Jan/Feb 2010 - Korean War Veterans Association

From the Secretary
BUSINESS
One example
of an unnecessary
expense
We received this
email recently:
Frank Cohee
Sent: Saturday, Jan. 09, 2010 12:55 PM
To: membership@kwva.org
Subject: G. I. Joe (not his real name)
Please note that Mr. Joe died 10/16/94.
Kindly cancel his membership to your
magazine
Thank you, Mrs. Joe
We have been sending The
Graybeards to Member Joe for 15 years
after he passed away. Here is an example
of the cost: 6 issues x 15 years x $2.00
estimated cost of postage and printing is
$180.00.
That is a very conservative number,
because when I send out The
Graybeards to our members for various
reasons the postal cost alone is
$2.07.You will more than likely say to
yourself, “So what? $180.00 is peanuts.”
Well, for most of us that is true. But
we estimate that there are at least 100
deceased members who no one has told
us about. If you use the same numbers,
i.e., 6 issues x 15 years x $2.00 =
$180.00. Multiply this by 100 members
and you get $18,000!
We need help from the Departments
and Chapters regarding members’
deaths. Please check your membership
rosters and advise us of any changes.
It must be some kind of a
record
I think these past two months have set
a record for receiving responses to some
of the articles that were published in the
Nov-Dec 2009 issue of The Graybeards.
And, for a change, the responses were all
positive. Here are some of the responses:
For those of us who have computers
we sometimes take for granted that
everyone else does also. NOT! In
response to my article about the Veterans
of Underage Military Service (VUMS), I
received a call from a member who was
17 years old when he served in Korea in
1950 with the 1st Calvary Division. He
wanted more information about VUMS,
primarily how he could contact VUMS
and become a member.
The only contact information included
in my article was their website, but
the member did not have a computer
with which to access it. So, I gave him
the Commander’s name and phone number.
Here it is in case there are some others
interested in the VUMS organization:
Commander Bernard J. Doyle, 1-888-
653-8867.
Frank Yellen, named in the “Korean
War Buddy Found” article, called to tell
me that he had just returned from
Oregon, where he had spent some time
visiting with his recently found buddy,
T.R. (Dick) Wayne, with whom he had
served in Korea 1953-1955.
Thanks to John Mallon
My friend, member John Mallon,
from Omaha, NE called to see if he
could be of any help with any of the
requests such as “How do I get my
Purple Heart, Bronze Star,” etc. John has
a lot of experience in how our government
works. He is extremely knowledgeable
about the records that are
stored at St. Louis. In fact, he had
already called Mark Marquart, who was
looking for information on his father.
John gave Mark some other possibilities
in how to go about getting that information.
I plan on making better use of
John’s knowledge in the future.
A positive response for Richard
Barnello
In addition to “Ask the Secretary,”
articles, I sometimes have articles published
in the “Recon Missions” section.
The Nov-Dec 2009 issue had one such
article that was received from Richard
Barnello.
Richard was trying to locate anyone
who knew his brother John, who was
killed in action in March 1951, so he
could obtain the awards and medals that
John should have received, e.g., the
Bronze Star and several others.
I received a letter from Richard on
January 7, 2010, in which he wrote:
Dear Frank,
Thank you for publishing my letter regarding
my brother John Barnello Jr. in your
Nov-Dec 2009 issue of Korean Veterans,
The Graybeards (Recon Missions). I have
received (4) four calls about the article: (2)
from Marines that served with my brother
and (2) from Army personnel that contributed
in my effort in obtaining the ribbons
and medals awarded my brother in
the service of his country. (See the
attached copy of a letter I sent to: Navy
Personnel Command, Liaison Office Room
5409, 9700 Page Ave., St. Louis, MO
63132-5100.)
Thank you again,
Sincerely
Richard E. Barnello,
840 Windlass Rd.
Moneta, VA 24121.
I have not included a copy of the letter,
but essentially it provided all the
details about his brother’s death and listed
the 11 medals/ribbons that he
believed his brother was awarded.
Sometimes it pays to advertise!
Do not let anyone else use your
non-profit number!
One last comment for this issue, of
which I am sure most of you are aware.
But, I did get a question. If your Chapter
or Department has been recognized as a
non-profit organization and you were
assigned a non-profit number, that number
is for that Chapter or Department’s
use only. It is not authorized for use by
any other organization.
The question was in response to a
request from a Boy Scout Troop that
wanted a Chapter to sponsor them and
asked if they could use the Chapter’s
non-profit number.
I hope that by the time you read this
you have received your Membership
Directory and have had time to review
its contents. It is loaded with useful
information.
Yours for a better KWVA,
Frank Cohee, Secretary, KWVA, Inc.
9
The Graybeards
January – February 2010