West Point Society of the Tennessee Valley
West Point is best known for producing accomplished leaders of war, such as Eisenhower, Patton, MacArthur and Custer.
A different category of U.S. Military Academy graduate was immortalized Friday during the dedication of bricks in the Apollo Courtyard at the new Davidson Center for Space Exploration.
At the last meeting of the North Alabama Veterans and Fraternal Organizations Coalition Meeting, the following information was presented.
The Veterans Memorial is in the process of developing a plan to raise the approximately $4M required. (They have collected or have pledged about $250K to date.) The AUSA and ADA have both pledged $10K over the next three years.
Honor Flight: There is a Breakfast at Ruby Tuesday this Saturday morning, $5. There will be a golf tournament at Redstone Links on Friday 28 March – If I get anymore information I will pass it on. Supposedly there is information at the Golf course. The next Honor Flight is April 19 (Saturday), then May 31. Both these flights are paid for. Honor Flight is planning on two flights in September and possibly one in October. These need funds.
Also on Saturday April 19 – the Vets with Vettes will be displaying their vehicles at the Veterans Memorial Museum. The event is free, but AER is looking for donations! Come out and show your support for the AER.
Memorial Day is 26 May and there will be a ceremony in Maple Hill Cemetery.
Flag Day – Also the Army Birthday – there will be a two to three hour event planned for the site that the Veterans Memorial will be built. The idea is get as many veterans down in the park and have a picture taken of them. (This is still being planned.) There will be an opportunity for each Veterans group to have a table or space to set up displays.
An Air show at the Airport will be on 18/29 June.
An item of concern: There is still no decision of the fate of the Veteran’s Memorial Museum. This will be one of the topics of discussion at our May meeting. The city still has not told the museum where they would prefer them to locate. If you don’t know it, the museum is staffed by volunteers and most of the items in the museum are from individuals private collections – the value of which is in the millions – and these individuals have donated the items to the museum. If the museum is required to move, the cost of a new building and the moving of the items will be staggering. Plan to come to the meeting on 20 May to learn what we can do to help keep this resource available to the public.
Art Meier
We had a small gathering this month, but that could be expected with Spring Break on-going. However, we did discuss several things which I want to pass on.
First the May meeting will again be held at the Veteran’s Museum in John Hunt Park. The lunch will be provided, BBQ! It always has been good in the past and I expect the same. The Museum staff will give us an update with the running battle with the City over the building and grounds for a new Museum. Remember, the luncheons are also open to spouses, so those of you who are retired, this is a chance to treat your wife or husband.
Once again, the AAA has given the Society a certificate for four tickets to a home football game (except Homecoming and Air Force) along with a VIP parking pass. When Mike gets back from his camping trip, he will set up a site on the website to put your name in a hat for a drawing in early June for the tickets.
There was some discussion over the Oldest and Youngest Grad speaker at Founders Day. All were in agreement that the night was too long to actually have the speakers, but all thought we should continue to have those speakers, most thought it should be treated as an honor to be asked.
Networking: There was discussion about using the Monthly Meetings for some networking: Topics such as Missile Defense, BRAC Construction on Post, Aviation programs, If anyone would like to discuss something about a program they are working on, please let me know and we will add you to the agenda. Along with this could be subjects that are of other interest: It just hit me that we had COL Smith at Founders Day, perhaps I can get him to come in and discuss what is going on at Fox for wounded warriors and the rest of us. Maybe someone out there would like to discuss his or hers experience at West Point, in Iraq, or ?, Just let me know.
Next meeting is TAX Day – April 15
BEAT NAVY!
Art Meier ‘63
(I heard that the Option is back)
We have some Founders Day and Brick Memorial pictures posted in the 2008 photo gallery. Please send pictures you took to Mike Lyman so we can add them here.
We have had to turn in final numbers to the Davidson Center so reservations are now closed. Sorry if we missed you!