Page 62 MSRA’s “Back to the 50’s Weekend” • 2016 1964 2016 Patented Leak Free Flange In House HiTemp Ceramic Coating Over 160 Proven Designs & Custom Fabrication for Rods, Customs and Classic Trucks
MSRA’s “Back to the 50’s Weekend” • 2016 Page 63 Never too late By Kary Taylor I was medically discharged from the United States Army in October 1983 after four years of service. This is not how I wanted to leave the service. Even though I was honorably discharged, I was bitter for many years. As the injuries I received during my time in the Army worsened, I entered the VA medical system and started to receive treatment for my injuries. During my visits to the VA, I saw countless veterans of all levels with injuries, many worse than mine, and I decided to get off the bitter pity pot and start thinking about what I could do to help other vets. I searched the internet for ideas and one of the things I ran across was the RED shirt Friday movement (http://redshirtfridays.org). RED stands for Remember Everyone Deployed. This movement to wear red shirts on every Friday until all our troops come home struck me as a great way to support our troops, so I began to buy and wear RED shirts on Fridays. Leading this effort for the company I work for, we bought and handed out RED shirt Friday shirts to all of our employees, and from there it spread to other company divisions. We also did a fundraiser walk for vets and it was fantastic to see how many people were willing to show their support. A little spark of inspiration sure can turn into a flame! Last year as I was sitting at the VA waiting to be called in by the doctor, someone approached me and handed me a flier and invitation to Veterans Lake. I didn’t even know such a lake existed. I went there to see what it was about with my 15-year-old son, Noah, and we had great time. First we caught 10 fish out on the lake. After returning to shore and turning in our fish to be cleaned, my son got together with a disabled vet who was wheelchair bound and helped him fish, and I helped load wheelchairbound and other disabled vets onto boats and pontoons so they could go out on the water and fish. There were so many people volunteering to make this happen. People volunteered their boats, and many more volunteered their time cutting potatoes, shucking husks off corn and cooking fish. The camaraderie among all was inspiring as we feasted on the day’s catch. The Veterans Lake event and on-site memorial were encouraging to me as a vet and are a great way to support each other as comrades. I encourage you to go check out Veterans Lake and all its monuments and also check out the events on the website, http://www. veteranslake.com. I encourage and challenge you to find something you can relate to and be that spark that turns into a flame. T6 Flyover The T6 Flyover is Saturday, with Sunday as the rain date. The article below has been reprinted in its entirety from the LineChaser, as told by Chuck Datko. Chuck Datko, #22417, was a Spartan car club member and then joined the Torquers in ‘64 when they were down on the island. He knows all of the old guys, like Jerry Johnson, Ron White and Billy Bissonett. T-6 Thunder North American Flight Team formed 16 years ago and they are coming again to our Back to the 50’s. The first year the group did a flyover at Back to the 50’s, it was purely by chance. They were on our way back from an air show and his brother, Frank #L-11145 suggested they fly over Back to the 50’s. Then they met Terry Stade and the “rest is history.” The aircraft are all North American AT6s used during WWII for training and in the Korean War. They were called “forward air controllers.” They would fly low and slow and mark targets. Then jets came in and did the bombing. The group does an annual flyover for the Northern Knights who have a memorial service. As a matter of fact, they are mostly involved in vet funerals and memorials. Probably one half of their events are funerals. They’ve also entertained for the Minnesota Twins, the Vikings and Gophers, Concordia College and the Minneapolis Torchlite parade.
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