Dewitt B. Tilden Memorial American Legion Post 316

1127 Atlantic Boulevard, Atlantic Beach, FL 32233-2516 Offices/Club (904) 249-0202 /Fax (904) 249-2058

E-Mail is alpost316@bellsouth.net Web site: NOT ACTIVE—NEED HELP

CHARTERED 1974

2017-2018 Post Officer Elected Commander: Randy Whisman 1st Vice Cdr: Clarence Hill 2nd Vice Cdr: VACANT 3rd Vice Cdr: Joe Johnson 4th Vice Cdr: VACANT Finance Officer: Randy Casey Historian: Phil Harville Chaplain: Joe Nolan Sgt-at-Arms: Joseph Bartelt Executive Com: Denny Moyer, Steve Bartelt, Al Yardley VACANT, VACANT We need help filling all these vacant offices & 2 Executive Committee members. Installation is July 8th at 4 PM.

Vietnam War Documentary Interview Request Page 3 of this newsletter describes the Vietnam War documentary that Ken Burns is premiering in September. WJCT TV is seeking local Vietnam Nam Veterans willing to be interviewed as part of an early showing of the documentary. Interviews will be conducted in late August for an early September showing. They especially need brown water sailors, blue water carrier sailors, Marines and women. If interested, please contact Clarence Hill at the Post or Bruce Pastorini at 904-962-5519.

Veterans Choice Program SCAM A phone line has been set up to attempt to scam veterans who happen to misdial the Veterans Choice Program phone number. The difference in phone numbers is in the Area Code. The Veterans Choice Program phone number is 1-866-606-8198, while the scammers’ phone number replaces the 866 with 800, thus the scammer number is 1-800-606-8198-do not call this number. The scammer line will offer a $100 rebate if you provide your credit card information. Not only would the VA not ask for this information, but VA would not offer incentives over the phone. The real Veterans Choice line will tell you that you have reached the US Department of Veterans Affairs, while the scam line tells callers you have reached the Veterans Choice Program. Post 316 Social Media Joe Johnson, our 3rd Vice Cdr, has started a new Facebook page for Post 316 at https://www.facebook.com/alpost316. It’s basic right now, but if anyone has any ideas on what they would like to see on it or would like to contribute, please contact Joe through Facebook. He’s also looking into getting our website online again.

Office Depot American Legion Discount Program Members of The American Legion can now receive discounts on more than 93,000 items at Office Depot/Office Max. Everyday items for the home, office and classroom are discounted up to 80% off. Each purchase supports The American Legion. Legion members can visit the members section of www.legion.org under “Member Discounts” to shop online, create a direct billing account or print a free in-store purchase card for these discounts.

POST 316 IS A FREE WiFi HOT SPOT.

July 2017 VOL. 30 NO. 07

CIR:603sm487em24pu

Legion and Auxiliary meetings, second Monday of the month at 8pm. Post Hours: 8am - midnight Mon –Thurs; 8am - 2am Fri - Sat; 1pm - midnight Sun

Commander’s Corner Well, another year has passed and elections held. I would like to thank everyone that has participated with the many events and fund-raisers. Now is the time to get your new membership cards, so don’t delay. A special thank you to the Legion Riders for their support during the past year. Also, the Auxiliary has been fabulous as al-ways. While the election is over, we do not have a full slate and need vol-unteers to step forward. Our 40th anniversary coins are on sale for $8. If you cook steaks on the grill, we need new volunteers to give us a hand. We need kitchen help with steak nights as well. We need volunteers to help us out. Our meeting is at 8:00 PM on the 12th. Please join us and make your voice heard. We need new ideas.

Randy Whisman ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Executive Committee and General Assembly Approved $600 for baseball team travel Approved $500 for Installation food Approved $100 for Russell Siebert

We welcome these new members and thank them for choosing Post 316 as their Legion home: New: Mike Gilbert, Don Glasser, Jeff Gonzales, Billy Townsend Transfers: James Bright, Terrill Ferrie, William Guy, R. Scott John-son

We have a list of applications and DD214’s on file. If you have not turned in a DD214, please do so with your renewal for 2017. This is an IRS requirement. All personal info is blacked out. All Documents are filed in a locked combination safe in a locked office.

The booster list is for members and member’s businesses only. Gold boosters ae $25 annually. Our Gold Boosters are: Alison McCann 8/17 Clarence & Liz Hill 8/17 DeLois Livermore 11/17 Woody Wooten 1/18 Jim Sweany 3/17 Bob Averill 3/18 Lynn Murray 11/18 Richard Goodman 11/18 Bob Shellenberger 4/19 Carl Simcox 1/20 Lance Davison 9/20 Robert Mary 9/20 Wallace Williams 3/22 Eddie George 1/23

Lunch-time Cook There is an opening for a lunch cook a couple of days a week. If interested, please contact Liz.

New Post 316 Shirts are available. T-shirts $8, Polos in 2 styles $15/$20. See Liz.

FREE FOOD There are occasions, like open houses, NFL Sundays, etc., when food is available. Please remember, food costs are recovered by your donations, and no free food is to leave the Post. Please do-nate if you eat that we can continue to provide the food.

HOME POST OF FLORIDA’S FIRST AMERICAN LEGION NATIONAL COMMANDER 2009-2010 - CLARENCE E. HILL

Legion First Vice Vibes We finished at 911 members for 93.7%. For 2017, we had 52 new members, 38 transfers in, 23 transfers out and 161 who paid online. If you know a veteran who is not a member, encourage them to stop by and visit with us and consider joining. We have our 2018 membership cards and will be sending out those who have years left on their 3-year payment.. Everyone will receive the first 2018 renewal notice in July-we can not stop it. If you paid for 3 years and have years left or if you paid early, IGNORE the notice. Please don’t write to tell us to check our records. If not done, provide your DD214 with your 2018 renewal. You can renew online by visiting www.legion.org/renew. You can also register for the Automatic Annual Renewal Program. The Post cannot process credit card payments-we send them to Department. You must include your credit card number and expiration date. You can only Pay Up For Life online and the $100 discount is still in effect. Just visit legion.org, search for PUFL offer and see what it would cost you. Post dues are $40 for ages 59 and younger, $35 during the Early Bird period (July 1-Nov 11), $32 for 60 and older. Our 3-year renewals are $100 for 59 and younger and $90 for 60 and older. If you pay online to national or by credit card, you will be charged $40-national only recognizes our official dues. You can only get the discounted rates by paying to the Post utilizing the renewal notice and paying $32 or $35. Clarence Hill

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AUXILIARY PRESIDENT’S PROSE I would like to thank Cdr. Randy and all of the Legionnaires who sup-ported our Auxiliary this past year. Also thanks to SAL Cdr. Rich and SAL members for your support. Thanks to Slade Sermos for cooking steaks every month. Thank you to all our Auxiliary members who worked hard for our Unit this past year. We had a good year and accom-plished our goals. Ladies you are the best. Please continue your support for President Sharon and the new Officers. We need you at the meetings. Thank you for a great year. Liz Hill Thanks for electing me your President. With your support, we can con-tinue to keep our Unit a success. We need more volunteers. Our new officers will be installed on Saturday the 8th at 4 PM. Come join us. Dishes to share would be greatly appreciated. Our dinners are steak or fish on the 7th and 21st. We continue sandwich nights on Tuesdays. We need steak teams-please help out. On the 15th, we are serving a Cornish Hen dinner at 4 PM as a fundraiser for one of our Junior girls. Please come out and eat. There will also be a pool tour -nament at 5 PM and Karaoke at 7 PM. There are still 3 vacancies on our Executive Committee. We will have an election at our July meeting. We continue to support our Veterans and Community by collecting school supplies for our kids; and pop tops, coupons, toiletries, books, magazines and supplies for our Veterans in need and homeless Veterans transitioning to housing. Donate if you can. We need more volunteers and new ideas for fundraising. If you would like to do a dinner or can help, please let us know. Our 2018 membership cards are here. Alison McCann is the new Mem-bership Chairman. Dues are $22 for under 60 and $19 for 60 and older. Please pay early and be an Early Bird.

Post Officers Commander Randy Whisman 1st Vice Commander Clarence Hill 2nd Vice Commander VACANT 3rd Vice Commander Joe Johnson 4th Vice Commander VACANT Finance Officer Randy Casey Adjutant Bob Simcox Chaplain Joe Nolan Service Officer Bill Pelland Judge Advocate Jim Sweany Historian Phil Harville Sergeant-at-Arms Joseph Bartelt

House Committee Chairman: Kevin Robbs

SAL Officers Commander David Keasler Adjutant Clarence Hill 1st Vice Rich Covey 2nd Vice Dennis Corcoran Finance Officer Lloyd Clark Chaplain Lester Verrette Historian Charles Dupraw Sergeant-at-Arms Scott Shonka

Executive Board Denny Moyer, Steve Bartelt

Al Yardley

Legion Riders Director John Tinsley

Auxiliary Officers President Sharon Harville 1st Vice President Liz Hill 2nd Vice President Shelly Lawson Secretary Suzanne Lamonica Treasurer Alison McCann Chaplain Annie Anderson Historian Cathy White Sergeant-at-Arms Tracey Jenkins Asst. Sgt-at-Arms Patty Harrison Membership Alison McCann

Auxiliary Executive Committee Elizabeth Coltart

Club Manager Liz Hill

Our next meeting is the 10th at 8 PM. Ladies, come out and join us. Happy 4th of July.

Sharon Harville ______________________________________From the Bar: Monday-Men’s Night-$.50 off drinks Bingo 6:30—8:30 Riders food Tuesday & Thursday Bingo 2-4 PM-need volunteers to help Tuesday Trivia 7 PM. Prizes for winners-Auxiliary serving food Wednesday-Ladies Night & $.50 off drinks. Pass the Trash 7 PM Thursday-Queen of Hearts drawing 8 PM Customer Consideration We ask that you do not mover other customer’s drinks, money or property at the bar as this causes issues and accusations. If you want their seat, please ask them or ask the bartender to ask them.

We conduct a Queen of Hearts game. Tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5. A ticket is drawn every Thursday at 8 PM. You must be present and draw the Queen of Hearts to win. The new pot is over $3,000.

We ask that you do NOT USE the Handicap parking spaces for overnight parking. All kitchen workers (lunches, Friday steak crews, Saturday dinners, Tuesday/Thursday sandwiches) are volunteers who depend on tips. Please remember to tip the kitchen workers.

We have Bingo on Monday nights from 6:30 to 8:30 and have a progressive jackpot with a lucky ball. We could use some volunteers. The Riders are serving burgers, hot dogs, French fries and specials. Come on out and have some fun. We also conduct Bingo every Tuesday and Thursday at 2 PM.

We need a backup caller for our bingo days. It takes about 1 1/2 hours. Please see Liz if interested.

Pass the Trash is Wednesday night at 7 PM. Participation is enthusiastic and is increasing. Come early to get a seat at the bar. MEAL SERVICE We ask your cooperation in not bringing in or ordering outside food during times someone is serving food. Remember, they are donating their time and effort to prepare, serve and clean up. The meals are fund raisers for our various programs. If you do not wish to buy the meal being served, please eat before you come to the Post or wait until the meal is done. When you sign in a guest, they must leave with you.

The first pool tournament will be at 5 PM on Saturday the 15th. There is a Cornish Hen dinner that starts at 4 PM and Karaoke will be at 7 PM. Please come out and eat some dinner , shoot some pool and sing some songs. We will have an Open Mic Night on Thursday the 20th after the Queen of Hearts drawing. We serve lunch Monday—Friday from 11 AM to 1 PM.

Liz Hill

2nd Vice Reverbs Volunteers to cook steaks the 4th Friday and Saturday dinners are needed. If you can give of your time, please contact the Commander. VACANT ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Legion Riders Well half the year is gone, welcome to summer, the heat and the rain are upon us, guess that is why we live in Florida. Want to start out and wish everyone a safe and enjoyable 4th of July Holiday, a day to reflect on the struggles of the founding of our great nation, and the sacrifices made over the years to maintain our Republic. Hope everyone is selling tickets at every opportunity you get, if you need more we have them, if you want to turn in money please contact me, if you have ideas on where we can sell them don’t be silent. As a reminder the installation of Chapter Officers for the 2017-2018 year will be on 8 July at 4 PM with a gather ing afterward. Please join us for our July meeting on Saturday the 1st, at 8:30 AM for the current E-Board and general membership meeting at 0900. If you have Raffle monies to turn in please bring in at the meeting, I will be collecting. Ride Safe and Ride Offten

John Tinsley _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Chaplain's Corner If you know of any sick or distressed Legionnaires please feel free to contact me at anytime 223-8053. Joe Nolan _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ From the House Committee If you have any items or issues that require the attention of the House Committee, make sure to write them on the forms provided from the bartenders and place them in the locked box above the sign-in podium. Any items that are not on the form or not signed with a legible signature will NOT be considered. The author’s identity is known only to the House Committee.

Kevin Robbs _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Service Officer Former service members exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune over a 35 year period from the early 1950’s to the late 1980’s can now apply for veterans disability benefits under a new federal rule. The new rule will allow a veteran who suffers from one of eight diseases VA officials have said are definitely connected to the water contamination to apply. Those diseases are: leukemia, aplastic anemia, bladder-kidney-liver cancers, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and Parkinson’s disease. Service officer hours are by appointment. If you have any questions or need assistance please contact me at 508-7443.

Bill Pelland _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kudos and Special Events

We are assisting the Lions Club Recycle for Sight program. If you have old glasses or frames, please bring them to the Post and put them in the box by the door.

We are assisting the Fraternal Order of Police Atlantic/Neptune Lodge 107 in their annual cell phone collection drive to benefit victims of domestic violence in Duval County. Please bring in your old cell phones and put them in the box by the door.

Building Careers for Veterans Veterans have access to FREE training, certification and job placement in home building, remodeling and construction through a partnership between the Home Builders Institute (HBI) and the Florida Dept of Economic Opportunity called Pre-Apprenticeship Certification Training (PACT), now in its 3rd year. Free CPR/First Aid/AED, EPA Universal and OSHA 10 and 30 training has been added to the free training in facilities maintenance to include carpentry, electrical wiring, masonry, landscaping, painting, plumbing and weatherization. Certification in Apartment Maintenance Technician is available for a small fee. Training is conducted at Amer ican Legion Post 137 at 5443 San Juan Ave. For more info or to register, call 625-3299, email LaTanya Guillory at lguillory@hbi.org or visit www.hbi.org, click on programs, veterans programs and follow the prompts to apply.

From the Historian I am still seeking inputs for the Post scrapbook. I need your help in filling it with past Post memories. If you have any articles or photos, please drop them off at the Post. If you have any stories you know about the history of the Post, please record them and submit them to me. You can contact me at 904-241-7965. Thanks. Phil Harville From the Commander: We need more volunteers to participate in Post projects and Post meetings. Our general meeting attendance has been less than 15 for some time now, and we need more attendance and participation in decision making for the Post. Please consider

stepping up and helping your Post. The Vietnam War: A Landmark Documentary Event Ken Burns (who did the Civil War Documentary) and Lynn Novick tell the epic story of the Vietnam War as it has never been told on film. It features testimony from nearly 100 witnesses who fought in the war, Vietnamese combatants and others. It will premiere on WJCT-TV 7.1 as follows: Parts 1-5: September 17-21 at 8 PM, Parts 6-10: September 24-28 at 8 PM. Post 316 Children & Youth Program Participation Every year, Post 316 participates in a number of programs that benefit our youth. The Boys State and Girls State programs are getting more expensive each year. If you work for a company that may be willing to sponsor a child, or belong to a fraternal organization like the Moose, Elks, Knights of Columbus, Kiwanas, Jay-Cees, etc. that may be willing to become a sponsor, please let us know. If they would like a presentation at a meeting, let Clarence Hill know and he will arrange to attend. -Boys State: We send 10 delegates every year. It now costs $450 per delegate as registration fee with the Department of Florida. It’s approximately another $100 per delegate for transportation and incidentals. We’d love to have an organization sponsor a delegate. -Girls State: Our Auxiliary sends 6 delegates to Girls State every year. It now costs $350 per delegate as a registration fee with the Department of Florida. It’s again approximately $100 per delegate for transportation and incidentals. We also participate in these other programs: -School Awards: We presented one boy and one girl of the graduating classes of 5 grade schools and 2 middle schools. We added a grade school last year and a middle school this year. We don’t hesitate to expand to other schools as we find they aren’t supported. The Awards cost about $30 each for a total this year of about $420. -ROTC Awards: We support the NROTC Unit at Jacksonville University by providing one gold, two silver and one bronze Military Excellence Award and one gold, two silver and one bronze Scholastic Excellence Award at their December and April ceremonies. These awards also cost about $30 each for a total of about $500. The gold awards are presented to seniors, the silver awards are presented to sophomores and juniors and the bronze awards are presented to freshmen.

Sons of The American Legion “THANK YOU” to our June 9th steak team. Our steak night is the 14th so please come and participate. Dues are $15 for 21 & over, $10 for Legionnaires who become dual members and 20 & under. The SAL has a 3-year renewal plan: $40 for 21 & over, $25 for 20 & under and dual members. We have the 2018 membership cards and are accepting renewals now. Installation is Saturday the 8th at 4 PM. Our meet-ing is the 1st at 1000, so please come and participate. If you have any suggestions, please let us know. Remember, it’s not the price you pay to be a member of the SAL, it’s

the price you relative paid for you to be ELIGIBLE.

David Keasler

Dewitt B. Tilden Memorial American Legion Post 316 1127 Atlantic Boulevard Atlantic Beach, FL 32233-2516

July 2017

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

Lunch is served 11 AM—1 PM Mon—Fri

1 Riders’ Mtg 0900 SAL Mtg 1000

2 BOURBON

3

Shepherd’s Pie Men’s Night Bingo 6:30-8:30

4 Independence Day

OPEN HOUSE Bingo 2-4 PM Trivia Night

5 Stuffed

Chicken Breast Ladies’ Night Pass the Trash

6

Lasagne Bingo 2-4 PM Queen of Hearts

7 Clam Chowder

Egg or Tuna Salad Sandwich Aux Steaks 5-8 Backwood Boys

8 Installation 4 PM Jaxcin DJ 6 PM

9 SCOTCH

10

Meatloaf Mtg Night 8 PM Men’s Night Bingo 6:30-8:30

11 Chicken

Bruschetta Bingo 2-4 PM Trivia Night

12

Pork Loin Ladies’ Night Pass the Trash

13

Stuffed Peppers Bingo 2-4 PM Queen of Hearts

14 Beef Barley

Soup & Sandwich SAL Steaks Backtracks

15 SUBVETS 1100

Cornish Hen Dinner 4 PM Pool Tourney 5 PM

Karaoke 7 PM

16 WHISKEY

17 Chicken

Fried Steak Men’s Night Bingo 6:30-8:30

18 Stuffed

Pork Chops Bingo 2-4 PM Trivia Night

19

Rueben Sandwich Ladies’ Night Pass the Trash

20 Meatball Hoagie Bingo 2-4 PM Queen of Hearts Open Mic Night

21

BLTs Aux Steaks

22 DJ at 7 PM

23 WINE

24

Pot Roast Men’s Night Bingo 6:30-8:30

25 Chicken or

Veal Parmesan Bingo 2-4 PM Trivia Night

26

Patty Melts Ladies’ Night Pass the Trash

27

BBQ Chicken Bingo 2-4 PM Queen of Hearts

28 Taco Soup

Grilled Cheese Sandwich Legion Steaks Band on Run

29

30 BEER

31

Ribs Men’s Night Bingo 6:30-8:30