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Website: www. Hicksville Vietnam War Era Memorial As
of the end of February, we are up to 471 names. Our Hicksville High Alumni continue to help us with the
addition of the many more names we feel are still out there. v
The Project Team continues
to seek broader distribution of the news of this effort.
Fundraising, Memorial design and site selection discussions also
continue. v
Memorial
Qualifications:
A person must have been on active duty in one of our Armed Forces
during the Vietnam Era. The
person did not necessarily have to serve in Vietnam, because by being in
service at that time he or she faced the possibility of being sent to
Vietnam and was an integral part of strengthening our Armed Forces
during a time of war. Overall
qualifications include:
Even
with 471 names, we know there are many more that served who meet these
qualifications, but have yet to be identified by the Project Team.
Rough estimates indicate we should be able to collect between 2
and 3 thousand names. We have access to official records in
Washington, D.C. but have found that many people left Hicksville before
entering the service and show a different town or city as their home at
the time of entry. So, we need to continue this grassroots effort
and will also continue to use official records as a means of
confirmation of all personnel on the list.
Our
Project Team consists of the following members: ·
Ken Strafer, Founder (HHS
'62) ·
Joe Carfora, Master List
(HHS '62) ·
Carl Probst, Input Data,
Class of '59 & Others (HHS '59) ·
Tony Plonski, Input Data,
Class of '64 & Others (HHS '64) ·
Tommy Sullivan, Press
Release Editing (HHS '63) ·
Walter Schmidt, Hicksville
Local Coordinator & Town of Oyster Bay Veterans Services Officer
(HHS '65) ·
Joe Ingino, Veterans
Advocate, Hicksville & Long Island (HHS '67) ·
Jay Tranchina, Input Data,
Class of '64 & Others, plus local press contact (HHS 1964) ·
Bill Walden, Commander of
Hicksville VFW Post (HHS '65)
What we need each person reading this to do: Please
click on the following link and review the current list of names: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AmMG_lUq31y2dHJBWF9NNUg2d2pUQ1I0YWRNY1JGMVE&hl=en If
you know of someone who is not listed, or if you have information to
clarify/correct data shown in red and/or with a question mark, please
send what you have to Joe Carfora at jcarfora1@nc.rr.com. Please use the information
contained on the current list as a guide for the data we need. Thank
you! The
Vietnam War Era Memorial Project Team Footnote extracted from www.vietnamwar.com:
During 15 years of military involvement, over 2 million Americans
served in Vietnam with 500,000 seeing actual combat. 47,244 were killed
in action, including 8000 airmen. There were 10,446 non-combat deaths.
153,329 were seriously wounded, including 10,000 amputees. Over 2400
American POWs/MIAs were unaccounted for as of 1973. Veteran
HixNews Column For March 2010 Folks
- Spring
will be upon us this month; along with a few dates to remember: 0301
- Peace Corps Founded (1961) 0303
- National Anthem Day (1931) 0305
- Navy's Mobile Construction Battalions "SEABEES" Officially
Formed (1942) 0307
- Army Distinguished Service Medal Authorized (1918) 0315
- American Legion and Auxiliary Established in Paris (1919) 0315
- VA Cabinet Status (1989) 0316
- Army Corps of Engineers Established (1802) 0319
- Operation Iraqi Freedom Anniversary (2003) 0322
- Tuskegee Airmen Activated (1941) 0329
- Last American combat troops withdrawn from Vietnam (1973) It
also brings three stories this month: What the Corps didn't tell you;
Some local goings-on, and; An idea that many are suggesting is not so
good! Camp Lejeune Water
Study: Finally Funded As
a result of discrepancies in reports released last year as part of the
Marines' long-running review of water supplied to Camp Lejeune's main
family housing areas it has been determined that water was contaminated
by fuel and cleaning solvents from the 1950s through the 1980s, and
health officials believe as many as 1 million people may have been
exposed to the toxins before the wells that supplied the tainted water
were closed two decades ago. An environmental contractor dramatically
underreported the level of a cancer-causing chemical found in tap water
at Camp Lejeune, then omitted it altogether as the Marine base prepared
for a federal health review. Larry Scott, VA Watchdog dot Org, brought
us The Associated Press information that follows. The
Good... The
Navy has agreed after months of fighting to fund a study into the health
effects of past water pollution at Camp Lejeune on Marines. The
Department of the Navy said in a letter Thursday to the federal Agency
for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry that it will pay more than
$1.5 million for the work. The study will look at whether there are
higher mortality rates for Marines who served at the base during the
years the water was contaminated. The
Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter Friday. North
Carolina Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan had urged the Navy to fund the
study. The two lawmakers were behind legislation passed by the Senate in
September preventing the military from dismissing claims related to
water contamination before studies are completed. "I
am pleased the Navy has listened and is taking this crucial step. The
findings will help bring answers to our Lejeune families who deserve
closure on this issue," said Hagan, who wrote the legislation. Burr
has blocked two Navy Department presidential appointees over the funding
battle. David Ward, a Burr spokesman, said the senator is still focused
on getting the Navy to fund all the studies. The
federal agency still needs funding for a health survey, which asks
former residents of Camp Lejeune to report any illnesses. After months
of wrangling, the Navy agreed in November to pay $92,000 for the
reanalysis of a study looking at pregnancy issue like mean birth weight
and preterm birth. The
Navy also agreed to pay almost $2 million for the completion of a water
modeling project to determine how underground water flowed at the base
and how toxins would have been introduced and spread. Requests
for comment from the Marine Corps were not returned. The
Navy's letter to the toxic substances agency came a day after The
Associated Press reported on new documents that indicate massive fuel
leaks at Camp Lejeune and high concentrations of benzene, a carcinogen,
found in a water well there in 1984. Health
officials believe as many as 1 million people may have been exposed to
tainted water at the base before the wells closed two decades ago.
Critics say little information on benzene contamination had been
publicly known until recently. The
Bad... An
environmental contractor dramatically underreported the level of a
cancer-causing chemical found in tap water at Camp Lejeune, then omitted
it altogether as the Marine base prepared for a federal health review,
an Associated Press review has found. The
Marine Corps had been warned nearly a decade earlier about the
dangerously high levels of benzene, which was traced to massive leaks
from fuel tanks at the base on the North Carolina coast, according to
recently disclosed studies. For
years, Marines who served at Camp Lejeune have blamed their families'
cancers and other ailments on tap water tainted by dry cleaning
solvents, and many accuse the military of covering it up. The benzene
was discovered as part of a broader, ongoing probe into that
contamination. When
water was sampled in July 1984, scientists found benzene in a well near
the base's Hadnot Point Fuel Farm at levels of 380 parts per billion,
according to a water tests done by a contractor. A year later, in a
report summarizing the 1984 sampling, the same contractor pointed out
the benzene concentration "far exceeds" the safety limit set
by federal regulators at 5 parts per billion. The
Marines were still studying the water contamination in 1991 when another
contractor again warned the Navy of the health hazards posed by such
levels of benzene. By
1992, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease, an arm of the
Department of Health and Human Services, showed up at the base to begin
a health risk assessment. That's when a third contractor, the Michael
Baker Corp., released a draft report on the feasibility of fixing the
overall problem. In
it, the 1984 level on the well of 380 parts per billion had changed to
38 parts per billion. The company's final report on the well, issued in
1994, made no mention of the benzene. Not
only hasn't the benzene disappeared from the now-closed wells, it's
gotten much worse over time. One sample from a series of tests conducted
from June 2007 to August 2009 registered 3,490 parts per billion,
according to a report from a fourth contractor. Kyla
Bennett, who spent 10 years as an enforcement officer for the
Environmental Protection Agency before becoming an ecologist and
environmental attorney, reviewed the different reports and said it was
difficult to conclude innocent mistakes were made in the Baker Corp.
documents. "It
is weird that it went from 380 to 38 and then it disappeared
entirely," she said. "It does support the contention that they
did do it deliberately." News
of Baker Corp.'s handling of the benzene levels has ex-Lejeune residents
questioning anew the honesty of a military they accuse of endangering
their lives. "It
is a shame that an institution founded on honor and integrity would
resort to open deceit in order to protect their reputation at the cost
of the health, safety and welfare of its service men, women and their
families," said Mike Partain, a 42-year-old who lives in
Tallahassee, Fla., but was born at Lejeune and diagnosed with breast
cancer in 2007. Capt.
Brian Block, a Marine Corps spokesman, took exception to characterizing
the conflicting information in the reports as anything but inadvertent. "It
was probably just a mistake on the part of the contractor, but I can't
tell you for certain why that happened," he said. David
Higie, a spokesman for Baker Corp., declined to discuss the company's
reports or why its employees might have revised the benzene levels. He
referred questions to the military. The
Ugly... Block
said Camp Lejeune held a news conference to alert residents of problems
with the water system in 1985 and has spent millions of dollars in
outreach and studies. "The Marine Corps has never tried to hide any
of this information," he said. The
discrepancies in the reports were tucked inside thousands of documents
the Marines released last year to the Agency for Toxic Substances as
part of the Marines' long-running review of water supplied to Camp
Lejeune's main family housing areas. That water was contaminated by fuel
and cleaning solvents from the 1950s through the 1980s, and health
officials believe as many as 1 million people may have been exposed to
the toxins before the wells that supplied the tainted water were closed
two decades ago. The
newly discovered records, first reported Sunday by McClatchy News
Service, show that a water well contaminated by leaking fuel was left
functioning for at least five months after a sampling discovered it was
tainted with benzene in 1984. Benzene,
a carcinogen, is a natural part of crude oil and gasoline. Drinking
water containing high levels of it can cause vomiting, dizziness,
sleepiness, convulsions, and death and long-term exposure damages bone
marrow, lowers red blood cells and can cause anemia and leukemia,
according to the EPA. Camp
Lejeune environmental engineer Robert Alexander was quoted in 1985 as
saying no one "had been directly exposed" to contaminants,
including benzene. In December, Alexander told the AP he didn't recall
anything about the well contaminated with the benzene or the ensuing
studies that failed to account for its toxicity, but said that the
methods at the time were still being perfected, and that he and the
other base officials did the best they could. The
records indicate the military knew a lot of specifics. For
years the Marine Corps knew the fuel farm, built in 1941, was leaking
1,500 gallons a month and did nothing to stop it, according to a 1988
memo from a Camp Lejeune lawyer to the base's assistant facilities
manager. "It's an indefensible waste of money and a continuing
potential threat to human health and the environment," wrote Staff
Judge Advocate A.P. Tokarz. Minutes
of a 1996 meeting with Moon Township, Pa.-based Baker Corp., the third
contractor, indicate the fuel farm had lost 800,000 gallons of fuel, of
which 500,000 gallons had been recovered. Benzene was "in the
deeper portion of the aquifer" and the "fuel farm is
definitely the source," the minutes quote a Michael Baker employee
as saying. The
Coast Guard categorizes any coastal oil spill larger than 100,000
gallons as major. Former
Marines and Camp Lejeune residents continue to fight for a compensation
program and to fund a mortality study that would determine if Marines
and sailors who were exposed to these contaminants suffer from a higher
death rate. The Senate passed legislation in September backed by Sens.
Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Kay Hagan, D-N.C., preventing the military
from dismissing claims related to water contamination pending completion
of the several studies, including the mortality study. "These
people knowingly exposed us to these high levels of contaminants and now
they don't want to know if their negligence caused harm to the people
they say they care so much about?" said Jerry Ensminger, a retired
master sergeant who lived at the base and lost his 9-year-old daughter
to leukemia. "There is definitely something wrong with this
picture." ------------------------------ Our
New Nassau County Veteran Agency Director: Mathew J. Rufrano Matt
is a quiet, behind the scenes man who prefers the spotlight fall on
others. What he would call, more worthy individuals. Yet for some his
years of hard work have not gone unnoticed. Effective immediately, Matt
is the new Director of the Nassau County Veteran Services Agency. Those
who know of his tireless devotion to veterans and community issues know
the exemplary job he will do in his newest role. For those who have been
asking, "Matt who," read on. Mathew
J. Rufrano During
Matt's 25-plus years of service to Veterans, he has been called upon
to do many things, and has had his efforts recognized by those who know
him. However, because he has not sought publicity, many of these
accomplishments go unnoticed. Here are just a few of what you might have
missed: -
Founding Secretary, Vietnam Veterans of America: one of 6 Vietnam-era
veterans who formed Nassau County Chapter #82 in February 1982. -
Founding member of the Town of Oyster Bay's Veteran Advisory Council. -
Founding member and recent Secretary of the Bethpage Community
Foundation. For over two decades has participated in the annual Bretton
Bowl to raise money for needy individuals. -
Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 82 Chapter's Distinguished Service
Award and the President's Award. -
Has obtained grants for veterans and organizations that reach out to
veterans. -
Has publicized veteran causes and deeds through the thousands of photos
he has taken and the hundreds of articles and captioned photos he has
had published in local newspapers. -
Helped countless veterans and the families of deceased veterans get
their records, medals, and obtain needed documents. -
When the "Traveling Vietnam Wall" came to Eisenhower Park, Bryant
Park in New York City, Massapequa, and Hicksville, was there guiding
visitors to their loved ones; met Gold Star parents who were aging
gracefully as their child forever remained as they remembered. -
Spearheaded a drive to raise money for a widow and her 3 daughters whose
husband died from Agent Orange related diseases and whose 'claims' were
denied. The money bought clothing and shelter for the family. With the
assistance of the Vietnam Veteran "Hogs" brought Santa and Christmas
gifts to the 3 girls. -
When VVA #82 needed a Chaplain Service, wrote and gave the service...
unfortunately, far too many times. For
the record Matt served as Staff Sergeant, U.S. Air Force, Vietnam-era,
1964-1970. ------------------------------ Government
Money To Renovate Vets Halls: Many Think Not Things
change. In the '50s, with Blue-Laws and the like, veteran halls, at
which a veteran and their spouse could by a drink and a meal at a
reasonable price, were prosperous as many WWII and Korean veterans
recall. Things have changed. As Veterans' Advocate Jim Strickland
stated: "Why keep open an aging building that serves little purpose
for those of us who don't drink, don't smoke and don't have any interest
in bingo games?" Who
Is Saying This Veterans'
Advocate Jim Strickland provides regular columns for VA Watchdog dot
Org. He is the author of "A to Z GUIDE OF VETERANS DISABILITY
COMPENSATION BENEFITS." For answers to questions and great advice,
see Jim's discussion board, "STRAIGHT TALK FOR MILITARY
VETERANS." You can even follow Jim on Twitter. "REVAMP"ing
the Veterans' Service Organizations by Jim Strickland When
I opened my email and saw the press release below, I at first thought my
friend Larry Scott, Founder & Editor or VA Watchdog dot Org, was
ribbing me. He's aware that I'm not a fan of most Veterans Service
Organizations (VSOs) and that they feel much the same about me. Given
all the issues we have with budget shortfalls, a Department of Veterans
Affairs that seems to fail us at every turn, a continuing climb of the
suicide rates of young soldiers and the declining memberships in VSOs
everywhere, it must be that this was a joke... a poke at me to see if I
was reading my emails. No
such luck, it's the real deal. Read it and weep along with me. Advisory:
BISHOP, VETS TO UNVEIL NEW BILL TO RENOVATE VETERANS HALLS AND POSTS Kings
Park, NY -- On Monday, February 22, at 10:30 AM, Congressman Tim Bishop
will unveil new legislation, the bipartisan Renovate and Enhance
Veterans' Meeting Halls and Posts (REVAMP) Act during a press conference
with Post Commanders and local veterans at the Kings Park VFW.
Congressman Bishop is introducing this legislation to reward our
nation's veterans' organizations with the resources to make much-needed
and long overdue repairs to deteriorating halls and facilities that
serve as meeting places and are pillars of our communities. Across
Long Island and the nation, the recession has squeezed local budgets,
delaying improvements and resulting in disrepair such as leaking roofs
or inadequate handicap accessibility. The Kings Park VFW Post, itself,
is in need of a wide range of repairs and upgrades. In
order to help veterans restore their halls to whole with pride and
dignity, the REVAMP Act would create a competitive grant program that
authorizes up to $200,000 for each local non-profit veterans group
comprised primarily of past or present members of the U.S. Armed Forces
and their family members to use for repairs and improvements to their
existing facilities. This program would use existing funds from the
Community Development Block Grant and therefore will not contribute to
the deficit. Any local post or chapter receiving funding would not
eligible for another award for at least five fiscal years in order to
ensure that other deserving veterans halls across the country are
equally entitled to apply for their own improvements. The
legislation has been endorsed by the American Legion and Veterans of
Foreign Wars. This
is so wrong in so many ways I'm at a loss for words. Never fear, I'll
somehow manage to find enough to express myself as we go along. The
message is distorted from the start when it says that these facilities
are for use by, "...past or present members of the U.S. Armed
Forces and their family...." It seems that the Congressman hasn't
looked into the restrictions of joining the VFW, for example. That isn't
surprising... like so many members of Congress, he isn't a veteran. I
can't use a VFW hall or facility myself. All I did was serve an
honorable 3 years as an E-5 working as a 91-Delta-20 in a hospital
caring for wounded soldiers. My training at Brooke Army Medical Center
during the height of the Vietnam War and subsequent long hours working
in surgery... at 98th General Hospital, The Federal Republic of West
Germany... won't get me in the door of the VFW. The
Congressman also seems to have overlooked the continuing decline of
membership in these organizations. I'm not sure how he missed it, the
story is a popular one in every state. In
Texas, "Glen Gardner Jr. of Round Rock, Texas, warned that the
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States is in real danger of going
the way of the covered wagon." From
that same story, "Tennessee VFW commander Curtis Damron, who
accompanied Gardner, reported membership statewide has declined about
700 the last year, and three VFW posts have been closed. "They (the
posts) weren't participating well and members were getting old. We
weren't getting any new ones in." He
goes on; Numbers,
he said, tell the story very well. "We have 1.6 million members
today," •
495,000 are older than 82. •
300,00 are older than 72 (and younger than 82). •
Less than 10 percent are younger than 50. In
a report by the VA Watchdog dot Org we read, "When you're young, if
you're still in [the military] or you've just gotten out, you have a
large pool of friends. The VFW and American Legion are not the type of
places you want to hang out," said Casey Saunders, 31, a member of
the Air National Guard in Duluth. As
recently as November 2009 we read and learn that, "VFW Shows Age in
Declining Membership...What's happening in the whole of the VFW
environment is we're aging out or dying out... Nobody else is coming in
the background to fill in." In
July of 2006 in Indiana; "Membership at Post 127 on Columbus Avenue
in Anderson gives membership totals of 825 in 2005 and 750 in 2006, he
said. And the numbers are continuing to fall. 'One word: Television,'
said John Cook, 87, offering TV as the culprit of decreasing membership.
Cook is a veteran of World War II and a member of American Legion Post
127" Unfortunately,
that above is an excellent example of just how disconnected the VSO
halls and meeting places are from the veterans of today. We
no longer want to go and remember the good old days over a few cold
beers in a smoke filled bar with our cronies. We aren't watching much TV
either. Most of us are busy with family, struggling to work 2 jobs to
pay the bills and keeping up with our Facebook postings, our personal
blogs and Tweeting every chance we get. Many
of us have little faith in the legislative agenda of these VSOs when
they all seem to march arm in arm and in locked step with anything the
VA happens to want. Does anyone remember that the big VSOs were
adamantly opposed to veterans using lawyers in their appeals? Hello.
Anyone??? I
remember all too well. The self serving attempts by these self
appointed, self important, puffed up "representatives" of ours
nearly derailed the passage of law to allow you to make up your own mind
if and when you wanted expert, professional counsel at your side. They
were there to do your thinking for you...alongside the paternalistic VA. Besides
having "meeting places" and being "pillars of our
communities" these good ol' boys clubs tout their outstanding
record of representing veterans to the VA and assisting them with
disability compensation claims. They won't offer any explanation why
complaints about their Veterans Service Officers are equal to the
complaints in my mail about the VA itself. Just
a week ago I was contacted by a VA accredited lawyer who stated,
"I've seen countless times how horrible the VSOs are in their
representations of vets. I'm seriously contemplating filing some
negligence lawsuits against the VSOs, particularly, the DAV. I know you
are biased and how you feel as I've read about your feelings and your
own experience. Unfortunately, your experience is not an isolated
incident." The
VFW was particularly sensitive when I was contacted by one of their own
Post Service Officers who came to me asking for help with some advocacy
training. They responded by lambasting me as "blatantly
pro-lawyer" and that my "endorsement of National Veterans
Legal Services Program products amounts to almost $680". The VFW
suggests that a smarter route to take is to purchase their own
publication... from them... for a mere $6.90. It's worth noting that the
course I recommended actually runs less than $200.00. The
VFW requires that their PSO pay for their $6.90 booklet out of their own
pocket. The VFW does not pay to train its own VSOs. The
VFW PSO who started the fuss is still in training... with me. The VFW
never sent that book nor scheduled any training sessions as they
promised. I am mentoring the VFW representative through the NVLSP
program. S/he will challenge the exam soon and then become accredited by
the DVA... all at his/her own expense and on my time. Rather
than putting lipstick on that pig Congressman, let's take that
$200,000.00 for each post and put it where it will have some impact. Why
keep open an aging building that serves little purpose for those of us
who don't drink, don't smoke and don't have any interest in bingo games? If
VFW is to represent veterans before the VA, let's have them trained and
certified to the highest standards in America today. I'd like to see VFW
& AL come off the government cheese wheel to become self sustaining.
Why isn't your bill including DAV? Where is MOPH? Why not VVA? The PVA
has a successful program without the bars and bingo. Why aren't you
sponsoring them? Your
press release says, "The legislation has been endorsed by the
American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars." Why would that
surprise anyone who understands that the federal government, my tax
dollars, will be used to prop up failed organizations that can't exist
on membership fees and services provided. Most
organizations that don't bother keeping up with the changing world will
fade into obscurity and disappear. These groups are declining because of
a lack of interest by customers and poor business practices. Ever wonder
why nobody flies Eastern Airlines any more? Do we really miss Edsels and
should the feds be giving Ford money to keep them running? You
compound your error by supporting a "veterans organization"
that I can't join in spite of my committed, honorable service to my
country and you use my money to do that. Maybe
that's for the best. As Groucho Marx said, "I won't belong to any
organization that would have me as a member." Yeah.
Me too, Groucho. (NOTE
from Larry Scott ..... I concur with Jim Strickland. I can just hear it
now: "Hey, we got gummint money. We can stock up on a lot of
high-end batch gin, get a new karaoke machine and buy a whole bunch of
new pull tabs and punch boards." If the average taxpaying American
spent any time in a VSO hall, they would immediately realize that Rep.
Bishop's bill is nothing more than pure pork designed only to garner
votes on election day. It
should be noted that the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) does not take
government funding. The DAV should have a statement about this insane
piece of legislation in a day or two.)
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