Next Meeting July 23, 2014 at the Bettendorf Public Library!

7:00 P.M. - 1900 hours

THE SPIRIT OF ‘776 J U L Y 2 0 1 4 N E W S L E T T E R

V I E T N A M V E T E R A N S O F A M E R I C A C H A P T E R 7 7 6

“ N E V E R A G A I N W I L L O N E G E N E R A T I O N O F V E T E R A N S A B A N D O N A N O T H E R . ”

Vol. 17 Issue 7

Officers and Board of Directors!President Greg Paulline! ! 563 650-3055! ! Dir. David Woods! ! 563 326-8723!Vice-President Lyle Peterson! 563 386-1286! ! Dir. Ed Gaudet! ! 563 349-9456!Treasurer Harold Hansen ! 563 505-9674! ! Dir. Bill Matthews! ! 563 355-5618!Secretary John Lavelle! ! 563 355-4213! ! Dir. Harold Hansen!! 563 391-7776!Web Master Roger Granbois! roger@granbois.net! Dir. Larry Witt! ! 563 388-7179

Classic Car Show - Drive On In!July 19th!

5 PM until ??!North Park Mall!

Enjoy the 60’s Like We Did!!

Service Officers &

Service Coordinators !

Clarke Barnes 309 944-3674

Ed Gaudet 563 343-9456 David Woods 563 326-8723 Ernest Ledjte 563 785-6182 Tom Lemon

563 359-3201 Chuck Morel

563 569-5512 !Honor Guard

Jett Bork 563 528-0636 John Lavelle

563 355-4213

Minutes of June Membership Meeting!The meeting was called to order by President Paulline at 1900 hours with a pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence observed for POW/MIA and those still serving in harms way for our nation., officers present were Vice-president Peterson, Treasurer Hansen, and Secretary Lavelle. Don Valley and Lyle Peterson reviewed some of the needs for the July 19th Car Show at NorthPark Mall. A list was passed among the members and a large number volunteered to work at the event. The Honor Guard will present the colors at 6:00 P.M. If any member works at a business or owns a business and are able to get a donation as a door prize please contact Lyle Peterson. They are expecting 400 to 500 cars at the show and volunteers will help make this a success. The chapter will be taking part in the 2014 Vettes on the River in Le Claire, Iowa on Saturday, September 6, 2014. We will have the honor guard to present the colors and the Midwest Corvette Club is going to support our chapter by donating the proceeds from the car show. We will be needing a number of volunteers for this event also. On August 16th Eriksen Chevrolet will be hosting a Corvette/Chevrolet Car Show in Milan, Illinois at their showroom and we have been asked to provide food and beverages for this event. A list for volunteers will be provided at the next chapter meeting. At the present time we will be needing someone to step up and assume a leadership role for this event. President Paulline presented VVA Certificates of Appreciation to a number of members for their activities during the year, Lyle Peterson, Ed Gaudet, Bill Matthews, Richard “Hawk” Hawkins, and John Lavelle. The minutes of the May meeting were approved as printed in the newsletter. Harold Hansen shared the chapter financial information with the members. We heard that Marla Brundis is now at the Manor Care receiving rehabilitation therapy. This past month we have had three members pass, Craig Dahms, Dennis Frank, and Sammy Smith, may they rest in peace. Larry Witt, the membership chair informed us that we now have 189 members in the chapter. The honor guard received a check for the past quarter from Ch 299 for our participation in local military funerals. The honor guard will march in the Bettendorf 4th of July Parade with the Midwest Corvette Club. They will meet at the staging area at 9:00 A.M. The Bix 7 is approaching and the honor guard will be taking part in the colors presentation and our 50th Anniversary flag will be displayed at the corner of Brady Street and Kirkwood Blvd. September 13th is the Seabee Spaghetti Dinner and Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Dance at Post 26 in Davenport, Bruce Cheeks informed us that he has sold 82 tickets and there is only room for 200 so if you want a ticket you should get one soon. Vets are $5 and Civilians are $10. There will be dinner, door prizes, and dancing. Friday November 7th will begin the Regional VVA Convention in Clinton, IA at the Wild Rose Casino with a meet and greet and happy hour starting at 5:00 p.m. in the Rosewood room. November 8 begins the regional convention meeting at 9:00 a.m. in the Rosewood Room. Invited speakers are LTG. Michael S. Tucker CG First United States Army, VVA President John Rowan, and John Margowski Director Region 6 VVA. There will be a dance at 7:00 p.m. featuring Illusions of Elvis by Junior Talley. Room costs on-site are $59+Tax. Greg Paulline has been quite busy selling the POW/MIA t-shirts and has made another order. We will be having them for sale at several locations this summer. The summer picnic for the Brady Street IANG unit will be August 9th at the Rock Island Arsenal, POC is Lyle Peterson. At the car shows we will have our veterans health initiative booth set up and Greg will be needing a few volunteers to assist with that, contact Greg if you are able to assist. On June 27 through the 29th our chapter will be selling orange clovers, this is our major fund raiser every year and we are hoping for a great deal of help this year. Greg informed the members that this year’s mailing accounted for $296 so far to help with the clover sales. Several chapter members assisted with the planting of flowers at the Davenport Veterans Memorial down near the river at the end of Marquette Street. This year’s VVA Leadership Conference is being held from August 5th through the 9th in Wichita Kansas and the chapter voted to send two members of the chapter this year. Meeting was adjourned. Minutes submitted by John P. Lavelle, chapter secretary.

Bettendorf 4th of July Parade!Jett Bork, Bob Konrardy, Greg Paulline, Bill Matthews, and John Lavelle marched in the parade with the Midwest Corvette Club. Ed Gaudet, Ed Hildebrand, Harold Hansen, Tony LaMantia, Dave Woods, Lyle Peterson and Denny Grey rode in a float that had the chapter banner attached to it. The weather this year was very comfortable and the crowd response was well appreciated by all on board.

This project works in conjunction with the VALOR PROGRAM

Barnes honored for work with veterans!by Claudia Louck!correspondent@qconline.com!GENESEO — A pair of national organizations working to assist veterans have honored Clarke Barnes, of Geneseo, as Pro Bono Advocate of the Year.!Mr. Barnes, a former Marine and a retired circuit judge, received the award from the Center for Veterans Advancement (CVA) and the National Organization of Veterans Advocates Inc. (NOVA)!The annual award “honors and outstanding NOVA member whose program participation exemplifies the pro bono spirit by providing legal services to veterans unable to afford them,” NOVA said.!“As a result of his participation in the program since 2011, Judge Barnes has assisted many disabled veterans recover hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits from the Veterans Administration, affording them the opportunity to access permanent housing and a better quality of life.”!

ONCE A MARINE !ALWAYS A MARINE

!AT WITT’S END by LARRY WITT!

During the weekend of June 27 to 29 Chapter 776 of the Vietnam Veteran’s of America held their annual Clover sales event. Clover sales are our biggest fund raiser of the year and thanks to all of you who volunteer your time at the various stores in the Iowa Quad Cities we had another banner year. Good job everybody. It is heartening to have so many people come up to you and thank you for your service. Some people wanted to make a point of thanking me for my service. For those of us who were spat at and called names when we came home, this could go a long way towards healing old wounds. But also, every member of our chapter should know that we have become a very progressive chapter. We have many fund raisers coming up in the next few months and to do this, we need more people getting involved. If you look at any organization, there are doers and non doers. Doers are members who volunteer as much time as they have available and then some. These are the people who sign up to do whatever event we are taking part in. I am inviting you to be a doer. You don’t have to do everything—just some things.