March 2020 Meeting

Our March 17th, 2020 Meeting of the Korean War Veterans and Defense Veterans Chapter 189 will be held in the banquet room at the John Mealy Memorial VFW Post 3282, Port Orange, Florida. The Post is located a 5810 S. Williamson Blvd, Port Orange, Florida. The doors will be open for this meeting at noon. A lunch menu prepared by VFW Post kitchen will be available. When you come in, order your dinner from the menu and it will be delivered to your table. It appears that this process is working out well, and the food from the kitchen is first class. The doors will open at 12:00 for lunch and a social hour will follow. Our Post meeting will start at 1:00 PM with the Guest speaker for this month, Dr. Bruce Bromley PhD. Dr. Bromley will discuss Dan Shermans 1998 Book "ABOVE BLACK, Project Preserve Destiny, an Insider Account of Alien Contact and Government Cover up". This is a true life experience of a USAF member working as an electronics Specialist for the National Security Agency. Bring a veteran to the meeting. We are pleased to have "Bruce" Bromley as our guest speaker. If your have any question, on the program, or the details call Command Joe Sicinski at 386.492.6551.

Our February 18th Meeting of the Korean War Veterans and Defense Veterans Chapter 189 will be held in the banquet room at the John Mealy Memorial VFW Post 3282, Port Orange, Florida. Our Post meeting started at 1:00 PM with the Guest speaker for this month, Robert "Bob" Watson. Mr. Watson is the Director for Veterans Services for Volusia County. Mr. Watson answered a number of questions hat the Veterans might have on Veterans Services or he was able to direct the Veteran to someone with the answers. He indicated that he can be reached at any time at his office at 1845 Holsonback Drive, Room 327 in Daytona Beach or by phone at 386.254.4646. We were pleased to have "Bob" Watson as our guest speaker

The second of the Korean War and Defense Veteran Memorial was dedicated at the Cape Canaveral National Cemetery on Saturday February 29th at 10 o'clock. The first such memorial was dedicated at the Bushnell National Memorial Cemetery on November 11th. A group of about 50 Veterans gathered for the dedication on the Memorial Walk within the Cemetery. The guest speaker for the dedication was State Senator Tom Wright. Tom read a proclamation and the stone monument was uncovered. The commander of the Florida Conference of the KWVA, Chuck Travers, acted as host and coordinator of the program. Although it was cold and windy the event was a great success. Shown below are two pictures taken at the event. Commander Travers indicated that he is planning on dedicating two more monuments for the Korean War and Defense Veterans in the near future.

Guest Speaker State Senator Tom Wright and KWVA Chapter 189 Commander Joseph Sicinski at the Monument Dedication
Photo by Jose Rosa

Some of Veterans who witnessed the Korean War and Defense Veterans Monument Dedication
Photo by Jose Rosa

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 of the volunteer help that you can give him. Just contact Bob and he will give you the lowdown on what you can do to help.

Dues for 2020 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 Sincinski.

As some of you may know, 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 27 March 2020. 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 we know the efforts are appreciated. It should be noted that starting in November 2019 the Krispy Kreme Doughnut Shop in Daytona Beach, Florida has been donating the doughnuts for this service. We would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank them for there donation, and I am sure that the Veterans at the Clinic would second this tribute. Thanks CRH.

The Cape Canaveral National Cemetery is now open and accepting in ground burial 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.

During the past several months the Chapter has been presenting the "Tell America" Program to a number of organizations. If you know an organization that might want to learn about the history of the Korean War please contact Joe Sicinski at 386.493.6551 and he would be pleased to try to set up a presentation. We are in the process of preparing a short brochure on the history and impact of the Korean War, to go along with the presentation. We would like to spread the story of the Korean Conflict for all those who may never have heard of it, or its impact on our current global condition.

In recent days we have become aware that their are Veterans in our community that have recently died and have not been provided with an opportunity to receive a military ceremony in their memory. Chapter 189 of the KWVA does not think that this is proper, and we will help you receive a small final military ceremony for any Veteran that requests it in cooperation with VFW Post 3282 Color Gurard. If you know of a Veteran's family that needs a final military ceremony please contact Chuck Husbands at 386.760.7163 and he will attempt to get that request fulfilled. If you know of someone who is sick at home or in the hospital and would like a visit from a member of the chapter have them contact Chuck Husbands he we will try to make a personal visit.