Raising a little cane...

One of the really nice things that is done for the Vets that we take on our trips to Washington is the cane that they get prior to leaving.  Each year, the Miami Valley Wood Carvers Association has carved canes for the guys so they will have them if needed when they go to DC.  They really do a nice job and the Vets really like them. These two pictures are from the May 2010 trip.

Ray (in the far lest in this picture) is one of our guys works with the woodcarvers and takes charge of that aspect.  The guys really get a kick out of picking out their own cane.  Some of them even personalize theirs.  One of the guys from this past trip in September took one of his dog tags and fastened it to the cane.  That looked pretty cool and just gave it a personal touch.

When we were done passing them out, we told them to hold the cane up for just a moment.  We told them we were taking them to DC and we expected them "to raise a little cane while there."  We always get a laugh out of that.

Walk softly, men, but carry a big stick!

Hooah

Team Pictures from September 2010 Trip...

This picture (below) was taken at the WWII Memorial following our ceremony honoring those who fell in battle during the Second World War.


This picture (below) was taken at the Korean War Veterans Memorial following our ceremony there earlier that afternoon.


We had 38 Vets on this trip; 2 from WWII and 36 from the Korean War. Most of them were strangers before going on this trip, maybe knowing one or two of the other guys. What a blessing it was to have them be our guests for this trip.

Our next trip is scheduled for May 20-22, 2011. If you would like some information or would like to make a contribution, please send an email to our committee at mbenn391@gmail.com.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. (Burke)

HOOAH

Bonjour, Monsieur Jack...

We just returned from our September 24-26 trip, and really had a great time. There were some tremendous things that took place, and I'll expound on them in subsequent articles. However, the first one I want to present concerns a French lady who was visiting the WWII Memorial. She was looking for a WWII Veteran to meet and talk to. You see, she was about 14 years old or so during the war when American soldiers came thru and liberated their village. The Vet she ran into was Jack Graham, Jr., a WWII Vet who was on our trip. The lady was quite emotional and was just talking and crying all the time. One of her family members translated all of this for the small group gathered around them because she spoke no English. Everyone got the message and it was a very emotional thing for all of the group.

I'm sure this is not the first time this kind of thing has happened there, but it was a first for our group.

As I said, there will be lots of short articles and lots of pictures from this trip coming in the next few weeks. Stay tuned.

And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years.

Hooah

This one's for you , Grandpa...

The Committee has been working very hard to pull in enough money to make another Veterans Trip to DC possible. Sometimes we forget that there are others out there working just as hard to help us. For instance, at last night's meeting, three young men (Jarred, Dylan and Carter) came to present to our group the money they earned this summer selling lemonade, popcorn, candy and sunflower seeds at softball games held at the local field. They also kicked in some of their paper money and also hit up some of their relatives so they would have enough to sponsor their grandfather, Tom, a Korean War Veteran, for this upcoming trip.

I was pretty proud of the boys because they had to help make all their products and stuck it out all summer doing this. The boys are all youngsters and we all know the attention span for youngsters isn't all that long. That's what makes this special, and that's why all of the committee members were very proud of them.

The picture shows Jarred (c) and Dylan (r) presenting a jar of money ($355.00) to Roger, our treasurer. Carter was being a shy boy and was over behind his dad, out of the picture. Also, Dylan wasn't red because he was embarrassed, but because he had been in the pool all day.

Don't wait for people to be generous, show them how.

Hooah

Team Picture...

Here is a copy of the "Team Picture" from our last trip. We took this one at the Korean War Memorial. 45 WWII and Korean War Vets made that trip.

Hooah

Morning Departure of our May Trip...

There's something ominous about rain clouds and the sound of distant thunder at 6:00 in the morning when your group is getting ready to leave on a trip to Washington. For one thing, it's still dark and the spitting rain and clouds don't help.

But the rain only lasted for a short while and we were able to load the buses inside the firehouse, thanks to the Sidney Fire Department and the Shelby County EMA director, Marc Burdiss. That made it much nicer for us, although it was a bit dicey for the school children from the Sidney Middle School who lined the street for our departure.

We've got lots of pictures and I am still going through them to narrow it down to being under a few gigabites. In the mean time, here is a copy of the Proclamation from Mayor Mike Barhorst who welcomed the group and declared May 21-23 as "Honored Veterans to Washington DC Weekend."

I'll buckle down and get the pictures linked to this site so you can see them. If all the smiles on their faces and stories they told were any indication of how well the trip went, the guys had a great time. They all must have told their friends too, because my phone has not stopped ringing since we got back. We are in the process of putting together our September trip and we have almost 50 people lined up so far.

I think the thing that is most rewarding to me about all of this, is that these men and women trust us enough to allow us to take them away from the safety and familiarity of their homes and routines to Washington for 3 days.

There are lots of agencies and people to thank, but a big HOOAH goes to the Vets!


Any questions about this trip or any future ones can be directed to Mike Bennett at: mbenn391@gmail.com.

The courage of a Soldier is almost a contradiction in terms. It is a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die for someone else.

Hooah

Thank, You, Wal-Mart Customers...

If you scan down through this site, you might think all we do is hang out in stores asking for money. Well, we certainly do a lot of that. But it really is rewarding to have people from every walk of life giving to this cause.

One guy said he didn't have much, but he did give us a $5 bill. I told him it was all those people who gave $5 who were getting us there. We certainly got a number of large checks from some very generous donors, but we also got change and $1s and $5s, $10s and $20s and every bit of it counts up toward sponsoring a Vet to see his/her memorials.

I even had one gentleman sign up to be a volunteer, to give his time. He didn't have money to give us, but did have time. Guess what, we'll take it.

We stood out in front of Wal-Mart last week and when we were finished, we had $1,130 toward the trip.

So far, we have 41 Vets on this trip, and quite a waiting list. We have every motel room at the motel and 2 chartered buses, so this is a lot like moving troops -- like I used to do in the old days. All in all, we have 100 people on this trip. That's a lot! The names and numbers can still change as some people may drop out due to health and others will be added. but this is still a big trip.

Well done, Sidney, Shelby County and surrounding areas.

Kindness, like a boomerang, always returns. ~Author Unknown
Hooah

Thank you, Versailles...

This past Saturday, we set up shop at the JOHNS IGA in Versailles, trying to raise funds for the upcoming trip. What a great day!

We were there from 10-3 and raised more than enough money to send one Vet to DC. The people who came in to shop were very supportive and shared some pretty good stories with us about their relatives who might have gone on past trips with us or other trips with other groups. We know unemployment is still a very real thing in that county. So to get that kind of support was very gratifying.

In a way I was surprised that we raised that much money ($373.00), but then again, I wasn't. The kinds of people who grow up in these small towns here, and across the country, are the same kinds who went off to war (then and now) to secure the freedoms of this nation and those of people they would never meet. This day was just a reaffirmation that people like that are still alive and well in America. It started with just a few people that day, and was highlighted by the likes of the man who gave us a $20 bill when he came in the store, and, when he finished his shopping, went to the bank right next door and withdrew $100 from the ATM and came back and gave it to us. He got away before we could even ask his name. I suppose that's the way he wanted it. We just want to thank him, and all the great Americans who stopped by that day.

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.

Hooah

What a Great Bunch of Young Patriots...

I got a call from the guidance counselor at Emerson Elementary School in Sidney a couple of weeks ago. She called to tell me the students at the school had been working on a project to raise funds to support the "Vets to DC" program. We had spent some time with them last fall at their Veteran's Day activities, and they have been very supportive over the years with letters for "Mail Call" and "adopting " some of our WWII Vets. So when she called telling me that the kids had raised some money, I was pleased. When she told me the kids had raised $750.00, I was REALLY surprised.

Ray (one of the really good guys on our committee) and I visited the school this past Wednesday to visit with a group of the children and talk to them about the trip. The top picture shows me tracing the route we will take to DC and answering questions. The middle picture shows us receiving the "check" from the kids. And the bottom picture shows the kids and the banner they made up during this drive.

This was really a great gesture by these young Patriots. The money was raised by collecting pennies one week, nickles the next, and so on up to dollars. The money they gave for this trip could just as easily have been used to buy candy after school, or maybe their school supplies or a toy they might have wanted. But for them to donate it to this cause, to get Veterans they have not yet met to Washington to see their Memorials really says something about them and their families.

I put together a little plaque for the students and the school with this inscription on it: Our sincere gratitude is extended to the students of Emerson Elementary School, Sidney, Ohio for your continued strong support of the Veterans of this country. When you remember and honor us by raising funds for these trips and writing letters for us to read and keep, it warms our hearts and helps us to remember what this is all about – you , the future of this great nation and the freedoms you will enjoy all your lives. Thank you, and God Bless.

When we take our trip, we are going to take a laptop computer and try to hook up a Skype-type of thing between the two Vets in DC and the students at Emerson. That will be way cool, and should really bond these kids to the Veterans. I'll let you all know how this works out.

The purpose of life is not just to be happy - but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all.

Hooah

What would they think of our winter...

I just finished a book about the Battle of the Bulge and got to thinking about our winter and the one those WWII Soldiers endured. When we get too cold or tired of shoveling, we go inside where it’s warm. They couldn’t….there were no warm places for them. When we get tired, we sleep in our warm beds. They slept where they could, usually standing in their foxhole which was frozen, or muddy with water in the bottom. We get too bummed, we can go to Florida. Their only way out was on a stretcher or a short trip to the rear for a cup of coffee and then right back to the front. The story was pretty much the same for Korean War Soldiers who survived those three brutal winters. Thoughts of the Yalu River and Inchon Valley bring involuntary shudders from those who were there.

Take a minute to think how you would like to be out in this weather all the time with not much hope of getting something hot to eat, let alone people shooting at you day and night. It makes me even more thankful for those men and women who did and paid the price for our freedoms and for the freedoms of people they would never know.

So now what? How do you repay people like that? One way is to help sponsor a three-day trip for them to Washington DC to see their memorial. The Shelby County Vets to DC Committee has done this for two years and is currently raising funds to sponsor our next trip on May 21-23.

You can help get these heroes to DC by donating to this cause. Volunteers will be passing out flyers and taking donations in the next couple of months at various places throughout Shelby county and surrounding areas. Also, donations in any amount can be sent to The Shelby County Vets to DC, PO Box 408, Anna, Ohio 45302 and checks should be made out to “VFW Post 4239/Vets to DC.” All donations are tax deductible. You can even sponsor a Veteran’s trip in memory of someone for only $355.00. We’ve had people pass the hat at family picnics or reunions to get enough funds to “send a Vet in Grandpa’s name.” What a great way to honor a Veteran and Grandpa's memory.

The people of Sidney and the Shelby County area have made it possible for over 90 Vets to take this trip to date. We also have another trip scheduled for WWII and Korean War Vets in September. Our pledge to you and them is that we will continue to do this as long as the people support it. But please don’t put it off…some of these heroes won’t have another chance.

I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catchers mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back. (Maya Angelou)

Hooah

Not everything was shut down in Washington this week...

18", 26", 42" and more. These snowfall totals rocked the wholly unprepared Washington area this past week and our nation's governmental process was shut down. The transportation system -- rails, metro, airlines -- were also all driven to the ground. Basically, the whole shooting match came to a grinding halt, for better or worst.

Well, that's not totally true. There was a group of Soldiers that still performed it's honored assignment, still bore "true faith and allegiance" to those who went before, to those Unknown Three who symbolize the sacrifices our Warriors paid for our freedoms.

Thank God for these Soldiers.
Thank God for their devotion to duty.
Thank God for their message.


I dream of a time, maybe not too far from now, when my grandson will ask me, "Grandpa, what was war?"

HOOAH

First Fund Raising Effort for May trip...

This past weekend we began our fundraising efforts for the May trip. The committee worked Friday from 4-8 p.m. and on Saturday from 11-4. During that time, we passed out approximately 1,500 pamphlets describing the upcoming trip. The flyer outlined eligibility for the WWII and Korean War Vets, the trip itself, and the need for donations to pay to get these men and women there.

The Kroger people were very supportive, providing an indoor space for us, a table, and lots of support from the employees. The photo department of the store took pictures of us and sent them into their corporate office to show them our efforts.

We don't have a count on the money yet, but I think we were in the neighborhood of $1,000 being raised for the weekend. We still have a long way to go, but we are started and had a good response from the people of Sidney who shopped at Krogers that weekend. Times are hard for a lot of people, especially in this county. But as we were passing out the pamphlets, some people would stop and talk to us about the trip, some said their parents went on one of the earlier ones and had such a great time. I remember one guy who took one of the pamphlets, never made eye contact and kept on walking out the door. But I saw him looking at the pamphlet and about five minutes later he came walking back in and put some money in the donation box and talked with one of our guys for a couple of minutes. Those are the kinds of people we met this weekend, and we really appreciate them.


Our pledge to them is that as long as they support these efforts and as long as we don't run out of Vets, we'll keep doing this. We are just about out of WWII Vets. We've taken over 90 so far on these trips. So now we're taking Korean War guys and gals and will eventually make it to Viet Nam Veterans. We'll get there with the help of people like that guy, and the three kids who came up and put a whole handful of change in the box, and the lady who took a donor card when we told her about that aspect of the plan and plans to send in a sponsorship donation.

I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. (William Penn)

Hooah

Some shots from our September '09 trip...

The press releases have made it out now and we are starting to receive applications for the May '10 trip. There have been people asking what it is like to take one of these trips, because they are getting older and have reservations about leaving home, if even just for a weekend.

So, I thought I would put some pictures up that show some of the things from the last trip that have been asked about. At the conclusion of the trip, we put out a CD/DVD for the Vets that contained pretty much all of the pictures our photographer took, as well as those given to us by the Vets. We published a "scrapbook" of sorts for them which included some of these pictures. There were several hundred from which to choose, so this is just a sample.


As you can see, it rained on the day the Vets were in DC, but that didn't dampen their spirits.

They didn't get to place a wreath at the Tombs of the Unknown, but certainly enjoyed that part of the trip, and were probably impressed with
the Guards.


Times like these were the guys just got to gather and shoot the bull were pretty special. There probably were some pretty good stories told there..."just between the guys."

Pictured below (l) is some of the "chow" at one of the dinners. It was pretty good stuff -- much better than anything they ate while in uniform.









Mail Call (r) was a hit for all the Vets and their caregivers. Mail was such a big deal during the war, and it certainly was here too. Students from schools throughout the county wrote letters to them, telling the Vets how thankful they were for their sacrifices. Family members also wrote letters as did the volunteers.

These are just a very small sample of the pictures taken, just a tiny part of the memories that were made. Every one of these Heroes deserved this and so much more.

It is only through the generosity of the citizens of Shelby County and the surrounding areas that trips like these are possible. As long as you continue to support them financially, we will continue to put these trips on the road.

The purpose of life is not to be happy - but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all. (Leo Rosten) Our goal is to lets these Vets know that they are appreciated for the difference they made.

Hooah

Just getting started...

I have had a lot of fun doing a blog of my own for the past two years, but now that I am heavily involved with the Shelby County (Ohio) Vets to D.C. Committee, I thought it would be fun to do a blog on that too.

One of our country's greatest assets, the World War II Veteran, is almost extinct, and when that happens, it will be a real tragedy. Gone will be that stable group of patriots who kept us from losing our freedom to Hitler's insanity. And up until this last decade, these men and women were pretty well ignored and pushed to the background. These were our grand parents, the ones who raised some of us, taught us a lot of our values, either directly or through their children. For the most part, these heroes were content to sit back in the shadows and just get on with their life, hardly ever wanting to step out into the limelight or talk about their experiences. They certainly didn't want to be recognized as heroes; they were content with knowing they did their job.

Well, the mission of the Shelby County (Ohio) Veterans to D.C. is to get these heroes to their nation's capitol to see their monument before they die, to shine some of that limelight on them, and to let them know that people really do care and appreciate what they did for us.

In the future, this blog will feature some/all of the veterans who go on these trips with us. We will publish pictures of them in DC, enroute, and at the dinners. We will publish short articles about them (those who will share with us), and try to highlight activities that might pertain to upcoming trips.

For the present time, and as long as the economy and generosity of the people of Shelby County and surrounding areas allow, we will continue to plan for two trips per year, one in the spring (May) and another in the fall (September). These times work out well with the hotels there, the bus line we use and the tourist crush. We would like to think the weather would be better then, but it rained on our last trip this past September. Everyone had a super time though.

Look for our committee members and volunteers out at commercial establishments in the upcoming months, passing out information pamphlets, taking donations, and just getting our message out there to anyone who knows a WWII Vet who has not yet been to see their memorial.

The most imposing force that reverberates through man's history is the beating of a patriot's heart.

HOOAH