Oregon Council Honors Board Member

During its biennial convention this past October, the Oregon Council of Chapters presented the "Kay Wynn Memorial Service Award" to TROA board of directors member Rear Adm. Ed Nelson, uscg-Ret. The award is given biennially to an Oregon TROA member who demonstrates distinguished service to members of TROA.

Nelson was recognized for his long and dedicated service to the association at both the state and national levels, including his efforts to start the Lower Columbia River Chapter, which was chartered in 1990, and his willingness to serve as its president during its first three years; his efforts to establish a prescription courier service with the Madigan Army Hospital in Tacoma, Wash., for all uniformed servicemembers, retirees, and their dependents who live in northwest Oregon and southwest Washington; his work to start a chapter scholarship program at Clatsop Community College in Astoria, Ore.; his service as the chairman of the 1999 Oregon TROA Biennial Convention; his leadership as president of the Oregon council from 1993-1995; and his contributions as a member of TROA's national board of directors.

As a TROA board member, Nelson has served on the Council and Chapter Affairs and Government Relations committees. He also has visited numerous chapters around the United States as a representative of TROA's national headquarters.

Luke (Ariz.) Air Force Base Celebrates 60th Anniversary

Col. Bob Baehler, USAF-Ret., president of the Luke (Ariz.) Chapter, was among more than 350 community leaders invited to help the servicemembers at Luke Air Force Base (afb) celebrate its 60th anniversary in November. The celebration included presentations by the commander of the air base's 56th Fighter Wing, Brig. Gen. Steve Sargeant, usaf, and the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Bob Stump (R-Ariz.). The main event featured the induction of about 60 "honorary commanders."

Honorary commanders are individuals from the local community who are assigned to serve one year with a specific organization on the base. This allows them to become familiar with base activities and the military members who work there. These commanders share their experiences with base personnel and with their communities. Baehler says that one of his most vivid memories of the celebration was the huge, 10-foot-by-18-foot quilted American flag made by members of the Luke Officers' Spouses Club that hung from the rafters of the hangar where the event was held.

Chapter Helps Keep a Memory Alive

The Letterkenny (Pa.) Chapter has joined with other organizations in the Chambersburg, Pa., area to raise money to preserve a remarkable piece of the local Letterkenny Army Depot's history. During World War II, the depot held a sizeable number of pows from Italy, and one of the most visible vestiges of that time is the Letterkenny Chapel.

In the mid '40s, the commanding officer of the depot discovered an elderly prisoner trying to kill himself after learning that his wife had died in Italy. The commander talked with the man and found that he was very religious and had been a master stonemason in Italy, building churches and memorials. The commander told him that the depot could use a chapel and asked if he'd be interested in designing and building one.

The prisoner responded enthusiastically that he would, and a chapel eventually was constructed by the Italian prisoners without any government funds. Materials were salvaged from abandoned area farmhouses and also were purchased from funds donated by military members serving at the depot. The chapel was dedicated May 12, 1945, with a choir of Italian soldiers singing at the ceremony.

As has happened with many other military installations around the country, the Letterkenny Army Depot has undergone significant downsizing in the last several years, but the chapel still stands and is being used actively. It has been leased to the United Churches of the Chambersburg Area, which is in the process of raising money to permanently preserve the property.

Indiana TROA Members Influence Election Reforms

Last February, Indiana's Gov. Frank O'Bannon, in response to voting problems that surfaced during the 2000 presidential elections, formed a special task force to review voting procedures in Indiana and ensure that all elections in the future were "reliable and fair ... for all the citizens of Indiana."

When Indiana Council of Chapters President Col. Joe Ryan, usa-Ret., heard about the task force and started checking into its composition, he discovered there was nobody appointed to represent the interests of the military. After some campaigning, he was successful in getting permission for himself and TROA of Indianapolis Inc. member Lt. Gen. Carol Mutter, USA-Ret., to represent TROA as unofficial members at task force meetings.

Ryan says that, from the very beginning, the task force chairwoman, Indiana Secretary of State Sue Anne Gilroy, emphasized that all voting procedures had to be military-friendly and went out of her way to include his and Mutter's input during task force meetings. The task force recently published its final report. Ryan says he and Mutter "were instrumental in influencing several task force recommendations — all with the idea of easing state requirements on military absentee balloting."

According to Ryan, these recommendations were important because during some canvassing of absentee voting results, a shockingly high number of military ballots were rejected for one reason or another during the last presidential elections. He reports that the next challenge is to make sure the recommendations are translated into law during the next session of the Indiana legislature. He's been working with the state military veterans' coalition to spread the word and develop support. He also explains that the research the task force did over the course of the last 10 months led them to conclude "the armed forces themselves also have to do a much better job of preparing and administering the absentee process."