Show your appreciation to the Veterans!

This is kind of last-minute as I’ve worked at helping our fellow Veterans and their families in need by way of collecting donations for Buddy Poppies at the local Fred Meyer.  I’ve done this for the last two weekends and on Veteran’s Day I will also be attending the Ceremony at the Veteran’s Gateway at the Washington Country Fairgrounds to further help my VFW Post #2666.  I hope many of you will be there to see the VFW Color Guard in action; it takes place again on November 11th at 11:00 AM.

For those of you unable to attend, but you’ll still be out and about, Give Thanks to all the Veterans you meet this day.  They will appreciate your thanks and support!  To those of you who plan on staying at home to watch the games, take a break at half-time and go out and Thank a few yourself!  The Veterans gave of themselves in time, lives and their health for you, it is the least you can do for them.

To my brothers in uniform, whether now or sometime in the past I can only say this to them all . . . THANK YOU, BROTHERS AND SISTERS!!  And you will always be in my thoughts forever for your sacrifice and love of country!

Bless All of You and may you be in His favor always.

SparkChaser4

Captain Larry James Hanley has come home!

Captain Larry James Hanley, a MIA Vietnam Vet has come home!  I would like to welcome home another brother from “across the pond”.  He’s originally an US Air Force Jet Engine Mechanic from Walla Walla, Washington.

For some more background on the man, see the webpage here at the Union-Bulletin.com website.  For more information on his posthumous promotion to Major and of his funeral, please see the webpage here, also at the Union-Bulletin.com website.

It warms my heart every time I hear of another “brother-in-arms” coming home to finally receive the long-awaited peaceful rest he so rightly deserves.  May the good Lord receive him unto his fold and watch over him until once again he is reunited with his family in the hereafter.

Welcome home my Brother,

SparkChaser4

Another “Brother” home from Vietnam

From Military.Com – Jul 03, 2013

Soldier Killed in Vietnam War Copter Crash Buried

A Vietnam War soldier missing since his helicopter was shot down in 1970, was identified
and laid to rest Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery.

Dozens of family members gathered in Section 60 to watch a horse-drawn caisson deliver the remains of
Army Spc. John L. Burgess in a casket draped with the American flag.

 

Find the rest of the article at their website located HERE.

Welcome home, my brother!  You’ve done us proud!

SparkChaser4

Memorial Day Wish

Hi everyone, I’ve been rather busy around the house working on many projects including collecting donations for my local Veteran’s of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post in Hillsboro, Oregon by way of Poppies.  As one of many Veterans, I had to stop long enough to make this heartfelt wish.

To all my brother Veterans whether you are still active, retired or simply an honorably discharged Veteran like myself; I want to wish you my deepest thanks and blessings to all that have chosen to serve this country when she needed us the most.  And to those of our brothers who never returned, may you be at peace and may the good Lord watch over and keep you until once again we are all reunited by his side.

For this last group I must say this, that they indeed are what are called true heroes and as quoted from the Holy Bible:

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”  —John 15:13

Blessed be our warriors and heroes . . .

SparkChaser4

Another “Brother” comes home

This article originated on Military.Com here.  (Check the Military.Com website for further comments about our returning Captain.)   We welcome another “Brother” home at last!  Welcome Capt. Campbell, you’ve long since earned your rest. 

The remains of a U.S. pilot missing since the Vietnam War were identified as those of Capt. Clyde W. Campbell of Texas, the Defense Department said Wednesday.  The department’s POW/Missing Personnel Office said in a release Campbell’s remains would be returned to his family. He is to be buried with full military honors Thursday in Arlington National Cemetery.  The Air Force pilot, who was from Longview, Texas, was flying an A-1J Skyraider that crashed March 1, 1969, while carrying out a close air-support mission in Houaphan province in Laos.

Peace be upon him in the name of our Lord Almighty.

SparkChaser4

National Moment of Remembrance

On this Memorial day show your appreciation for your freedoms earned by the blood of your Veterans.  Check the link below and don’t forget to set your alarm for 3:00 PM, May 28th, 2012!

Link: http://www.usba.com/remembermemorialday/

Bless all the Soldiers that have served or are serving this nation. You have done well, my brothers!

SparkChaser4

I Am A Veteran by Doug Lund

I Am A Veteran

For over two centuries we have kept our nation safe.
Purchasing freedom with our blood. To tyrants, we are
the day of reckoning; to the oppressed, the hope for the
future. Where we were needed, we were there…We are
Veterans!

Whether we were Eagles guarding the Heavens …
grunts being King of our Hill or Seawolves stalking our
prey under the waves … we all were and are Veterans
…. Sworn Defenders of our Constitution. We built our
Fortress of Liberty …. We guarded the Gates of Freedom
… We signed the Blank Check … payable in blood.

We had not yet even begun to fight but we were there
from the beginning, meeting the enemy face to face,
will to will. Hardship and glory we have known. Our
bleeding feet stained the snow at Valley Forge; our
frozen hands pulled Washington across the Delaware.
At Yorktown, while the sunlight glinted from the sword,
we, begrimed… saw our Nation born.

At New Orleans, we fought beyond the hostile hour,
showed the fury of our long rifle… and came of age.

We were with Scott at Vera Cruz… hunted the guerilla
in the mountain passes… and scaled the high plateau.
The fighting was done when we ended our march many
miles from the old Alamo.

From Bull Run to Appomattox, we fought and bled.
Both Blue and Gray were our colors then. Two masters
we served and united them strong… proved that this
nation could right a wrong… and long endure.

We led the charge up San Juan Hill … scaled the walls
of old Tientsin… and stalked the Moro in the steaming
jungle … still always the vanguard.

At Chateau-Thierry, first over the top, then we stood
like a rock on the Marne. We cracked the Hindenburg
Line… We broke the Kaiser’s spine… and didn’t come
back home ’till it was “over, over there.”

A generation older we briefly bowed at Pearl Harbor
and Bataan, but then vowed to return. We fought and
won the greatest naval battles in history, from Midway
to Guadalcanal to Okinawa. Our foe fought to the death
and we set the Rising Sun.

We Assaulted the African shore… learned our lessons
the hard way in the desert sands… we pressed our
buttons into the beach at Anzio… and bounced into
Rome with determination and resolve.

We cleared the skies over Europe with wild Mustangs,
Lightnings and Thunderbolts.

We crossed the English channel… Breached Hitler’s
Atlantic Wall… We broke out at St. Lo… Unbent the
Bulge… Vaulted the Rhine… and swarmed the
Heartland. Hitler’s dream and the Third Reich died. We
won the Greatest War in History.

At birth our Air Force won its first victory… by feeding
freedom from the jaws of an evil dictator and proved
that All Freemen are Berliners

In Korea, we gathered our strength around Pusan…
swept across the frozen Han… outflanked the Reds at
Inchon… marched to the Yalu, and kept a nation free.

At the brink of World War … We caused our enemy to
blink.

In Vietnam, while others turned aside, We fought the
long fight, from the Central Highlands to the South
China Sea. We patrolled the jungle, the paddies, the
rivers and owned the skies in the bitter test that belongs
to the betrayed. While WE never lost a battle, we came
home to be spit on.

Around the world, we stand… ever forward. At Berlin’s
gates, we scorned the Wall of Shame. We spanned the
Caribbean in freedom’s cause, answering humanity’s
cry. In Santo Domingo we patrolled the streets to
protect the innocent. In Grenada, we jumped at Salinas
rescued our fellow citizens and proclaimed freedom for
all. Our arms set a Panamanian dictator to flight and
once more raised freedom’s flag. In the Persian Gulf,
we drew the line in the desert and won the Mother of
all Battles.

When cowards attacked women and child on 9-11,
we planted the seeds of freedom in the cradle of
civilization. We will not submit… we will not convert…
the cowards can run… but they will only die tired.

Where brave men fight… there I fought and stood. In
freedom’s cause… I live and I kill. From Concord Bridge
to Heartbreak Ridge, from the Arctic to the Mekong,
from the Caribbean to Kabul…Always ready… then, now,
and forevermore.

My bayonet…on the wings of power… keeps freedom
worldwide. And despots, falsely garbed in freedom’s
mantle, falter… hide…. And die.

I Follow… I Teach… I Aid… I Lead… I am a Veteran!  FOLLOW ME!
Adapted from “I Am the Infantry” by Doug Lund, USMA ‘85

Many thanks Doug! From your “brothers”!

SparkChaser4

Another brother Vietnam Veteran comes home!

Image via Wikipedia

The remains positively identified as Colonel Leo S. Boston have returned home from Vietnam. He had gone down in April 27, 1966 in his A-1H Skyraider plane and will be laid to rest at the U.S. Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs. See the complete article here. May the Good Lord watch over him and his family during this belated period of closure. God Bless!

SparkChaser4

Vietnam War airman’s remains identified

Missing Vietnam War airman’s remains identified

This article from CNN in full print found here.

By the CNN Wire Staff – June 8, 2011 5:53 a.m. EDT

(CNN) — The remains of a U.S. Air Force pilot listed as missing in action since his plane crashed in Laos in 1967 have been identified, and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors, the Defense Department’s POW/Missing Personnel Office said Tuesday.

On June 21, 1967, Capt. Darrell J. Spinler was piloting an A-1E Skyraider — a propeller-driven, single-seat aircraft — attacking enemy targets along the Xekong River in Laos when villagers reported hearing an explosion before his aircraft crashed. The pilot of another A-1E remained in the area for more than two hours but saw no sign of Spinler.

In 1993, villagers who witnessed the crash told a joint U.S.-Laotian team led by Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) that Spinler’s body was on the river bank after the crash, but that it likely washed away during the ensuing rainy season. The team surveyed the location and found wreckage consistent with Spinler’s aircraft.

Note:  During my time over in Asia as an aircraft electrician, I worked on many of the A1-E Skyraiders there. They were referred to by the call-sign of “Sandy” by the men on the ground and we repair crews, and were thought of highly for their ability to loiter for long periods of time while providing necessary ground cover to the men. Please welcome home at last another “lost brother”, Capt. Darrell J. Spinler.  And may God bless him and his family, and give him the peace he’s rightly earned. Amen.

Hand . . . Salute!

SparkChaser4

Arlington Cemetery update . . . again?

For those of you keeping score, this is my fifth update since my original post on June 11th of last year.  All about the ongoing screw-up happening at our national cemetery on misidentified graves.  They are dated: June 11th (the original), June 21, July 27, August 4 and September 21.  If you’re curious or need a refresher on these postings, just do a search on this blog for “Arlington Cemetery”.
 
Back to the update from:  VFW Magazine,  March 2011 Issue

Law Forces Accounting at Arlington

A law enacted in December seeks to ensure better management of Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Public Law 111-339 requires the Army secretary to provide Congress a full accounting of all 320,000 graves and an evaluation of management practices at the Army-run cemetery.

According to the House VA Committee, the law requires a report by Dec. 22, 2011, that includes notification of any gravesite discrepancies, an accounting of all contracts and a status update on implementation of recent Army directives.

I guess we’ll see come Christmas time if they accomplish their goal or not.  I hope they’re successful as it will help to put the hearts and minds of many families to rest, finally. May He watch over them forever!

SparkChaser4