Commanders Message

COMMANDER’S CALL March 2019

Fellow Legionnaires,

Luckily, I was able to skip some of our winter in Nebraska by

taking a road trip to Arizona and Nevada the last few weeks.

The weather was near perfect in Phoenix --- and a lot better in

Las Vegas than in Lincoln.

On the suggestion of Tony Anton (VFW Honor Guard

member), we found the Arizona Military Museum in Mesa,

Arizona and spent an enjoyable afternoon there. We had a friendly guide, a

Vietnam veteran, who showed us through the Vietnam section.

He was explaining the Huey I helicopter to two boys who wanted to know how

to start it. He told them they needed the keys and said the ones he had flown

in Vietnam didn’t need keys --- until after an Army Private First Class Robert

K. Preston, a washed out pilot who at the time was a helicopter mechanic, stole

a Huey I and flew it to the White House, hovering for about six minutes over

the White House before landing on the south lawn about 100 yards from the

West wing. After that incident on February 17, 1974, keys were installed and all

equipment was locked up.

Our guide was a very good story teller and did a nice job of explaining the

other mechanized equipment and accessories. On one wall in the Vietnam

section, John Kerry and Jane Fonda were prominently displayed as dissenters,

who --- along with others --- helped convince our nation to get out of Vietnam.

Since the museum is on the Arizona Army National Guard post and there was

training in progress, we did not spend much time looking at the heavy (TOYS),

but it was a very nice display and we enjoyed it very much.

In our last newsletter, a Post 3 member, Larry Brooks from Las Vegas, called

me questioning the wording in the article on the Medal of Honor by Jerry

Cummings. The “Medal of Honor” is the correct way to identify it, but since

it is the only military award which requires Congressional approval, it is often

referred to as the Congressional Medal of Honor.

On the subject of honors, American Legion posts around the world recognized

the first Sunday of February as “Four Chaplains Day.” Dr. Alex Goode (Jewish

rabbi), Rev. George Fox (Methodist minister), Rev. Clark Poling (Reformed

Church in America minister), and Fr. John Washington (Roman Catholic priest)

were the chaplains who died aboard the Dorchester sunk by German U-Boat 223

on February 3, 1943 in the North Atlantic.

On an American Legion Baseball note, Post 3 will host one State Tournament

and two Area Tournaments this year --- all in July. We need to help with these,

and we need to start planning.

Sincerely,

Dave Timmerman

Commander, American Legion Post #3