VFW Post 1040

The District 1 Post of the Year Award has been awarded to Post 1040 Lynnwood!

Many of you are attending Memorial Day Ceremonies in your communities, but if time also allows you to attend the Mariners vs Angels ballgame, there is a promotion being offered with Puget Sound Honor Flight.

We plan on having about 30 WWII Veterans who have taken an Honor Flight from Seattle on the field for the opening ceremonies and there will be a tribute to our WWII Veterans and Puget Sound Honor Flight on the big screen at Safeco Field.

The next Puget Sound Honor Flight Trip to Washington DC will be from May 30 to June 1, 2014.

For more information, see www.pugetsoundhonorflight.org

At tonight’s meeting, John Beam installed the officers for the Post for the 2014-2015 year.

We also voted in 2 new members:

• Robert Leach Jr., US Army, Vietnam service
• Larry Beach, US Army, Vietnam service

Elmer Clark, Department Judge Advocate, was a guest and was impressed with what the Post has accomplished.

The Proclamation from the City of Lynnwood for Loyalty Day was read.

Upcoming events:

• May 21st: Edmonds Community College Memorial Day at 1030 AM
• May 26th: Lynnwood Veterans Park Memorial Day ceremony at 1100 AM

We still have a few openings for Poppies on Sunday, May 25th at Albertson’s @ James Village.  Contact Dale Clark to sign up.

Drawings for $25 were Leroy Black & Joseph Sandhofer, but neither were present to collect.  Ron Haley was drawn for the door prize and he picked an envelope with a Life membership for the National Home.  Since he already had a membership, he gave it to Fred Ensslin.

Due to the State Convention there will be no meeting in June.

Our next Post meeting will be July 3rd at 7 PM.

At tonight’s Post meeting we draped the Charter for 3 comrades who have passed on:

• Robert Huntoon
• Sam Marchese
• Lynn Bryan

Rest in peace, Comrades.

We voted in a new Life member: Samantha Love, US Army.  Welcome aboard!

We will have work parties for our two Eagle Projects and a Post special project at Veterans Park on Saturday, April 12th starting at 0900. Hope you all can come and help.

The Poppy Drive will be on May 24th & 25th at the James Village Albertsons. The sign up sheet will be at the next Post meeting on May 1st.

The Post officers for the coming year are:

• Commander: Martin Spani
• Sr. Vice Cmdr: Frank Martinez
• Jr. Vice Cmdr: Joe Mingo
• Quartermaster: Brian Seguin
• Chaplain: John Zambrano
• Judge Advocate: Fred Ensslin
• Surgeon: Dick Clark
• Trustee – 1 year: Andy Dingman
• Trustee – 2 year: John Beam
• Trustee – 3year: Ray Coffey
• Adjutant: Dale Clark

A reminder that there is no June Meeting.

We awarded our 102nd Boy Scout VFW Eagle certificate to Ian Davidson ,Troop 312.

The $25 door prizes went unclaimed by Carl Goretski & Frank Lindsay, since neither were in attendance.

Our District Memorial Ceremony will be this Saturday, April 5th at 1300 at the Alderwood Youth Center.  Please plan to attend as we say our final goodbyes to 10 Post members who have passed on this past year.  Our Post Honor Guard will do full Military honors for the ceremony.

Our next Post meeting will be at 1900 on May 1st at the Alderwood Youth center.   Hope to see you all there.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. has been asked to comment on an FY 2014 National Defense Authorization Act requirement that tasks the Defense Department to review the Purple Heart’s current eligibility criteria. Specifically, should service members who are injured or killed by acts of violence, regardless of where they are stationed, be eligible for a Purple Heart? The victims of the 2009 military recruiting station attack in Little Rock, Ark., and shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, are the impetus behind the review. They were not awarded Purple Hearts, whereas 9/11 military victims did receive the medal.

In the members-only section of http://www.vfw.org is a link to the Purple Heart Survey. We ask that you forward this to every VFW member and Post so that all have an opportunity to take the survey before it ends on March 31.

VFW Post 1040 presented the VFW National Life Saving award to Mountlake Terrace High School Girls’ Basketball Coach, Rachael Boehme, on March 21, 2014 during an assembly at Mountlake Terrace High School.

Rachael was honored for her rescue of two men from an overturned car in a water-filled ditch on Christmas Eve, 2013.  She also came to the aid of a pregnant women whose car had been hit by a fallen tree up at Stevens Pass in 2012.

Pictured L-R: VFW Post 1040 Sr. Vice Cmdr. Frank Martinez, Rachael Boehme, VFW Post 1040 Chaplain John Zambrano, and VFW Post 1040 Commander Martin Spani.

VFW Post 1040 Commander read about her heroics in the local Herald newspaper and submitted the recommendation to the VFW National Headquarters in Kansas City. MO. citing her as a true “Angel of Mercy”.

There is currently an opening on the Lynnwood Arts board.

You must live within the city limits to apply.

This is an important position for the Post since it reflects on what does and does not go into Veterans park.  Applications can be found here.