August, 2004 Newsletter

Hope everyone had a great summer and is looking forward to another great fall and football season.  There has been a lot of Council activity over the past few months and it’s once again time to update everyone on what is going on in Oklahoma ’s Marine community.  This newsletter will bring you up to date on our recent efforts and provide a short summary of upcoming events.

On a sad note members of the Council attended two funerals of active duty Marines who lost their lives in Iraq .  Lance Corporal Scott Vincent USMC serving with 2d Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion was killed 30 April 2004.  His funeral services were held in Bokoshe , Oklahoma and the Council presented Gold Star flags to his Mother and Father.  Lance Corporal Joseph Nice USMC of Nicoma Park serving with 3d Battalion, 7^th Marines was killed 4 August 2004.  Funeral services were held in Choctaw with the burial in Midwest City and the Council provided Gold Star flags to his Mother and Grandmother.  One of our members also sponsored a flag case with medals for a Vietnam Purple Heart recipient - Stanley Eugene Card - a local Marine who passed away with no family. 

Our annual meeting on 20 May at the Petroleum Club in Oklahoma City was a great success.  We deeply appreciate the event being sponsored by Council Charter member John Taylor – the view, facilities, and service made it a memorable occasion.  We were fortunate to have all of our ex-officio members (Commanding Officers / senior Marines from each of the Marine units we support across the state) provide a brief description of their unit’s mission and objectives.   It proved to be very informative and I believe will help us better support them in the future.  It is always a great feeling to be able to meet and talk to these Marines.

As you know one of our original intentions was to establish relationships with each of the Marine units and organizations in the state and identify the best way to support them given their individual requirements.  Since I last undated you we have provided support (along with significant contributions from the Marine Corps League and the Women Marines Detachments) to the Marine Detachment at Fort Sill to remodel the Marine Corner of the primary instructional building and sponsored their annual Devil Dog Run for the third year in a row by purchasing the trophies and medals awarded to the participants.  The Council also provided funding (again in concert with the Marine Corps League) for the shooting team from the Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps unit at Sapulpa to compete in the national shooting competition this summer.  They did a great job and brought home the silver medal for their efforts.   Additionally, we continued to support various Marine units with season passes to Frontier City and White Water Bay, two romance packages to Shangri La at Grand Lake as incentive awards for the Recruiting Station, OU & OSU baseball tickets, and funding for family nights held by both the Anti – Tank Training Company at Broken Arrow and F/2/14 in Oklahoma City.  We have also obtained tickets to the Los Angeles Lakers exhibition game this fall in Oklahoma City and will provide them to deserving Marines in the state.  If history is any indicator we anticipate the contribution of football tickets this fall for deserving Marines – if you aren’t going to use your tickets please call us. 

A couple of personnel changes have occurred since our last newsletter.  Captain Jimmie Johnson USMC has taken over as the Inspector-Instructor at F/2/14 in Oklahoma City for Major Barry who rotated to Okinawa .  Captain Johnson and the Commanding Officer of F/2/14 – Major Stan Chambers – offered the Council an opportunity to talk at a recent Family Day being held by the Unit.  It was a great opportunity to talk to the Marines and their dependents about what the Council does and how we can help them.  In Broken Arrow Major Steve Sims the Inspector-Instructor has been sent on Temporary Duty to Iraq and his duties are being accomplished by Captain Jennifer Morse USMCR.

Another personnel change occurred in the Marine For Life program where Capt Chris Mayfield returned to active duty and has been replaced by Major Drew Salkeld.  He has been snapping in over the summer and is hard at work establishing all the contacts that are needed to succeed in this critically important assignment.  If any of you know of businesses or have contacts in companies that would be interested in hiring Marines coming off active duty, please contact the Council and we will provide that information to Drew.  You can email us directly at oklahomamarines@gmail.com.

In my last newsletter I mentioned the members of the President’s Advisory Committee and I want to again thank them publicly for their support and time.  Their recommendations have been well thought out and I believe will greatly assist the Council in the future.   Another step we have taken to better support our units and organizations is the addition of contact information for each of them on our website homepage – check it out at oklahomamarines.org.

We were delighted to announce at our annual meeting in May that Council Charter member Donald Dickey has been selected for induction into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame on the evening of 18 September.  We have sent out emails and flyers with all the information needed to make reservations for the ceremonies and would be delighted to have you attend.  If you have any questions please call me at 405-850-9542.  The Council has offered to sponsor Marines from our supported units who would like to attend and we hope to have representation from several units across the state. 

As you know one of our Council goals is to grow our membership by ten new members a year.  If you know of someone who would like to join our ranks please get in touch with us.  It is important to our long term goals to continue to bring in new members.  

We are thankful for your membership donations that continue to finance our planned unit support.  So far this year the Council has received more than $5000 from 46 of our 83 Council members.    We have also been very fortunate that a lot of support to our units is provided on a “gratis” basis from Council members.  Thanks again to those who have provided these gifts and if you would like to provide support in this manner please let us know.  Support of any kind is welcome and those Council members who can contribute financially to our efforts are deeply appreciated, we could not exist without your continued support. 

We have scheduled our annual Marine Corps Birthday luncheon for Friday – 5 November 2004.  It will again be held at the Oklahoma City Homebuilder’s Association building.  Our Guest of Honor will be General Spider Nyland – the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps – and we are really looking forward to visiting with this great leader of Marines.  Be sure to put this date down on your calendar and invite your friends to join us at this great annual event.   Our Tradition & Lore presentation will focus on the 60^th anniversary of June 1944 - May 1945.  See you there.

We would like each of you to know that while your Council Board works very hard to accomplish the Council’s objectives, we never forget that whatever success we have is absolutely dependant upon your generous and continued support.  Once a Marine, always a Marine

Phil Hughes
President