You are remembered Gary

49 years ago yesterday I lost my best friends from my high school days. I remember the first day of our Freshman year. It seems like in every class that day they had us setting alphabetical. Every class there sat a redheaded kid named Gary right behind me. We joined the Naval Reserve together in January 1963. We both wanted to go to Hospital Corps School. I knew Gary wanted to join the Marine Corps, but his parents said no. So after graduation Gary and I reported to Hospital Corps School in June 1964. After graduation Gary received orders to the Naval Hospital, Oakland and I went to the hospital at Camp Pendleton.

As soon as he could Gary volunteered for duty withe the Fleet Marine Force. The Corpsmen going to the Marine Corps go to school at Camp Pendleton and he spent a weekend with me. Gary would go to Vietnam and serve with H&S CO, 3RD BN, 1ST MARINES, 1ST MARDIV, III MAF. He died on March 21st, 1966. I was aboard the USS America (CVA 66), on a cruise to the Mediterranean Sea. His death hit me hard. He will always be a hero to me. I miss you and look forward to joining you. There beer in Heaven Doc? I took this picture of Gary while we were in Corps School.

95th Birthday...

The Sotoyome American Legion Family gathered at the Villa Chanticleer on Saturday evening, March 14, 2015, to celebrate the 95^th anniversary of the organization.  Pictured above are Senior Past Commander Manual Lownes (1965 & 1968),  Auxiliary Past President Bettie Crandall (1986 & 1996) and current Commander Tom Grimes.  Manual and Bettie are both WWII Veterans.  Bettie is holding a picture of Herman Jr. Vellutini, who was lost off Guadalcanal when his ship was sunk on  August 9, 1942, with all hands..  His picture has been added to the Missing in Action/Prisoner of War Memorial Table as a reminder of the sacrifices of those who served before us.  (Photo by Harold Bagdonas)

2015 Sotoyome Post 111 Crab Feed - 52 Years

52 Years of Crab!

Post Commander Tom Grimes, Unit 1^st Vice President Eddy Sauers and members of the Sotoyome American Legion Family  introduce the first two Crabs of their 52th annual Crab Feed, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2015.  The menu includes all you can eat crab, salad, bread, beer, and wine.  There is not pasta, no raffle and no auction to distract you from your pursuit of delicious Crab.  Members are selling tickets.  The cost is $50 per ticket.  Proceeds from the dinner supports the programs of the American Legion Post 111.  

Jesse Love

This week the Sonoma County Veteran community lost a survivor of Pearl Harbor and a friend.  I first met Jesse when I first attended the Corn Beef and Cabbage Feed at Post 21.  Later I would serve with in the  40 & 8, an honor society of Veterans. 

Fair Winds and Following Seas Jesse. 

Ernesto John (Ernie) PALMIERI

Today Sotoyome Post 111 of The American Legion conducted honors for Ernie Palmieri, a 58 year member of the Post.  A Healdsburg native, he graduated from Healdsburg High school and  served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, after leaving the service in 1946 he came home to Healdsburg, married, joined The American Legion and raised a family. 

I'm back

I tried this once before and once I changed my password I could not access my blogs.  Hopefully everything will work this time.

SAVED - Serving America's Veterans Every Day

Jimmie Foster, a former Marine turned career soldier, is the first National Commander of The American Legion from the State of Alaska. He has a very simple focus for The American Legion this year: "SAVED", which stands for "Serving America's Veterans Every Day." In his acceptance speech He said "I don't care how you do it, but I want you to ensure that you take care of our Veterans in any way possible. It does not have to be something monumental. Just say 'thank you for serving our country.' That will work."

There are some 33,000 Veterans in Sonoma County. About 10% of these live in the Healdsburg, Windsor and Geyserville area. They are our neighbors, friends and family members. They are strangers and shut-ins. They are people we have talked to for years and, yet we have no idea they are Veterans.

One of Post 111 (Sotomoye American Legion Family) member's has been helping a blind neighbor for 15 years. Another makes 2-3 trips from Healdsburg to Geyserville to help an 88 year old WWII Veteran with dementia and his wife who is nearly blind. He takes them shopping, the doctor or other errands. Sometimes he just sits and talks with them. As Jimmie said, "it does not have to me monumental.

If each of us contributed just one hour a week to helping another Veteran we could have a major impact on their lives and ours too. One thought. We need to brag a little about what we do. It doesn't have to be from a soap box in the middle of the Plaza. At the end of the month we need to let our adjutant know what we did. All this information gets reported to our National Office and it becomes part of our public record, showing we are living up to our charter.

Veterans Helping Veterans

Attention Submariners and former Mare Island employees

The Mare Island Historic Park Foundation is working wo establish a pernmanent home for the tower like dorsal structure, or sail, of the USS Mariano G. Vallejo. They would like to place the sail in historic Alden Park and the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo. The park is part of Mare Island's National Historic District.

The proposed location for the sail is near a marble monument to, among others, military commandere and politician Marinao G. Vallejo, for whom the submarine was named. Her keel was laid down on July 1, 1964; she was lunched on October 23, 1965 and commissioned on December 16, 1966. She served until March 9, 1995, when she was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register.

Visit the "Save the Sail" website and read more about the efforts to save this part of Naval history. http://www.saveoursail.com/. They need to raise $75,000. share this with any submariners or former Mare Island workers who happen to know.

Even those of us who didn't serve on the submarines were touched by Mare Island. For three months in early 1968 the USS Sanctuary (AH17) underwent last minute work at the Mare Island Shipyard before deploying to Vietnam.

Thank you to Healdsburg American Legion Family members Bettie Crandall (Member of Post 111 and president of Unit 111) and Mary Southall, Community Editor of the Scope Newspapers in Marin County and a former president of Unit 111, for sharing this story with me.

The Vietnam Experience: A Soldier's Story

Sotoyome Squadron 111 Honors Daniel Reese

The Sotoyome Squadron 111 Sons of the American Legion, has honored Daniel Reese as their first Squadron Member of the Quarter.

Daniel, seen here serving pancakes at the Post 111 Fathers Day Breakfast in Healdsburg. He is the son of Daniel and Dawn Reese of Window and the grandson of Harold and Rita Bagdonas, also of Windsor. Daniel's eligibility is based on Harold's Air Force service during the Vietnam War. Harold is also a member of Post 111. Daniel's father is also a member of the Squadron.

Daniel was recognized for this efforts at the Fathers Day Breakfast and the annual Fireworks Show in Healdsburg. He is a 3rd grader at Windsor Creek Elementary School.

Membership in the Sons of the American Legion is open to the male descendant if a Legion member or a deceased veteran who served during one of Legion eligibility periods.

Sotyome Squadron 111 is the newest part of the Healdsburg American Legion Family.

Welcome to my Blog

As I started looking at the various publications here in Sonoma County I realized that there is very little published about Veterans in the local media. It's not that what we do is not newsworthy. It's a matter of the struggle between the news editor and the advertising manager. It seems like advertising always wins, since it brings in revenue. At least the Internet has provided us with an alternative. Hopefully this blog will help improve the communications about and between veterans.

According to the California Department of Veterans Affairs there are more than 32,000 of us here in Sonoma County. Together we can accomplish much.

A little about me. I'm retired Navy and a member of Sotoyome Post 111 of the American Legion. I'm also the Charter Commander of Sotoyome Squadron 111 of the American Legion. I'm the Post Service Officer and also assist with public affairs.