meetingplace

May 2013 Meeting Notice

On May 21st, 2013 the Korean War Veterans Association, Chapter 189 will hold its monthly Meeting at the John E. Mealy Memorial VFW Post in Port Orange, Florida.

Members arriving for lunch can arrive at 12:00 and choose their meal from the VFW Bar Menu, and socialize during the meal. The regular KWVA Business Meeting will begin at 1:00 PM.

As you know plans have been in the works for several months to set up a Korean War display at the New Smyrna Beach Museum just off Canal Street. At our April Meeting we will not have a formal speaker but will attempt to collect and sort out articles to be presented in the museum exhibit. This is the time for all of us to bring our memorabilia such as caps, boots, uniform parts, books, canteens, mess kits, belts, belt buckles, trenching tools, in fact anything you are proud of or that you think will help tell the story of the Korean War to strangers or the youth of today, in our small museum exhibit. Everything that appears at the meeting may not make it into the exhibit, but lets try to bring these articles together and sort them out. Take a look at what you have. What you consider routine may be unique to another branch of service.

In addition to sort out the treasure Bob Hawes, currently the Secretary of Chapter 189 has indicated that he would like to speak for a few minutes on his exhibit of "Safe Conduct Passes during the Korean War."

On May 14th the May 2013 edition of the Kimchi Kourier Newsletter went to press. This is the second newsletter this of the year, for our Chapter, and it looks great. Bob McGuire is the Newsletter Editor and we owe him a debt of gratitude for the newsletter and newspaper publicity he generates on the Chapters behalf. The newsletters will be sent out to all of our members through the US Postage System but you can read a copy by going to the upper left hand corner of the home page on this web site and clicking on the "189 Newsletter" box.

On May 3rd and 4th the Department of Florid KWVA Convention was held at the Orlando Hilton in Altamonte Springs. Bob Hebner was elected as State President for the KWVA DoF for the 2014 year. Jim Ferris the National President of the KWVA also attended the conference. Chapter 189 was represented by Bob McGuire, Chuck Husbands, Tony Poiemeni and Bob Balzer. Bob McGuire was elected 1st Vice President and Chuck Husbands was appointed Secretary to the Florida DoF KWVA at the convention.

Over the past several months the Chapter has received requests from a number of organizations to speak on the History of the Korean War, and several have already contacted us for speakers. In Marchl Bob McGuire lectured, at the request of a member the History Department, at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The lectures were presented to two classes of Navy and Marine ROTC students. We are scheduled to give the same presentation to a of Seniors at the Coronado Methodist Church in New Smyrna on the 17th May. As 2013 has been declared by Congress as the year of the Korean Veteran, we believe we will have additional request for this type of presentation in the near future.

The official opening of the Korean War Display, at the New Smyrna Museum will be held on July 27th. A short Memorial Ceremony will take place in the small park across from the museum followed by a wine and cheese formal reception in the museum, everyone is invited. The Korean War Display at the New Smyrna Museum will run from July 1st to November 15th, covering the 60th anniversary of the end of hostilities in Korea and Memorial Day.

Last month we added a new feature to this website to allow us to post short notices between meetings that might be of interest to some of our members. These notices are posted as Post-It-Notes on a Cork-board background. To reach this Notice Board click on the block at the upper left hand side of the websites Home page marked Chapter Notices. In addition to special notices we would like to place the names of Chapter Members or their families who are sick and need our concern.

Chapter 189 is still serving Coffee and Donuts at the Daytona VA Clinic, on Dunn Avenue in Daytona Beach, on the last Friday of every month. Someone at the VA plugs in the coffee pot at 5:30AM and we arrive and start giving out the Coffee and Donuts at 7:30 AM. We have been performaing this task since the beginning of the year and we have met a great many veterans through this service. If you are an early raiser and just want to spend a few hours helping other Veterans come and join us. We are out of there by 10 AM or when the coffee and donuts run out. I know you will come away from the experience feeling that you accomplished something positive.

Bob Hawes wrote a note to remind our membership that a Bill raising the amount of the monthly payments made to veterans and caregivers to coincide with the rate of inflation is working its way through the House and Senate. If successful it will be effective on December 1st of this year.

In early April the Air Show and Balloon Festival was be held at the New Smyrna Airport. Two of our Chapter 189 members received special awards for their service to their country and to the community. Bob Balzer received his award at the Saturday April 6th ceremonies and Bob McGuire will be honored at the Sunday April 7th program. Congratulations on the receipt of these honors and we thank the Balloon and Air Show committee for recognizing these outstanding Korean Veterans.

Sick Call: As I write these notes, one of our Chapter 189 mainstays John Heaphy is very sick and is presently at home and Rose Balzer, the wife of Bob Balzer, is in a nursing home. Keep these folks in your payers, and we wish them a total and speedy recovery.