FRA BRANCH 126 West Jax FR HALL INC

FRA BRANCH 126 NEWS FOR JULY-AUGUST 2015

PRESIDENT PRESIDENT

FRA BRANCH 126 West Jax FR HALL INC

JAMES J. THOMAS ALVIN D. ROBY

Phone 291-1575 Phone 264-6270

VICE PRESIDENT UNIT 126 PRESIDENT

HERMAN ELROD VERALYN THOMAS

Phone 655-2211 Phone 291-1575

SECRETARY BRANCH CHAPLAIN

MARTHA KLINIKOWSKI Vacant

Phone 342-5032 Phone 291-1575

TREASURER / EDITOR MEMBERSHIP

WILLIAM T. KULIER EDWARD H. GRIBBIN

Phone 771-5237 Phone 269-3845

ADDRESS ALL MAIL TO: FLEET RESERVE HALL, 7673 BLANDING BLVD, JACKSONVILLE, FL 32244-5111

HALL TELEPHONE (904) 771-2126 BRANCH WEB SITE:

JULY - AUGUST2016 EDITION

NOTICE: The items or opinions published in the Branch 126 Newsletter are those of the contributor of that particular article, and not necessarily that of the Editor, FRA Branch 126 Inc., or the Fleet Reserve Association.

JULY 2016

Monday04 July 0800Muster for Parade. (PAGE 3)

Monday11 July 1930West Jax Inc BOD

Wednesday06 July 1930Branch Board of Directors meeting

Thursday 21 July 2000 Branch meeting

AUGUST 2016

Monday 01 Aug 1930 West Jax Inc BOD

Wednesday 03 Aug 1930 Branch Board of Directors meeting

Tuesday04 Aug Happy Birthday US Coast Guard (1790)

Thursday 18 Aug 2000 Branch Meeting

Thursday 25-27 Aug FRA Southeast Region Convention (page 4)

SEPTEMBER 2016

Monday 05 Sept 1930 West Jax Inc BOD (Labor Day)

Wednesday 07 Sept 1930 Branch Board of Directors meeting

Tuesday ?? Sept 1400 Branch Birthday Dinner (page 3)

Thursday 15 Sept 2000 Branch Meeting

The Korean War Veteran’s Association meets at the Branch Hall on the 4th Tuesday of each month. The hall opens at noon and the meeting starts at 1300. The POC is Shipmate Henry Moreland at (904) 384-2031.

FRA BRANCH 126 NEWS FOR JULY – AUGUST 2016

THE PRESIDENT’S CORNER

JAMES J. THOMAS …….… (904) 291-1575

1. Hello Fellow Shipmates, I had the honor to present a 60 year pin and certificate to Shipmate James L. Jilek at our June General Membership meeting. Shipmate Jilek had two daughters and grandchildren present for this great honor. For a Shipmate of 88 years old he was in very good spirits and the Branch Shipmates were glad to have him at the meeting. Also, at the June meeting we presented our 3 high school senior scholarship winners with $1000 each to be sent to their schools in the form a check from Branch 126.

Special Note: Remember this newsletter covers both July and August and the August general membership meeting is being held on August 18th. The Regional Convention is on the 25th through the 27th and is being held in Gatlinburg, TN.

2. Our newest polo shirts seem to have been well received with a number of shipmates wearing them at our Dinner/Celebration and at the last general membership meeting. Remember the Ship’s Store handles every item we sell at the branch (i.e. shirts, hats, patches, and flags). Checkout our column in the newsletter with that title, advertising the items plus their selling price. There is one Shipmate in charge of all things in the Ship’s Store and he is Shipmate Al Peter. Check out the display case as you enter the hall (on your left side) there is an example of the polo shirts for all to see.

3. Shipmates, please keep your membership up by paying your dues. There are many choices on how you can pay your dues from yearly cost up to Life membership. If you are having financial problems and money is tight please contact me or have your family contact me so we can see how we might be able to assist you in keeping up membership. For you more mature Shipmates, once you have reached the young age of 85 and have 40 years continuous membership you will not have to pay dues.

4. For the widows of our past Shipmates we continue to provide you our Branch newsletter and we are happy to do so. However, for you to continue to receive the FRA Today magazine you need to pay FRA Headquarters a yearly fee of $7. They will bill you once you have notified them of your desire to continue receiving the magazine.

The Branch newsletter is also available by email. It saves on postage and production expenses, comes in color and you get it a week before the mailed edition. Send an email to and he will add you to the email listing. You can always shift back to the snail mail listing upon request.

5. You can view current\ past Branch newsletter and Links to interesting web sites at our Web Page at The Web page is maintained by former Branch 126 Shipmate John Higgins who now lives in Pensacola and is a Shipmate in Branch 22. We thank him for his continued support!

If you have any questions with regard to FRA stuff, my telephone number is on the front page of the newsletter and if you are into computers my email address is . If I don’t have an answer I will try and find one for you.

To All Shipmates - Loyalty, Protection and Service. J. J. Thomas

FRA BRANCH 126 NEWS FOR JULY – AUGUST 2016

THE EDITOR’S COLUMN

Bill Kulier (904) 771-5237

1. I want to start by thanking our newsletter production team Shipmates and Ladies for their time and commitment. It takes a great deal of effort to get the newsletter printed, collated, folded, tabbed, labeled and mailed 11 months of the year.

Bill Kulier is the newsletter production coordinator and Editor. He maintains the equipment, orders the supplies, writes and prints the Branch newsletter.

Al Roby, Bill Kulier, Flo Kulier, Al Peterand Johnny Johnson collate, fold and tab the Branch newsletters.

Jack Elrod maintains the data base and prints the address labels.

Ed Gribbin labels and mails the newsletters at the bulk mail facility.We desperately need an assistant to back up this function. If Ed is out of town the newsletters wait to be mailed until he returns!

Al Roby prints the NARFE and Unit newsletters each month and sometimes the Branch newsletter.

LAFRA Unit President Veralyn Thomas is the editor for the Unit Newsletter. She and James Thomas collate, fold, tab and label the newsletter and Ed Gribbin takes it to the bulk mail facility.

2. We need some additional Shipmates to help with these monthly newsletter jobs.

Call me if you can help for a few or more months each year. We are all retired, we all have medical appointments, family commitments and travel.

Flexibility is the name of the game. You contact me, I add your name to the list and call to see if you are available each month.

The collating, folding and tabbing are a group get together for a few hours each month.

3. I went before the Branch Board of Directors this month and received their approval to purchase a replacement Digital Duplicator as the old unit has seen better days. I spent $3400 for the new machine and expect it will last for 8 to 10 years. Bill Kulier

MEMBERSHIP

Edward Gribbin …….…….269-3845

Branch 126 Membership

Membership on 31 May 2016 is 358

New Members………………………....0

Reinstated Members……………….…..0

Transferred Members……………….....0

Terminated Members………………….2

Deceased Members……………....1

Non-payment of dues…………….1

Members Past due…………………...... 4

Shipmates due to renew membership.....9

Deceased Shipmate:

1. ADR1 Arthur W Barker, USN, Retired:

BRANCH ACTIVITIES

Independence Day Parade – 4 July 2016

The Shipmates and Ladies of Branch & Unit 126 will participate in the Independence Parade. Please muster in the 1st Baptist parking lot in Middleburg, Fl at 0800 to help decorate the trailer and to avoid road closings for the Parade.

Wear your Branch Shirt, Ball Cap or whatever and bring the family, children and grand children as we will have plenty of room on the Trailer. This parade starts early to avoid the Heat of the day and is well attended by paraders and spectators!

Branch 67th Birthday - ?? September 2016

Wow! Branch 126 will be celebrating its 67th Anniversary with a dinner at Golden Corral on Blanding Blvd in Orange Park, Florida from from 1400 – 1600 (2 to 4 pm).

The dinner is FREE for all Branch 126 members, Unit 126 members and their significant other or driver. We hope to see you there! The date is TBA!

We thank Alice Kof Jacksonville, FL

for her generous donation to our

Branch News Letter Fund.

We appreciate your support!

CONVENTIONS

25 – 27 August 2016

The FRA 71st Southeast Regional Convention will be held in the Park Vista, 705 Cherokee Orchard Rd., Gatlinburg, TN 37738 from 25 – 27 Aug 2016.

The room rate is $99.00 plus 12.75% tax. or (865) 436-9211. Use the code: Fleet Reserve Association.

09 – 16 October 2016

The FRA National Convention, hosted by Branch 91, will be held at the Lexington Hotel & Conference Center, Jacksonville Riverside,

1515 Prudential Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32207

The daily room rate is $89.00 plus 13% tax for either a King or 2 double beds and includes a hot breakfast for two daily. The parking fee is $5.00 per day.

Reservations: (904) 396-5100 and use the Group Code: Fleet reserve.

FLAG SALES

Al Peter ……………………..……. (904) 777-0781

All Nylon and the Cotton Bulldog flags have sewn stars & stripes while the other Cotton flags have printed stars & stripes. We have the following flags in stock.

3x5’ Nylon Flag---$22.00

4x6’ Nylon Flag--- $30.00
5x8’ Nylon Flag--- $44.00
8x12” Nylon Flag -110.00

3x5’ Nylon POW/MIA Flag---- $ 25.00
We have a few Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard 3x5 Flags in stock for $22.00. Contact Shipmates Al Peter or Bill Kulier to purchase a Flag.

Our Branch 126 meeting is held at 2000 on the 3rd Thursday of each month. The meetings normally last about 45 minutes.

We put out snacks and coffee before the meeting and “make your own” sandwich meats are provided at the end of each meeting.

Free food, coffee and good conversation with your Shipmates! You should be there.

TRICARE Retiree Dental Program

The TRICARE Retiree Dental Program is a voluntary dental plan. You canenroll if you'rea:

Retired service member
Family member of a retired service member
Retired Guard/Reserve member
Family member of retired Guard/Reserve member
Medal of Honor recipient
Family member of Medal of Honor recipient
Survivor

Availability

The plan is available in the United States and all overseas areas.

Coverage - The TRICARE Retiree Dental Program covers:

Exams, cleanings, fluorides, sealants, and x-rays
Fillings
Root canals
Gum surgery
Oral surgery and extractions
Crowns and dentures
Orthodontics

You can see a full list of benefits at

Delta Dental Stateside: 1-888-838-8737
Overseas: (AT&T USADirect Access Number) + 866-721-8737

We thank Blanche M of Jacksonville, FL for her generous donation to our

Branch News Letter Fund.

We appreciate your support!

FRA BRANCH 126 NEWS FOR JULY – AUGUST 2016

Interesting Veterans Statistics off the Vietnam Memorial Wall.

There are 58,267 names now listed on that polished black wall, including those added in 2010. The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. It is hard to believe it is 57 years since the first casualty.

The first known casualty was Richard B. Fitzgibbon, of North Weymouth, Mass. Listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having been killed on June 8, 1956. His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on Sept. 7, 1965.

There are three sets of fathers and sons on the Wall. 39,996 on the Wall were just 22 or younger. 8,283 were just 19 years old. The largest age group, 33,103 were 18 years old. 12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old. 5 soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old. One soldier, PFC Dan Bullock was 15 years old.

997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam. 1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam. 31 sets of brothers are on the Wall. Thirty one sets of parents lost two of their sons. 54 soldiers attended Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia. 8 Women are on the Wall, Nursing the wounded.244 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War; 153 of them are on the Wall.

Beallsville, Ohio with a population of 475 lost 6 of her sons. West Virginia had the highest casualty rate per capita in the nation. There are 711 West Virginians on the Wall.

The Marines of Morenci - They led some of the scrappiest high school football and basketball teams that the little Arizona copper town of Morenci (pop. 5,058) had ever known and cheered. They enjoyed roaring beer busts. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest. And in the patriotic camaraderie typical of Morenci's mining families, the nine graduates of Morenci High enlisted as a group in the Marine Corps. Their service began on Independence Day, 1966. Only 3 returned home.

The Buddies of Midvale - LeRoy Tafoya, Jimmy Martinez, Tom Gonzales were all boyhood friends and lived on three consecutive streets in Midvale, Utah on Fifth, Sixth and Seventh avenues. They lived only a few yards apart. They played ball at the adjacent sandlot ball field. And they all went to Vietnam. In a span of 16 dark days in late 1967, all three would be killed. LeRoy was killed on Wednesday, Nov. 22, the fourth anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination. Jimmy died less than 24 hours later on Thanksgiving Day. Tom was shot dead assaulting the enemy on Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.The most casualty deaths for a single day was on January 31, 1968 ~ 245 deaths.

FRA BRANCH 126 NEWS FOR JULY – AUGUST 2016

The most casualty deaths for a single month was May 1968 - 2,415 casualties were incurred.

For most Americans who read this they will only see the numbers that the Vietnam War created. To those who survived the war, and to the families of those who did not, we see the faces, we feel the pain that these numbers created. We are, until we too pass away, haunted with these numbers, because they were our friends, fathers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters. There are no noble wars, just noble warriors.