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February 2008 Newsletter |
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Once again we’ve
made it through the holiday season and it’s time to update you on
Council activities. The Council’s
birthday luncheon once again was a rousing success as we had nearly 500
attendees join our celebration with Lieutenant General Joe Weber.
Unfortunately, General Conway had a last minute conflict and was
unable to make it as he had promised.
I guess we have an IOU with the Commandant outstanding.
We were again delighted to see the outstanding participation of our
supported Marine units. It is
always a pleasure to meet these Marines face to face and let them know how
proud we are of their service. Our
coin donors once again rose to the occasion and ensured that each of us
would have a memorable coin for the luncheon – thanks to Jack Skaggs,
Rusty Johnson, Bill Melton, Bob O’Bannon, Homer Paul, Leigh Ann Hardin,
Gary Lumpkin, Mike McIntosh, Floyd Gilreath, Bill Paul, and Glenn Reagan.
Mark Elgin (long time Council friend and supporter) was
gracious enough to continue his long standing tradition of providing beer
and cigars for our after luncheon get together.
Also, thanks again to the Marines from OU’s NROTC Unit for their
fantastic support on the narration, cake escort, and check-in tables, as
well as Council Vice President Lloyd Hardin for his Tradition and Lore
presentation on the story of our Corps from 1927 to date using a variety
of rousing “war stories” to capture the experiences of the Marines in
the audience. Part of the luncheon
that everyone looks forward to is the presentation of our door prizes.
For those we want to thank Sgt Grits, Ed & Connie Beesley, As many of you know,
we were fortunate to be able to schedule the Birthday luncheon at the
Marriott this past November, due to the generosity of a number of folks.
Our desire to keep the ticket price as low as possible would have
prevented our being able to enjoy the hospitality of the Marriott without
the financial support of Bruce Day, Mel James, Tom Goldsworthy, Gene
Atkinson, James Grimsley, Fred Jones Hall, Rusty Johnson, Homer Paul, Guy
Liebmann, Stan Muenzler, Bob Lukeman, Dan Arnold, Jack Rayburn, and A. D.
Necco. Thanks for the help. We also want to thank
Mike Munday, a Council member, for donating 100 meal gift cards for the
benefit of the Marines of the Recruiting Station, Fox Battery 2/14, OU’s
NROTC, and U.S. Grant MCJROTC. We are still
considering our options for next year’s luncheon speaker, but I promise
you we will continue to try to bring you the best available leader of
Marines. As a heads up for our
next luncheon – for a variety of reasons, we
are scheduling the event on a Saturday – November 15, 2008.
This will be the first time we have not held the luncheon on Friday
so be sure to put it on your schedule.
More details to follow as we lock in a location and speaker.
Council Support
Activities: ·
Continued to provide
financial support for family days and pre-deployments for both the
Anti-Tank Training Company and Fox 2/14.
Also funded Community Service awards for both reserve units, which
are presented to both a reserve and active duty Marine in each unit. ·
Assisted Fox 2/14 finance
their Christmas party for the rear party while the unit was deployed to ·
Provided funding for
Recruiting Station, U.S. Grant, Bixby, and Sapulpa JROTC, and OU’s NROTC
Marines to attend the Council’s birthday
luncheon. ·
Assisted the Marines at Vance
AFB in financing their Birthday Ball. ·
Supported ·
Continued to provide funding
for the Salpulpa MCJROTC unit’s trip to the National Shooting
Competition. ·
Assisted Young Marines
financially in purchasing uniforms and in sending some of their great
folks to summer leadership training.
Financial support
which allowed us to provide the assistance noted above is only possible
because of your continued support of the Council.
Thanks again to all of you -- we deeply appreciate your trust and
support. We continue to urge
your support of the Marine For Life program as they remain in need of our
support. The program, coordinated by Major Drew Salkeld, is intended to
ease the transition of deserving Marines from active duty back into the
civilian world. If your
company or if you know of any company owners that would be interested in
hiring Marines coming off active duty, please contact the Council and we
will provide that information to Drew.
Email us at oklahomamarines@gmail.com.
As you know one of
our Council goals is to grow our membership each 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.
During
calendar year 2007 the Council had a banner year, adding the following new
members:
* Marty McKnight
* Robert A. Manchester
III *
Jay P. Craig *
Robert E Howard, Jr.
* Grady Rainbow
* Lou Ferracane *
We also had a considerable number of individuals who indicated a desire
to join but for one reason or another did not return the paperwork.
We hope they will eventually decide to finish the process. A heads-up for the
Albert E. Schwab Detachment 857 Marine Corps League 2008 Medal of Honor Day Ceremony in The Council’s annual
meeting is scheduled for Thursday 24 April 2008 at the Petroleum Club
North – this is the same location we have had it the past three years.
Please put this date and event down on your calendars and plan on
joining us for this great chance to enjoy your fellow Marines.
More details to follow. The Council Board
would like each of you to know that while we work very hard to accomplish
the Council’s objectives, we never forget that whatever success we have
is absolutely due to your generous and continued support. Once a Marine, always a Marine. 
Phil
E. Hughes
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