Veterans Corner: Busy next month for vets

Community Contributed

By Jesse Church

Aloha all my fellow veterans and residents of Molokai, old Jesse here with all the veterans news and upcoming events. The Molokai Veterans Caring for Veterans (MVCV) board of directors had their monthly meeting on Sept. 16. Watch commanders are will needed for Tuesdays and Wednesdays if someone would like to give four hours of his of her time it would be much appreciated. Duties are from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and involve answering phone and questions and being a good will ambassador for Molokai veterans.

Ted Johns asked it if was legal to drink alcohol at private parties at the Vet Center, saying he thinks we are losing potential customers if we cannot rent the hall to somebody who wants to serve alcohol. After a discussion, it was decided to check it out and then write a policy.

It was also decided to commemorate Veterans Day with a program on Wednesday, Nov. 11, which I believe is the proper thing to do. The next board of directors meeting will be on Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 10 a.m.

A reminder than John Candello, Veterans Services Counselor, will hold an open house on Nov. 20 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and he will have some veterans specialists and a couple of VA lawyers to answer all questions and help if possible. Also, Sen. Mazie Hirono will be having an open house at the Vets Center on Oct. 13 from 9:30 to 11 a.m. She is a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs and she is very interested to find out the problems and concerns of our veterans and how she can help. Before the open house on Oct. 13 from 8 to 9:15 a.m. and afterwards from 12:30 to 3 p.m., the Molokai medical clinic of Dr. Carlann DeFontes, Nurse Practitioner Yvonne Geesey and the very capable VA clinic manager Alisha, alias Sunshine, will be hosting an immunization clinic to get your shots updated.

Now it’s time for the answer to last week’s question: Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34^th U.S. President, once said you have a row of dominoes set up and you knock over the first one and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. What was he trying to explain to the American people? He was trying to explain why he was sending aid and Marines to South Vietnam and why the U.S. needed to stop the Communists in that country. The date of that speech was April 7, 1954.

On this date in history, on Oct. 14, 1912, Bull Moose Party presidential candidate Theodore Roosevelt gave an 80-minute speech after being shot in the chest by an insane man in Milwaukee. He recovered from the wound but lost the election. On Oct. 14, 1947, U.S. Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager, flying an experimental plane, became the first pilot to fly faster than the speed of sound.

Please continue to support our troops and let’s pray for their safe and speedy trip home. I love every man, woman and child on Molokai from my heart, you are all my family. Have a wonderful week.