Veterans Corner

Community Contributed

By Jesse Church

Aloha my fellow veterans and residents of Molokai, old Jesse here with all the veterans news and upcoming events. Why do soldiers wear four different colored berets? The Army’s berets have all been adapted from 20^th Century European headgear. Each color symbolizes unique history according to the Army. Green berets worn by Special Forces since 1961, they date back to WWII British commandos. Maroon berets are for airborne affiliation and authorized in 1980. Black berets signify regular Army and started wearing them in 2001. British armor soldiers first wore black caps instead of brimmed hats to look more closely into sights in the 1920s. Tan berets are for Army Rangers who had worn black wool caps from 1975, but changed to tan in 2001. Tan denotes khaki uniforms of earlier Rangers.

If you have any questions about your VA benefits, filing a VA claim, or anything about VA compensation or health benefits, the VA benefits workshop is the place you need to go to get your questions answered. The workshop will be on Saturday, July 12 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Hale Mahaolu Home Pumehana. The workshop topics will be VA benefits, loan guaranty, vocational rehabilitation, employment, death benefits and more. All are welcome especially veterans, family members, widows and community providers. I hope to see everyone there. If you have any question about the workshop please call the Veterans Center on Monday, Wednesday or Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 553-8387.

How did everybody do with the last question, which was, in June 1933, Camden, New Jersey introduced a brand new way of watching movies, what was it? The answer is the drive-in. A month earlier, Richard Hollingshead Jr. received a U.S. patent for his design to watch movies from your car. He built the first such theater in Camden; the first movie was “Wives Beware,” starting Adolphe Menjou. Drive-ins became notorious for those who wanted to do more in their cars than simply watch the movie, and eventually more than 3,000 such “passion pits,” as they were called, were built. The new question is on average, what is the warmest location in the nation?

I want to wish everyone a very happy Independence Day on Friday, July 4. Enjoy your holiday. This is our country’s birthday. We became the United States of America on July 4, 1776 and this year our country is 238 years old, wow! Washington, D.C., the capitol of our country, holds the country’s biggest and most famous fireworks display.

I thank all my fellow veterans and residents of Molokai for all your support, and to all the people off island who read this column, and have written to me, or called, to everyone I send a mahalo. If you have a question, suggestion or news give old Jess a call at 553-3323. I hope that everyone has a great two weeks and remember that old Jesse loves you all. Aloha.