‘Richard did a great job on baskets’

75 baskets delivered smoothly
 to needy families through area

 Commander Bill Tickle credited Richard Buquo with managing the best Christmas basket preparation and delivery the post has ever had.

  “Richard ran it smoothly and we came in spending less money that the $2,000 allocated,” he said.

  “And everyone pitched in to make it a success.”

  The 75 baskets were packed and had been moved out well before noon.  Each member could submit three names and deliver the baskets.

  Doug Gallant printed individual labels for the boxes with a colorful sticker bearing the Post 4848 logo.  TV Channel 3 covered the delivery and ran it on the news.

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Membership near year’s goal 

 Post 4848 is with reaching distance of being 100 percent for the year’s membership goal. Approximately 100 new members or renewals are needed to make the quota.

  Commander Bill Tickle urged every member to try to contact an unpaid member or to recruit someone new.

  “John Scott is our sr. vice commander and also the State of Tennessee Veterans of Foreign Wars Commander,” he reminded.  “We certainly want out post to be 100 percent during his term of office.

  “It will be a credit to our post and all its members.”

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Newsletter ending
for delinquent
4848 members

  Members who have not renewed their membership dues and are no longer in good standing will be purged from the address list to receive the newsletter.

  If you know of a current member who is not receiving The Flag, please let us know.  With the last issue, an address correction was corrected to make sure members get the newsletter each month.

Stag Night ended
for post dances

  To increase attendance in the Friday night dances at the post, the E-Board voted in November to give free admission through a stag night.

  At the December meeting the free admissions were discontinued.

Comment . . . Pete Chaney

This year America has a Christmas like none it’s seen in a long, long time.  Still sifting through the ruins of the Twin Towers, fearful of Anthrax bearing mail, leery of taking a plane trip, it will stand out in memory especially for the younger generation.  To them, there has never been another quite like it.

But there have been.

Hundreds of thousands are losing their jobs now.  But it happened before—to a whole nation of workers.  When the stock market crashed in 1929, the Depression—not a recession—gripped the country.  Soup kitchens were everywhere.  The government created public works jobs such as the Civilian Construction Corps.

My father lost his businesses and had to go to work with the CCC in Pennsylvania working on the national parks.  He came back, learned to be a plumber and saved enough to buy a farm.  The country came back, too.

Any people who can come back strong from a nationwide Depression, from attack by Germany and Japan, from Communists in Korea and Vietnam can handle any thing that life throws at them.

It’s a time to take stock and look back at other Christmases and other New Years.  Many faces are gone, never to be seen on earth again.  Many memories fade into time.  There may have been happier ones, but we are alive and America is still strong.  That’s what we have to thank God for.

Plans being made
for POW WOW;
registration paid

  Members wishing to attend the POW WOW at Nashville Feb. 8 can have their registration fee paid by the post, following action by December’s E-Board meeting and approved by membership. However, anyone not attending the meeting must reimburse the post.

  A full page ad for $100 was approved for the POW WOW program.

  Approval was given for a $50 Christmas bonus to be given bartenders and waitresses.  The motion was made by Ben Crabtree and seconded by Richard Buquo.

Notes . . .

  Our late, dedicated member and officer of  Post 4848 GUSS HOWE would be proud of his son who is now Lt. Col. MIKE HOWE in the Air Force.  And he is Deputy Political Advisor to the Commander of the Command Station.  Guss as a chief master sergeant and flew on Air Force One with Presidents JOHNSON and NIXON.

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  Snow birds are what Floridians call northerners who come south for the winter.  What would you call ROD WALKER and BOB WARMOUTH who leave their Sunshine State homes to  come back to Chattanooga?

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  A member of Post 4848 for 49 years, ALF O’REAR  was recognized when he attended the December meeting.