Vet to Vet Meeting

Veterans Day Weekend Celebration

Where: Monroe County 4H Fairgrounds When: November 5, 2011 I beam from Twin Towers in New York will be on display Time: 9:00 am to 1:00 am

Bands schedule to appear are: Kings Cave, Anguish Riders, GF Stella, Blind Rebel, Hype War Machine, and Limited Slip. Silent Auction: Items: Harley Davidson Cooler, Autographs items; Martina McBride picture, Book – Robin Williams, Rick Springfield picture, CD, and book, Jeanie – "I dream of Jeanie" Barbara Eden, Kurt Busch – Picture, Picture and Book – Ted Nugent, License Plate, Picture, Mouse Pad and Autograph Picture – Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Hat – Larry the Cable Guy, Grease Movie Poster – John Travolta, Nascar Magazine – Jimmy Johnson, Hat – Paul Jr – Orange County Choppers, autograph CD from Joe Diffie, Diamond Rio, Toby Keith, Kris Kristofferson, Nice watercolor drawing from Karsten Mouras and plus more coming in. Vendors welcome, has space inside building (has sides open but very clean and very suitable, has electric, room for 30 vendors) also have space outside building for vendors. Registration is on our web site: www.disabledvetwish.org 40 inside & 30 outside. Corn hole Tournament: 30 dollars per team, each team bring a half of board and their beanbags, 60 percent payback, registration is on our web site. DVWF/IN sanction fundraiser, all proceeds going to DVWF/IN. A wish does make a difference.

OUR HEROES TREE

DEDICATION

11 NOVEMBER, 2011

10:00 AM

BLOOMINGTON, IN

CITY HALL

The Monroe County Chapter of the American Red Cross is pleased to be sponsoring Our Heroes Tree for 2011. The dedication of Our Heroes Tree will be included in the Veteran’s Day program at City Hall.

Please join us in honoring those who are serving or have served this great country by placing a home-made ornament honoring your own hero on the tree.

Our Heroes Tree will be on display in the Showers Building Atrium from November 11 through 23.

Please contact the Service to Armed Forces Coordinator for more information, or to schedule your group to hang

ornaments at tom.triplett@monroe-redcross.org or call

(812) 332-7292.

Ivy Tech Bloomington

Opening Ceremony Starts at 830am

The National Roll Call starts promptly at 9am

Chalk Art Contest with a Freedom theme starts at 930 (win a free class)

Holiday Cards for the Troops 9am

Remnant Trust and Veterans Display

VA Discussion starts at 11am

Indiana University

Please join us for a brief ceremony marking the

opening of the digital display of theGolden Book

Friday, November 11, 2011

9:00 a.m. IMU Memorial Room

This project is funded by a generous grant from the IU Parents Fund

Immediately followed by

The Remembrance Day Roll Call

Refreshments will be served all day in the Veterans Support Services student lounge located in IMU M084

Helping homeless vets move forward.

By Larry Catt H-T columnist
September 10, 2011

Whether you read the last column about the Stand Down for veterans experiencing homelessness, or if it is your first time to hear about the event, this column will update you. The Stand Down will take place 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Oct. 13 at American Legion Post 18, 1800 W. Third St. In addition to providing the facility for this event, the American Legion will also be providing lunch. Shuttle service for veterans attending the Stand Down will be available from the Shalom Center to the American Legion. Return trips to the Shalom Center will also be provided. Again, I want to remind veterans attending the Stand Down to bring either their DD form 214 or VA issued ID card to gain admittance. James Brown at the Shalom Center can help you with this. The Veterans Affairs Office at 214 W. Seventh St., phone 349-2568, can also help. Many individuals and organizations in our community have put forth considerable time and effort to provide veterans attending the Stand Down with personal items and services to help them move forward with their lives. The following is a list of items and services that will be available to veterans attending the Stand Down. The Social Security Administration will have representatives on site to complete applications for new Social Security cards and provide print outs verifying social security numbers. The Bureau of Motor Vehicles will have their RV mobile office on site to provide state ID cards. You will need proof of your mailing address for this service. Pure Style Hair Salon from Ellettsville will be there to provide free hair cuts from 10 a.m.-noon. Family and Social Services Administration will have staff available to help with Food Stamps and Medicaid applications. Work One staff will be there to provide employment counseling and help veterans apply for employment services. VA representatives and the Homeless Team will be there to help apply for VA benefits and health care. IU school of Optometry will offer vision screens. Legal assistance will be provided by Jacob Atz Law Offices and Indiana Legal Services. Back Street Mission will offer spiritual counseling. Shalom Center will provide staff to request birth certificates. Bloomington AMVETS Post 2000 will cover the cost of this service. Blood sugar tests, HIV tests, hepatitis tests and blood pressure screens will be available. There will be Army surplus duffle bags filled with an array of items including sleeping bags, socks, underwear, hats, gloves, scarves, toiletries and snacks.

War heroes take the trip of a lifetime

Veterans get free flight to visit war memorials in D.C.

By Andy Graham 331-4215|agraham@heraldt.com
November 13, 2008

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The applause started as a smattering, then grew to a crescendo as the 40 veterans of the first Hoosier Honor Flight deplaned Wednesday morning at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. A simple announcement regarding the arrival of World War II veterans prompted the salute from fellow Americans waiting in the terminal to board their own flights. The ovation continued unabated for 10 minutes, until every veteran was off the plane from Indianapolis. “I’ll tell you, that was thrilling,” said William Pearson, 84, who served in the South Pacific. “That alone was enough to make the trip worthwhile.” But there was plenty more on the agenda when the veterans — hailing from Monroe, Morgan, Brown, Greene and Lawrence counties — reached their primary destinations at the National Mall in Washington and at Arlington National Cemetery. The one-day trip, organized by Col. John Tilford, U.S. Army Reserve retired and several other volunteers, showcased the World War II Memorial. That remains the primary impetus of the nonprofit Honor Flight movement, which began three years ago in Ohio — to help World War II vets get a look at their memorial while there is still time with expenses-paid trips. The nation is losing World War II veterans at a rate of nearly 1,200 per day. Of the more than 16 million Americans who served, 12 million have since died. Wednesday’s trip also featured side junkets to the Lincoln Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, the Korean Veterans Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial in Washington. And more happy greetings ensued. Russell Watson, whose 21st birthday was Dec. 7, 1941, was stationed at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attack came that morning.

Wednesday, when he stepped off the bus at the World War II Memorial, he had a much nicer surprise. His daughter, Rebecca Watson-Hillenburg, and grandson, Russell Hillenburg, had flown up from Texas to spend the day with him. “This is something we wanted to share with my dad, a memory for all of us,” Watson-Hillenburg said. “He had wanted to come here two years ago, then couldn’t make it, so he’s especially grateful to have had this chance today.” Watson and his family members posed for pictures next to the spot at the memorial where Roosevelt’s famous “date which will live in infamy” quotation was inscribed in the granite.

Not everything at the memorial was sobering. At the other side, near the Pennsylvania column, several of the visiting vets got to grinning when they found a piece of graffiti once very familiar to them: “Kilroy was here.” But once across the Potomac into Virginia, the veterans saw the Iwo Jima memorial and were taken to Arlington National Cemetery, where at least 342,000 are interred, marked by seemingly endless rows of white tombstones marching across the rolling hills. At the national cemetery, they witnessed the changing of guard ceremony and laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Clarence Alexander, Lawrence Edwards, Glenville Barringer and Charles Wier were randomly selected from the contingent to lay the wreath. It was a fitting end to a visit which, overall, went very smoothly. It was the first full day of flights at Indianapolis International Airport’s spectacular new terminal but, despite hiccups such as Southwestern Airline personnel arriving to discover their computers had no keyboards, things stayed pretty much on schedule for the group all the way through the concluding “pre-planned mess” at Mooresville’s Gray Brothers Cafeteria. The vets and their chaperones, the latter paying around $400 apiece to do their part for the junket, were clearly pleased. “It was a long day,” said Bloomington’s Jim Siscoe, who served in Italy with the 11th Mountain Division, “but a really good one.” Another flight is already being planned for this spring, with about 20 local veterans signed on.

Those interested in participating can call 812-349-2568, e-mail vethelp@co.monroe.in.us or write the Monroe County Veteran Affairs Dept., 240 W. Seventh St., Room 240, Bloomington, IN 47404.