January 2019 Meeting

Our February 19th, 2019 Meeting of the KWVA Chapter 189 will be held in the banquet room at the John Mealy Memorial VFW Post 3282, Port Orange, Florida. The doors will be open for this meeting at 12:00 AM. Lunch will be available at 12:00 PM. Our luncheon meal this month will be a variety of Pizza, Drinks and Cookies. The cost of the meal will be on a donation basis Please! The official meeting will begin promptly at 1:00 PM. Guests as usual are always welcome.

Our speaker for the meeting will be Major General John R. McWaters whose served in Korea during war. General McWaters enlisted in Army Combat Engineers in 1951 as a "private" and worked his way up the ranks to Maajor General in 40 years before retiring in 1991. You do not want to miss his interesting talk on the "History of the Korea". Come early and get a good seat for a wonderful presentation on History.

Last Month at our Christmas Party we had the swearing-in ceremony for the Chapter 189 Officers for 2019, At this months meeting we will will have an induction ceremony for our Honorary Member to LWVA Chapter 189. The honorary members for this ceremony will be: U.S. Army (Ret.) Brigadier General Ernest C. Audino, U.S. Air Force Jose Rosa, and U.S. Army Rod Philips.

Late December we received word of the passing of Vernon Schuh and Gene Swarbrick both members of our KWVA Chapter. Vernon Schuh services were Thursday 31 January 2019 at Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church in Port Orange. Vernon was buried in the Cape Canaveral National Cemetery, with military honors. The services for Gene Swarbrick were held on 2 February 2019 at the Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Daytona, Florida. Military honors were rendered immediately after the Mass at the Church. Gene Swarbrick was a former Commander of KWVA Chapter 189.

At a recent Volusia County Veterans Council meeting Rod Phillips spoke to us about a new program that is being introduced to local Veterans Units. This program called "Missing in America Project" is a program that no one thinks about. According to Rod Phillips if an individual dies without a known relative the funeral director that excepts the body must have it cremated and then stored in his shop until a relative can be found. A recent survey taken in 2,269 Funeral Homes across the United States found 17,378 cremins found. In Florida they visited 151 Funeral Homes and found 1,396 cremated remains. The purpose of the Missing in America Project in Florida is to attempt to find if any of these local remains are Veterans or spouses of Veterans. If we can prove that they are Veterans or spouses of Veterans they have the right to be buried in a National Cemetery. The identification of these cremains is a long and difficult process and takes time and money. So far the program has identified and interred 220 veterans and 92 spouses in Florida. The interment process is a little different than a normal burial as a large number of identified Veterans are buried at one time in the National Cemetery. The MIAP last CALL TO HONOR #17 was held on Saturday November 3, 2018 at the Cape Canaveral National Cemetery at 10 am. The MIAP interned 25 veterans and or spouses from two funeral homes close to CCNC. If you want more information about this project contact Kathy Church MIAP-FL State Coordinator at 904.219.3035 or email her at miapjax@yahoo.com. KWVA Chapter 189 has already pledged money to the Florida Chapter of the Missing in America Project and we will help out this effort any way we can.

We have several Chapter members or our "sick call list" that could use your help. There is great news: One of our members George Del Manzano is finally back in action and feeling much better. We are hoping to see him back at our meetings, eating sandwiches and pizza in the very near future. Dee Hawes, our Chapter Secretary, is in rehab after suffering from a stroke. She is recovering rapidly and our prayers are with her and Bob. If you need additional information contact Bob Hawes.

On Saturday 9 February an Executive Meeting of the Department of Florida was held at Casselberry Florida. Joe Sincinski and Chuck Husbands represented our KWVA Chapter at this meeting. One of the major topic of the meeting was the KWVA Convention to be held on 20 April 2019 at the Americans Veterans Facility in Casselberry, Florida. More details on the Convention will be presented next month as plans firm up.

Our KWVA Chapter has been activity supporting the new War Museum being established in the "Tick Tock" shop on Beach Street in downtown Daytona Beach. Many of the Korean War Treasures previously displayed at the Museum in New Smyrna Beach have been transferred there and many more have been added. The museum has expanded to a real tourist attraction in Daytona Beach. Bob Hawes, one of the museum's organizers is extremely active in this outreach program. He could use any volunteer help that you can give him. Just contact Bob and he will give you the lowdown on what you can do to help out.

Dues for 2018 are now being solicited. Please pay your dues of $10 either at the meeting or send them to KWVA, POB 214005, South Daytona, Florida 32121. If you cannot afford the dues, the chapter will pay them for you (It's in the by-laws), see Bob Hawes or Joe Sicinski.

As some of you may know for the past year, as an outreach program, the members of Chapter 189 have been serving coffee and doughnuts at the VA clinic on the fourth Friday of each months. This month the service at the VA Clinic will be on Friday 22 February 2019. The program has been well received by the Veterans going in early for blood work and other appointments. This is a wonderful outreach program for our chapter and we are always looking for volunteers. The task involves getting to the VA Clinic at about 7:30 am to help serve coffee and doughnuts. When the coffee and donuts are gone... we are gone, which is usually well before 10:00 AM. If you are looking for a very satisfying volunteer position for a couple of hours, contact Chuck Husbands or just show up. We can always use your help and spirit in support of our Veterans. We want to sincerely thank everyone who has donated their time to this effort, in the past, and know the efforts are appreciated. Thanks CRH.

The Cape Canaveral National Cemetery is now open and accepting in-ground burials for caskets and cremated remains. It is located at 5525 U.S. Highway 1 in Mims, Florida. Cemetery Administration Office phone is 321-383-2638. Burial arrangements phone 1-800-535-1117. The Cemetery is open from dawn to dusk, burials are scheduled between 9:30 AM and 2:30 PM Monday through Friday. For qualifying Veterans there are no charges for burial for you and your spouse, and the National Cemetery will provide final Military Honors. This includes standard burials and cremation burials. If anyone is interested in visiting the National Cemetery and needs a ride to look the place over or talk with the administration staff, just contact Chuck Husbands at 386.760.7163.