named after Marine Gunnery Sergeant John D. Fry, applies today to children of service members who have died on active duty since 9/11, and gives them full Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits they can use until age 33. The bill, S 1852, also would make spouses eligible.
The American Legion is fighting cuts in the size of the military, as well as in retired pay and health care benefits for troops. “It is unconscionable to consider cuts to defense while we are engaged in three wars,” said Fang Wong, the Legion’s national commander. Cutting military retired pay or health care benefits could lead people to leave the military before retiring, he said. “We have no debt larger than what is owed to our veterans and those serving in uniform. They have already paid their share. Cut the budget elsewhere.”
San Francisco Police-Fire Post 456 would like every veteran engaged in law enforcement or fire fighting in the area to become members of the post. Just contact me at Mission Station or at gc1207@comcast.net and I will get you signed up. We are making special efforts to recruit female veterans, who are currently very under-represented. The post meets at 6:00 PM on the second Tuesday of every month. We meet at the Veteran’s War memorial Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue, room 212. Hope to see you there!
