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President McCrumb's Message July/August 2025 Myths of The Vietnam War - A Must See Video - I hate using that line, but it is... |
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We sent five delegates to the 22nd biennial Vietnam Veterans of America convention in New Orleans. Our delegates were Jack McManus, Jon Luke – Chapter Recognition – Tim joins John Kinzinger as our second National Veteran of the Year for Chapter 310. For those not aware, this is our third National Chapter of the Year award. Our first was in 1999, our second in 2007, and of course this year, 2025. I wonder how many Chapters have two Veterans of the Year members as well as three National Chapter of the Year awards? There are two categories for Chapter of the Year award. One for chapters with membership under 200, which we’ve won twice and one for chapters with membership over 200. Our membership is at 226. – Exerts from from an Aug. 9th VVA Press Release – John Riling III of Michigan, was elected to serve his first term as VVA National Vice President, following years of serving in local, state, and national roles, including as Region 5 Director, and many years as President of the Michigan State Council. Gary Estermyer (MI) was elected to Region 5 Director replacing John Rilling III who was elected to VP, National. Gary is also the Secretary of the Michigan State Council. Sandie Wilson was re-elected to one of ten At-Large Directors and still Chairwoman of the Agent Orange committee. ________________________ The Memorial Grounds fundraiser on July 9th was very successful with over $14,000 raised via donations and a live auction. We were entertained by Stacy Mason with Newclassica Live and Todd Perkins with The Sideshow Saints. Todd is AVVA’s Cynthia Olcott’s husband and Stacy is a regular at our fundraising events as well as our yearly Christmas party at the VA.
In between the musical groups John K arraigned for Steve Gross to conduct a live auction. It was fun watching Steve squeeze the dollars from the bidders’ wallets and purses as well as their checkbooks. The auction was very successful. Thank you Steve! On a side note, Jon Luker and Stan Harrison got into a bidding war for a Second Amenment plaque. Jon was successful in getting Stan to be the highest bidder. Good job Jon! Remind me to not get into a bidding war with you. – Jim Shepard – – Chapter Jackets and Hats – |
r, Sandie Wilson, Martha Cothorn and Tim Driscoll. I’m told that there were in excess of 700 VVA members in attendance. The future of VVA is still a question yet to be answered. More to come on that issue later. 
