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Bits 'N Pieces |
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MILITARY SPACE-A AIR book that I
mentioned earlier in Issue #24 costs only $12.71 at the Post Exchange
instead of the $21.75 advertised price.
$$$$$ MAJ. John R. WALKER from Fort Worth, Texas is a new member. He retired from the Reserves in 1962. John is also retired from the Fort Worth National Bank and devotes his time to Church and other non-profit organizations. Welcome to RAFINO John. $$$$$ We have been advised that Barbara LACEY the wife of COL Jack S. LACEY has died.The date of death and any particulars were not provided. $$$$$ SGM Dan SOUTH has advised us that MSG Walter CHAMBERS died on 1 May 2000. $$$$$ The RAFINO Report for Spring 2000 is filed under Current RAFINO Report on the web site. Your Editor is grateful for all who contributed to this Issue #24. Special thanks go to Joe ISBELL and Doug LAWHORN for providing the two fine articles from their personal experience. $$$$$ Legislation Seeks GI Bill Hike: Armed Forces News Issue: Fri, May 26, 2000 reported that, "This week the House passed a bill that would increase Montgomery GI Bill benefits from $536 a month for a 9-month term to $600, effective Oct.1.The payment would rise to $720 a month in 2002.The increase comes after veterans groups lobbied to raise the current amount, about $4,824 a year, to meet rising college costs." $$$$$ Upon receipt of a report from Bob, our Data Master saying that Al DURNING had withdrawn his reservation for the reunion 2000, I immediately jumped to the logical conclusion that Al had seen the list of bridge players and had taken a dive. To confirm my suspicion I called Al and you will not believe that he wants us to put the game on the web so he can play his hand on the Internet. Actually Al is scheduled for a prostate cancer operation in August and thinks he should be allowed a few days to recover. (Ed: Al, our thoughts and prayers will be with you.) $$$$$ On 30 May we received the following from Dick DARCY after he marched in the Annapolis Memorial Day parade. Lest we forget. "Local Vietnam vets gather each year and march down West Street past Church Circle and then down Main Street to City Dock where a wreath is placed in the water, a cannon booms, and taps are played. Our uniform is tan trousers, shirt and tie, and Blue blazer with ribbons or miniatures. (No rag-tag Army we.) Many of the locals were out along the route and clapped as we old vets marched by. At the City Dock ceremony a woman rabbi gave a wonderful speech about the Jewish tradition of, and our obligation to, remember. While the sky was overcast, the weather was mercifully cool and the rain held off for the morning." $$$$$ Adolph CAPKA writes,"I am very sorry in telling you that LTC Emery DRAEGER died in 1998 or 1999.His daughter wrote to me at that time . $$$$$ SOCIAL SECURITY CHANGE UPDATE: TROA s Personal Affairs Update,5 June 2000 reported the following: As a follow-up to the article in the January 2000 Update concerning the repeal of the law that allows Social Security recipients to work at age 65 and older without any loss of benefits, we discussed the retroactivity of the full benefit to January 1, 2000.Those retroactive benefits will be paid to all those eligible who have previously applied for Social Security benefits and had the benefits suspended because of employment. Those who have not previously applied for Social Security benefits must do so and there is a limit on 6 months of back payments. Those who don t apply by June 30th won t get the full retroactive payment. $$$$$ SGM Dan SOUTH forwarded the following retirement notice from CSM Sam MOLLOCK: "I would just like to announce to the RAFINCO community of my official retirement effective 1 NOV 00.Thirty plus years and it has really been a great ride!I plan to retire to 2313 Short Line Drive,Montgomery, Alabama 36116. My ceremony here at Fort Jackson will be 15 SEP 00.I also want to announce that CSM Paul MORRISSETTE will be the next CSM of the Corps." $$$$$ COL (R) Gary NIX died 6 June. Memorial Services were held 10 June at Fort Harrison and burial was in Arlington Cemetery 15 June. $$$$$ LTC Mike EBETINO sent a note with his dues that he and his wife are both ill and unable to travel. $$$$$ COL William Frank RAWLEY sent in his dues and a note saying, "Thanks for the Spring 2000 issue of the RAFINO Report. Great to know so many are going to our reunion in Washington." (ED note: Frank and Dorothy are registered to attend the reunion.) $$$$$ BG John CURRIER sent us his e-mail address and reports that he and Liz enjoy the rafino.org web page. He also cuts to the chase, as usual, by recognizing that the web is work for the purpose of keeping us connected. (ED note: Thanks John. Actually the web is a labor of love with two purposes. You nailed one and that is keeping a near real time communication link open for RAFINO family news and information. The other is to give the Web master a warm feeling of accomplishment which, I know, is a very selfish thing.) $$$$$ The Armed Forces News for 30 June 2000 carried this article: ROK to Provide War Service Medals: The South Korean government has announced it will provide the Republic of Korea War Service Medal at no cost to eligible U.S. veterans of that war, or to their surviving next of kin. To be eligible, U.S.military personnel must have: (1)served between June 25,1950, and July 27,1953; (2)been on permanent assignment or on temporary duty for 30 consecutive days or 60 nonconsecutive days; and (3)performed their duty within the territorial limits of Korea, in the adjacent waters or in aerial flight over Korea participating in or in support of combat operations. The U.S. Air Force has been designated to receive and distribute the medals. Call the Personnel Center, Monday Friday, 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. (CST) at (800)558-1404,or the Awards and Decorations Section at (210)565-2432. $$$$$ COL Jack ROGAN sent the obituary notice of the death on 25 June 00 of LTC Paul KELCH. He also sent a new address for Audrey KELCH. Jack remembers when he and Paul served together in the Comptroller Training Dept. at the Finance School in the fifties. He recalls other faculty members to be;**Joe LAMAR, Bob TAYLOR, Jim SCOTT, Bob VISER, Bob KRIZ and Web MILLS.** (ED: Such memory is indeed rare and valuable, thanks Jack.) $$$$$ Reminder:16 July is the 50th anniversary of the wedding of Jack and Ann ROGAN. (Ed: Just a reminder to those of you who are not on the Internet. This notice appeared on the web site in time for you to get a card or call to Jack & Ann.) $$$$$ Roger and Val EDGINGTON left this week (14 July) for a nice long visit to Europe. They promise to be back in time for the Reunion 2000. $$$$$ COL John GASPER has got us a new member. MAJ JAMES R. (Bob) BURTON of SARASOTA, FL has joined us. (ED: Welcome Bob) $$$$$ The FED WEEK web site has a good coverage on retirement planning. See it at: http://www.fedweek.com/newric.htm. $$$$$ COL Al DURNING has reported that he is back home from Johns Hopkins. He was back home from having his prostate removed on Saturday 15 July. He says that the good news, not only is the five pounds gone, the pathologists report says that the cancer (which was rated a 6 of 10 on a scale they use (six being the borderline between moderately aggressive and aggressive) as far as they can tell was still all contained within the prostate and is therefore not a potential threat in the future. $$$$$ COL. Arles H. (Hank) MILLER died of a massive stroke on 29 July 2000. He retired in August 1961 and was 91 years young at the time of his death. $$$$$ We regret to report that LTC Phil ANDERSON our RAFINO Secretary/Treasurer since 1994, suffered a heart attack and died Tuesday,8 August 2000. Apparently he was out jogging when the attack occurred. $$$$$ MAJ. Francesco GIAMMALVO requested assistance to access the Membership Roster. In his acknowledgement that the instructions were effective he passed on the following reflections: "LTC. Leroy LEGER and I were schoolmates at the Finance School, Camp Holibird, Md. in 1939. Leroy is now my neighbor here in San Antonio. Lives just a few blocks from me. Also, CPT. Art MANGANELLO and I were together in a Class "B " FO at Ft..Adams, RI, in 1938. This is so long ago that I feel older than the pope. Heck, I'm darn well older than the pope!I must say that RAFINO has a most outstanding web site. Keep up the good work!" $$$$$ MSG. James J. HURLEY an old friend of Bob RADOMSKI died 12 DEC 1999 at the age of 92.Bob and James were privates together. $$$$$ TROA's Personal Affairs Update, 7 August 2000 reported that MEDICARE Beneficiaries can file for Replacement Cards on the Social Security Administration Web Site (www.ssa.gov). The Social Security Administration announced that effective 11 July 2000 the public can apply for replacement Medicare Cards on the Internet at www.ssa.gov, the Social Security Administration's (SSAs) web-site. $$$$$ Betty LILJE has advised that she must attend to her ailing mother in Toledo instead of attending the reunion 2000. $$$$$ SGM Dan SOUTH has advised that SGM (R) John W. SULLENBERGER died 11 August 2000 in Sacramento, CA. John was 68 years old and was married to Takeko for 45 years. $$$$$ |
The Washington Post carried a notice that David W. TRAUB a retired Army lieutenant general who had planned and supervised transportation for the Allied Invasion of Normandy in World War II, died 16 AUG in Loudonville, N.Y. at the age of 97.The cause of death was not reported. He had been chief of transportation in Europe performing the critical role of moving and fueling troops in the war against Nazi Germany. Gen. Traub served in the Korean War as assistant chief of staff in the Korean Communications Zone. In 1954,he was assigned to the headquarters of the United Nations and the Far East Command. Six years later he was promoted to lieutenant general and assigned as comptroller of the Army. $$$$$ Mrs. Mary MARKEY has sent the following note to Bob FLEWELLING: "I want to thank the Finance Regiment for the wonderful reunion held at the Washington Plaza Hotel.I deeply thank them for honoring my husband, Brig. Gen. L. B. MARKEY for the work he did as a member of the Finance Corps. Please extend my thanks to the members of your (Reunion) Committee and others who worked on this interesting and memorable event." $$$$$ LTC (R) Woodard "Woody" HOPKINS Jr. died on 16 September 2000 in Eisenach, Germany. Funeral services Thursday 5 October 2000, 1100 at the Fort Myer Chapel. Interment with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Heart Association. $$$$$ COL Charles McINTOSH sent in his dues with a note: "Sorry to hear about Phil I am 82 wife 87 with Alzheimer thus we will be unable to attend the next reunion sorry!!" $$$$$ COL Dave MIKKELSON just had to brag about Emma Louise MIKKELSON who was added to our extended FC family on 4 October. She is the 3d granddaughter of son Jeremy & wife Ellisa, other son,Chris,still single but all here in INDY with Dave and Bonnie. (ED:I would say that bragging is in order Dave. Congratulations.) $$$$$ GEN John KJELLSTROM advises that on 16 October he and Dorothy will be moving about two blocks away to a house on a lake and the golf course at Indian River Country Club. They have always wanted the course and a lake and the time is now. They have spent a bit in restoring the house to their satisfaction. The new address will be 1597 Freedom Drive Melbourne, FL 32940-6810 and telephone is 321-255-6601. (ED:Do you get a break on the handicap by living on the course?) $$$$$ COL Oscar RAWLES "Mike" BOWYER 90,Finance Corps, who retired in 1962,died 24 Sep at the health care unit of the Fairfax retirement community at Fort Belvoir after a stroke. He lived at the Fairfax. COL BOWYER was a Richmond native and grew up in Lima, Ohio. He served in the Ohio National Guard before graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1935. He entered the finance corps in 1942. He served in Europe during World War II, and his decorations included two Bronze Stars. He was commanding officer of the Army finance center in Germany before being named controller of the Military District of Washington in 1956. He retired from the Army Finance Center at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Ind. He settled in the Washington area on retiring and focused on his hobbies, including collecting and restoring antique clocks and listening to musical-theater songs. Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Marguerite TOHLE BOWYER of Fort Belvoir. $$$$$ Roger EDGINGTON has decided that his golf score is kept elevated by his knees and therefore has decided to do something about it. Hence the following note: "I am going in tomorrow (11 OCT) for surgery on the knee. Arthroscopy is what they call it. Everyone I know seems to have had the operation." (ED:Edge is doing nicely at this writing.) $$$$$ COL Irv LECKER checked in to say that he and Jeanne enjoyed the time together in D.C. "Too bad that so many of our other colleagues were unable to attend." And he reported a new e--mail address of ielecker@aol.com $$$$$ Past President George BECKETT sent the following message to a couple dozen of the members who worked to make the reunion 2000 a success. "Please accept my sincere thank you for a great reunion. I want to enforce Jim's thanks to each of you. Reunions are successful because of the people who volunteer their time and efforts and each of you did a professional job.Let's get be-hind Ralph and the Indy folks and have a better one in 2002.(ED: I thought that the rest of you would appreciate knowing that the smoke that George was blowing about his retiring from office was just that, smoke. He is still out there working for RAFINO.) $$$$$ LTC Frank SCHOEN provided this quote from GEN Omar Bradley that I thought could be good advice for all of us . "We need to learn to set our course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship." (ED: Thanks Frank.) $$$$$ COL Roger EDGINGTON has started a new hobby and needs your help. He wrote: "I am interested and curious about the beginning and history of Finance Disbursing Sections. I know they existed during WWII. Where would be a source of research on them? I would be glad to undertake a study and attempt to find out more about them. Perhaps that has been done already. I am sure that if I asked fellow FC officers for input I would get a lot of data. Let me know what you think." Edge. (ED:Can any of you give Roger a helping hand with this project. His e-mail is rogernoel@att.net $$$$$ Dan SOUTH at RAFINCO provided the following item. MSG Frank EDE has been diagnosed with Plasma Cell Melanoma in his spine. The doctors started Chemo on him Saturday,14 October. The disease seems to be progressing very fast. Let us hope for Frank and Carol's sake they can get it in check soon. A card would be nice for both Frank and Carol. 4403 W Dudley Ave, Fresno, CA 93722-5800 grandad09@aol.com $$$$$ On Sunday 22 October 2000 LTC Bob RADOMSKI, our Cruise Master provided the following report of his physical status." Claud, I am doing well. I am driving the car now. Mary Lou likes that. Saw the Dr about a week ago and he said he would see me in 4 months. The pathology reports showed that the cancer had not spread. I get a little tired in the afternoon. Dr put me on a low-fat, very little red meat diet which includes beef, veal, lamb and pork. A lot of chicken and fish. Also 64 oz of water per day." (ED: Bob had a kidney removed in late Sep.) $$$$$ REUNION 2002: COL Dick PEDERSON reports that a contract was signed for 18-21 Aug 2002 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel downtown Indianapolis. Arrangements have been made for early arrivals and a bridge night on Saturday,17 Aug. Registration will start on Sunday 18 Aug and the Hospitality room will open that day also. $$$$$ STATUS OF CHICK CECCHINIS SURGERY. On 25 October Chick passed the following information on to us: "For those of you who had penciled-in on your calendar 25 Oct or 2 Nov as the scheduled date of my oft re-scheduled operation on my jaw, please apply your eraser to that date and enter (again in pencil please) the date of 28 Nov. Believe it or not all was set for 2 Nov when I made the mistake of coming down with a case of bronchitis. Considering that the anesthesiology doctors on my case see me as a frail, risky case (angina, high blood pressure, and pulmonary complications), they insisted that there be a convalescence of three to four weeks following the treatment of antibiotics given me to clear up the bronchitis. Hence, the new date. The good news flip side of this disappointment, however, is that Sjelja can travel to Denmark (9 to 23 Nov) for the family get-together she so much wanted to attend and still be back here before the operation. The doctors remind me that I will need someone for close support for at least those 2-6 weeks when my jaw will be wired and (guess that is one of the "for better or for worse " implications in the marriage vows) Sjelja is stuck with it. If this postponement pattern continues we'll soon be celebrating the first anniversary of the originally scheduled operation date, i.e., 15 March. Remember only pencil--in the 28 Nov date. Happy days, Chick. (ED: Chick, Our prayers will be with you for patience with Walter Reed and for success with your operation.) $$$$$ LTC Bill YOUNGER sent in his e-mail address with the following note: Seems a long time since the Reunion but we surely did enjoy ourselves. Had a lot of fun on the subsequent trip to New England with the Bakers a very beautiful part of the Country! We are now planning our Winter break to Florida probably in March. $$$$$ LTC Dick DARCY just has to rub it in. For example, his message this week is, "Put me down skiing with son Conal in Bavaria (Chimsee Lake Hotel) December 22 -Jan 2,2001. (Ed: Be careful Dick and don t break your writing hand. I need you.) $$$$$ HOT!! RETIRES WIN TROA announced in a special legislative update that on Monday,30 Oct, the President signed the FY2001 Defense Authorization Act into law including provisions authorizing TRICARE-for-life and pharmacy coverage for Medicare-eligibles, and allocating part of the government surplus to establish a trust fund that will make this coverage a mandatory entitlement that will not have to compete for funding with the rest of the Defense budget. This is to be effective 1 Oct 2001.You can subscribe to the free Legislative Update letter at: www.troa.org/LegislativeUpdate.asp. $$$$$ EDITORS NOTE (with
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