OWRC-MOAA Briefing BoardA Publication of The Ohio Western Reserve Chapter–Military Officers Association of America

Nov/Dec 2012 • Volume 12 Issue 11 • www.owrc.net and moaa.org P.O. Box 4272 Copley, OH 44321

Photos and article by Col Dick Calta On 4 October 2012, Dick and Linda Calta visited the Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial, located in Avold, France.; a truly humbling experience. This is the largest American World War II cemetery in Europe. The U.S. 80th Infantry Division liberated the surrounding area on 27 November, 1944. Most of the dead here were killed while driving the German forces from the fortress city of Metz, France toward the Siegfried Line and the Rhine River. Initially, there were over 16,000 Ameri-

cans interred in the St. Avold region in France. A temporary military cemetery was established nearby. Free use of Lor-raine as a permanent burial ground was granted by the French government in perpetuity without charge or taxation. The Cemetery and Memorial cover 113.5 acres and contains the largest number of graves of our military dead of World War II in Europe, a total of 10,489.

The Memorial, which stands on a plateau to the west of the burial area,

contains ceramic operations maps with narratives and service flags. High on its exterior front wall is the large figure of St. Nabor, the martyred Roman soldier overlooking the silent host. On each side of the memorial, and parallel to its front, stretch the Tablets of the Miss-ing on which are inscribed 444 names. The entire area is framed in woodland. Seven Medal of Honor recipients are buried in Lorraine. On page six read about Medal of Honor recipient An-drew Miller who’s headstone appeared in the photo.

A Visit to Avold, France–Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial

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OWRC–Briefing Board November/December 2012

Articles in this newsletter, OWRC–MOAA Briefing Board are the opinions solely of the individual authors and do not necessarily express the policy or opinions of the newsletter’s editor or publisher. Also, the individual opinions do not reflect an endorsement by the Ohio Western Reserve Chapter or the national organization of the Military Officers Association of America, unless so indicated [Copyright 2012 Military Officers Association of American All rights reserved.]For the benefit of the members. Questions or comments should be directed to: MAJ David Sears USA-Ret. • P.O. Box 4272 • Copley, OH 44321 E-mail: owrcmoaa@owrc.net

Where: Prime 93 (formally Anthe’s) 4315 Manchester Road Akron, OH 44319-2697

When: Thursday, 15 November 2012

Social: 1800 hrs (6:00 p.m.)

Call to Order: 1830 hrs (6:30 p.m.) Order from Menu (early bird menu) Announcements Dinner Annual business meeting and election of officers Speaker 50/50 drawing

Speaker: MGEN Dan Hahn Chapter Planning for our Future

Attire: Casual Business Dress

RSVP by one of the following methods below, no later than November 13th. This is important for the restaurant manager to staff the establishment accordingly. It also enables the board to have name tags available.

1. Call LTC Dave Riegler at 330-666-2257

2. Email your reservation to: owrcmoaa@owrc.net

OWRC-MOAA—2012 Calendar of EventsNovember10–Marine Corps Birthday 1775 15– Membership at Prime 93 (order

from early bird menu at restaurant) 1800–2030 hrs

Annual business meeting and election of officers

December6– Membership Christmas Party,

Galaxy Restaurant, Wadsworth, Ohio 1800–2100 hrs Please RSVP Officer Installation

16–National Guard Birthday 1636

Notes: All members and spouses are encouraged to attend all chapter/board meetings and activities “VSC” = Veterans Service Center – 1060 E. Waterloo Road, Akron

Plan to Attend Every WednesdaySocial LuncheonMichael’s AMRestaurant1130 hours

1562 Akron Peninsula Rd # 120 at W. Portage Trail Akron, OH 44313

Proposed Slate of OfficersNovember is our annual General Membership Business Meet-ing, and the annual election of officers, in accordance with Article XI of our chapter by-laws. Those who who are nomi-ated are: President–MG Dan Hahn, 1st Vice President–Col Dick Calta, 2nd Vice President–LTC Larry Ashbaugh, Sec-retary–LTC Bart Oldenburg, Treasurer–LTC Dave Riegler. Trustees: 3yrs.—Lt Col Tom Menza 2yrs–MAJ David Sears, 1yr.–LTC Tony Cookro. Nominations still can come from the floor, then nominations will be closed and then a vote on the new officers.

When we are thankful for all that we have been given, we are given more to be thankful for…Happy Thanksgiving

November OWRC-MOAA General Membership Business Meeting

Veterans Day 2012Below are listed some of the restaurants and companies that offer Veteran’s Day discounts, deals, and free meals as a “Thank You” to our veterans and active-duty military for their service to our nation. Check out http://www.lewpblog.com/2012/10/22/veterans-day-appreciation-offer for updates to this list. Restaurants with Veterans Day Free Meals: Applebees–Sunday, November 11, 2012Denny’s–Mon. November 12, 2012, all you can eat pancakesGolden Corral–Monday, Nov. 12, 2012 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Chili’s–Sunday, November 11, 2012Olive Garden–Monday, November 12, 2012 T.G.I. Fridays–Monday, November 12, 2012Texas Roadhouse–Monday, November 12, 2012 till 4 p.m.Outback Steakhouse–free blooming onionHooters–Get 10 free boneless or traditional style wings. Retail Stores–Home Depot & Lowes offers a 10% discount

The Ohio Western Reserve Chapter has had a successful year for new member-ship. This year we are excited to have 12 new members in our Chapter and they are going to bring us new talent and energy in the coming years. Two of the new members Larry Ashbaugh and Bart Oldenburg have agreed to serve as Second Vice President and Secretary, respectively. Of course our Secretary position has been vacant for a while, so many thanks to Bart for willingly jump-ing in to help us. They will be elected and installed in November.Ernie Stadvec joined our Chapter at the beginning of this year. Ernie is a former Air Force officer who served in WW II and the Korean War. Ernie also has his own Internet TV station and we may have an opportunity to use his talents at the upcoming State convention that OWRC will host this fall. Ernie and his wife Elizabeth live in Akron.Dick Wray, a retired Air Force officer and recently retired from Lockheed-Martin has joined our Chapter this year. Dick and his wife Beryl live in North Canton and are welcome additions to the Chapter.Bud Keim, joined our Chapter this past winter and is a former Naval Officer who has worked for the Canton City Health Department. He and his wife Carol live in Canton.

Brandon Calhoun is a for-mer Army officer who had two tours in Iraq. He works for Chesapeake Energy and is a 2001 graduate of West Point. He and his wife Heather and daughter Adalynn live in Green.Brandon Calhoun also recruit-ed two other new members for

our Chapter. Mike and Krissy Hostetler are both former officers. Mike was an Engineer in the Army and works at Chesapeake Energy and his wife Krissy is a former Engineer in the Air Force. Both of them served tours in Iraq.Larry Ashbaugh is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel. After joining our Chapter, Larry immediately volunteered to be

our legislative liaison. His wife Jackie is retired from US Navy. Larry ran for County Council in Summit County in 2012. We look forward to Larry serving as Second Vice President.Mark Piccone is an active duty Army LTC who is an Aviation officer. Cur-rently, he is the Professor of Military Science at Kent State University and he has been extremely helpful in terms of our outreach to ROTC at KSU. We look forward to working with him during this academic year. Unfortunately, he will leave Kent at the end of this aca-demic year but he is a lifetime member of MOAA.Bart Oldenburg is retired from the Army and when he first arrived at our golf outing in July, he immediately told us that he wanted to help out in anyway he could. Bart begins his duties as Chap-ter Secretary and will be an enormous help. We are glad to have Bart and his wife Dianne with us. Our newest members attended the October meeting at Prime 93. Mike and Ann Besch are now lifetime members of MOAA. Ann was unable to attend in October but Mike Besch is a Professor and Program Director at the University of Akron. Mike is an Army veteran of 28 years active duty. He had 3 tours in Viet-nam and was also in Desert Storm. He is a double Purple Heart Recipient as well. His wife Ann is also a veteran of the US Navy. We look forward to meeting her. Our third new member in October is Charles “Skip” Watters. He is a retired Amy Lieutenant Colonel who lives in Akron. We look forward to his participa-tion as active Chapter member. Skip is also a lifetime MOAA member.Another new member is Ron Smetana and his wife Sara Berls. Ron is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, they live in Akron. We look forward to their partici-pation in our chapter in the coming year.Please make an effort, if you have not met all of these new members, to in-troduce yourself and make them feel

New Ohio Western Reserve Members for 2012 — Please Welcome Them

Smetana

Watters

Besch

Oldenburg

Piccone

AshbaughStadvec

Wray

Keim

Calhoun

Hostetler’s

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OWRC–Briefing Board November/December 2012

A MOAA Chapter in Action Page 3

welcome. Thanks to all our new members for taking time out of your lives to join our Chapter and support our organiza-tion. Hopefully all our new members will be able to join us at our Christmas Party at the Galaxy Restaurant in Wad-sworth on Dec. 6, this year. If we can continue to bring in new members at this same pace next year, we will truly have momentum going in the right direction. I am positive if many of us work to bring in new members we will do even better next year.

Dan Hahn

How Will the Election Results Affect the Military Community?Every passing presidential election seems to be more and more polarizing, and adherents of whichever party loses tend to bemoan an alleged national decline.But the fact is that the military community is much more af-fected by the issues than by whoever wins the White House.In the current situation, the country, the Pentagon, and mili-tary members and families of all ages face some of the most daunting economic conditions in generations. No matter who is president, the next few years are likely to see increasing calls for force reductions, pay raise caps, retirement changes, TRICARE fee hikes, and more.Even presidents who initially pledged to support/rebuild the military after periods of budget shortfalls ended up proposing new cutbacks by the end of their terms.And virtually every Administration of either party has pro-posed whacking pay raises, health care and more at one point or another.Almost all of the big legislative gains of the past dozen years, from restoring full pay comparability to winning TRICARE For Life, concurrent receipt, SBP improvements, and the GI Bill, have been won despite strident objections of the Ad-ministration in charge at the time – whether Republican or Democrat.And no matter what rosy campaign promises were made by anybody, the solutions to the country’s current fiscal problems are going to involve significant sacrifices for every segment of Americans, including the military.With a still-sharply-divided Congress, where the Republicans control one chamber and the Democrats control the other, no president can ram programs through without significant sup-port from the other party.It’s that system of checks and balances that (hopefully) helps avoid the worst possible outcomes – and lets the politicians blame “the system” for the failure of any proposals that aren’t good enough to win at least a modicum of consensus.

Vets Aren’t Taking the HillAt the start of the 112th Congress of 2011-2012, only 25% of U.S. senators and 20.5% of U.S. representatives had served at least some period in military uniform (active duty, Guard, or Reserve).That percentage has been declining steadily since it peaked at 74% for the House (1969-70) and 78% for the Senate (1977-78).The decline will continue when the newly minted 113th Con-gress takes office next year.In the new Senate, there will only be 19 veterans (19%) following the departures of Senators Akaka, Lugar, Brown, Bingaman, Webb, and Kohl. None of the incoming freshmen senators have military experience.In the House, the percentage of veterans also slipped to roughly 19.5%. A total of 86* veterans (84 voting representa-tives and 2 non-voting delegates) will return to Washington in January.* This estimate assumes that current projections will hold up in some still-contested districts, and Martha McSally holds on to win Arizona’s 2nd district and Allen West loses Florida’s 18th district. Both races were very close and could head to a recount. A run-off in Louisiana’s 3rd district (where one candidate is a vet) is scheduled for December, and was not included among the 86.

Final COLA AnnouncedIt’s official. The 2013 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for military retired pay, SBP annuities, Social Security checks, and VA disability and survivor benefits will be 1.7%, effective December 1, 2012. It will first appear in the January checks, which will be paid on December 31. The 1.7% 2013 COLA will be the fourth-lowest COLA since the turn of the century – trailing only the zero-COLA years of 2009-10 and the 1.4% of 2002.

Welcome New Members

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November/December 2012 OWRC–Briefing Board

Don’t Triple Military Rx CopaysThis week (starting Nov. 13) is a crucial one, as the Senate returns to take up the Defense Authorization Bill. As now written, the Senate bill would let DoD triple TRICARE pharmacy copays.The House bill would prevent that by requiring a one-year trial of using the mail-order pharmacy for maintenance medi-cation refills by TFL beneficiaries.97% of beneficiaries say they prefer the House plan to the huge Senate copay hikes.But the big drug stores are making huge political contribu-tions to fight the House plan and stick you with big copays.Go to MOAA web site for more information and letters to congressmen and senators.

A MOAA Chapter in Action Page 4

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November/December 2012 OWRC–Briefing Board

Accepting Chapter Dues for 2013

Name: ______________________________________________________ Spouse 1st Name ____________________

Rank:__________Branch of Service:________ Active Reserve Former National Guard Retired

Address: ________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Home Phone: ______________________________ Cell Phone ____________________________________________

E-mail: ________________________________________________________________________________________

Newsletters will be emailed, if you prefer postal service, check this box

Chapter Member Dues = $20/yr from Jan. 1 to Dec 31 Enclosed is a check for: $__________Make Check Payable To

and Mail To: OWRC-MOAA • LTC David Riegler USA, Ret. • OWRC Treasurer • P.O. Box 4272 • Copley, OH 44321

With Pay Without

Pay

OWRC-MOAA Annual Christmas PartyWhere: The Galaxy Restaurant

201 Park Centre Dr. Wadsworth, OH 44281

When: Thursday, 6 Dec 2012Social: 1800 (6:00 p.m.) with hors d’oeuvresCall to Order 1830 (6:30 p.m.) Music preludeDinner: 1850Program: 1930 (7:30 p.m.) Installation of

Officers/Cookie ExchangeAttire: Coat & Tie/EquivalentCookie Exchange and Dessert: Please bring 2 dozen cookies. The cookies will be our dessert and then you should leave with at least 11⁄2 dozen of a variety of cookies.

RSVP: Please send reservation by mail no later than Saturday, December 1st or call LTC Dave Riegler at 330-666-2257or email owrcmoaa@owrc.net or go to the web site owrc.net and events tab.

Reservation Form: Each entrée includes: salad, roll, potato, beverage, tax and gratuity.

Pork Tenderloin ______ @ $28.00=$ ___________

Angus Beef Steak ______ @ $29.00=$ ___________

Baked Scrod ______ @ $26.00=$ ___________

My check is enclosed for this amount $ ___________ Mail your reservation to: OWRC-MOAA • P.O. Box 4272 • Copley, OH 44321

Include the following information:

Rank/Name

Spouse/Guest Name

Address

City/State/Zip

Phone

OWRC–MOAA Briefing Board Ohio Western Reserve ChapterP.O. Box 4272Copley, OH 44321

Place Stamp Here

Page 6 A MOAA Chapter in Action

Address Label Here

Andrew MillerRank and Organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company G, 377th Infan-try, 95th Infantry Division.Place and Date From Woippy, France, through Metz to Kerprich Hemmers-dorf, Germany, 1629 November 1944.Entered Service at: Two Rivers, Wis. Birth: Manitowoc, Wis. G.O. No.: 74, 1 September 1945. Citation: For performing a series of he-roic deeds from 1629 November 1944, during his company’s relentless drive from Woippy, France, through Metz to Kerprich Hemmersdorf, Germany. As he led a rifle squad on 16 November at Woippy, a crossfire from enemy ma-chine guns pinned down his unit. Or-dering his men to remain under cover, he went forward alone, entered a build-ing housing 1 of the guns and forced S Germans to surrender at bayonet point. He then took the second gun single-handedly by hurling grenades into the enemy position, killing 2, wounding 3 more, and taking 2 additional prison-ers. At the outskirts of Metz the next day, when his platoon, confused by heavy explosions and the withdrawal of friendly tanks, retired, he fearlessly remained behind armed with an auto-matic rifle and exchanged bursts with a German machinegun until he silenced the enemy weapon. His quick action in covering his comrades gave the pla-toon time to regroup and carry on the fight. On 19 November S/Sgt. Miller

led an attack on large enemy barracks. Covered by his squad, he crawled to a barracks window, climbed in and cap-tured 6 riflemen occupying the room. His men, and then the entire company, followed through the window, scoured the building, and took 75 prison-ers. S/Sgt. Miller volunteered, with 3 comrades, to capture Gestapo officers who were preventing the surrender of German troops in another building. He ran a gauntlet of machinegun fire and was lifted through a window. Inside, he found himself covered by a machine pistol, but he persuaded the 4 Gestapo agents confronting him to surrender. Early the next morning, when strong hostile forces punished his company with heavy fire, S/Sgt. Miller assumed the task of destroying a well-placed machine gun. He was knocked down by a rifle grenade as he climbed an open stairway in a house, but pressed on with a bazooka to find an advantageous spot from which to launch his rocket. He discovered that he could fire only from the roof, a position where he would draw tremendous enemy fire. Fac-ing the risk, he moved into the open, coolly took aim and scored a direct hit

on the hostile emplacement, wreak-ing such havoc that the enemy troops became completely demoralized and began surrendering by the score. The following day, in Metz, he captured 12 more prisoners and silenced an enemy machine gun after volunteering for a hazardous mission in advance of his company’s position. On 29 November, as Company G climbed a hill overlook-ing Kerprich Hemmersdorf, enemy fire pinned the unit to the ground. S/Sgt. Miller, on his own initiative, pressed ahead with his squad past the company’s leading element to meet the surprise resistance. His men stood up and advanced deliberately, firing as they went. Inspired by S/Sgt. Miller’s leader-ship, the platoon followed, and then another platoon arose and grimly closed with the Germans. The enemy action was smothered, but at the cost of S/Sgt. Miller’s life. His tenacious devotion to the attack, his gallant choice to expose himself to enemy action rather than endanger his men, his limitless bravery, assured the success of Company G. His Medal was posthumously awarded to him on September 1, 1945.