Arrive in Omaha on Northwest flight via Minneapolis. We have two active duty brothers, one Navy and one Army, who board the airplane last in Minneapolis. They are escorting their Army brother who was injured 3 years ago in Iraq and succumbed to his injuries. At least 6 people in 1st Class volunteer to give up their seats. When we arrive in Omaha, no one gets out of their seats until the brothers have departed. There is an Army honor guard on the tarmac with a hearse and police escort. They are from a small town in Iowa.
We are met by Department Commander Leon Deunk, Department Adjutant Burdette Burkhart, ANEC Jerry Landkammer, and three others. This visit will be a tour of Posts and other facilities throughout Nebraska. Nebraska is doing well in the early days of this membership year. They were in 2nd when we started the visit, and in 5th at the end. They are over 73% with two weeks to the 65% goal date. Their market penetration is also at the top-they are 3rd in the nation with just short of 30%.
First stop is the Eastern Nebraska Veterans Home. This is a state run facility that is about 2 years old, but looks brand new. It is a 60 bed home with another 30 beds in their assisted living wing. The director is a retired Air Force Colonel Medical Officer, Howard Googins, who is totally dedicated to the residents and knows them by name. His assistant is a retired Air Force E-9, both of whom have been with the facility since before it was built and readily relate the history of naming the wings, the pictures, the main street area and anything else we asked. They call their wings neighborhoods, and they are named Service, Motivation, Dignity and Allegiance. The rooms in each wing are numbered with the first letter of their neighborhood name and a number. The American Legion is totally involved in volunteer work, as are a number of other VSO’s. Three storm shelters are built in.
A pasta dinner is served at Gretna Post 216-a chicken pasta in a white sauce and a beef pasta in a red sauce to choose from. I, of course, have some of each. This is a well attended dinner with folks from Omaha 1, Papillion 32, Valley 58, Omaha 112, Springfield 143, Omaha 331, Ralston 373, and Millard 374. My remarks for the whole trip are geared to membership and the need for a greater Legion presence on the internet, the blogs and the social networks. This is a very responsive audience with a lot of questions. Q & A sessions continue to be well received. We then proceed to Offutt AFB where we will stay the night.
Tuesday starts with breakfast at the Air Force Dining Facility (Mess Hall for most of us). This is a large facility with anything you could possibly want for breakfast. A reception at Arlington Post 71 follows, and a reporter from the Arlington Citizen is present. Hooper 18, Freemont 20, Blair 154, Herman 274, and Omaha 331 are represented. Every Post we visit between meals have such diet items as cookies, pastries or cakes, so getting hungry is never an issue. Tekamah 15 is our next stop, and I start by getting into an old WW II jeep driven by WW II veteran Henry Doncheski, and ride to City Hall (about a block and a half) to see the gorgeous murals they have painted on the walls on the 2nd floor. They were done by a local artist, cover each war period and use local veterans in each of them, some of whom are with us. Back at the Post, 4 Boys Staters and 2 Girls Staters with their principal are present. We had a lively discussion of their experiences, and they each gave a presentation to the Post. The Post gave me a book with all the murals in it and an explanation of how they came about. Talk about history-they put it together themselves. They also gave me an unbelievable ball cap that had USS MCINERNEY on the front with scrambled eggs on the bill (correct for a Commander), my name and rank on the back and Desert Storm on the side. What forethought and a great gift. A reporter from the Burt City Plaindealer covered the event.
Lunch was vegetable beef soup and cold cut sandwiches at West Point 70. Mayor Marlene Johnson welcomed us and put a key to the city pin on my lapel. Bev Weiler of the West Point News covered the event, and representatives from Hooper 18, Dodge 122, Blair 154 and Howells 155 were present. I’m liking Q & A sessions more and more. There seems to be a lot of misconceptions about some issues, and I’m happy to correct them. We made a quick stop at Pender 55 to see the Memorial they recently built. A lot of effort went into it, as they raised a couple of hundred thousand dollars for it. There are a lot of memorial bricks that were $100 each, along with benches and the Monument. The 1st casualty of Vietnam, Capt. Buis, is recorded here. Jason Sturck of the Pender Times conducted an interview.
We then had two quick stops for receptions. First was Wakefield Post 81, home of Department President Carol Ulrich. Also home of an incredibly successful Class C baseball team. They also had a fully functional WW II jeep parked out front, with a not so functional Vietnam helo gunship. The walls of the post are lined with glass enclosed displays of uniforms and memorabilia from every war era, along with cases for burial flags that have been donated. I conducted an interview with Brad Kurtenback of the Wakefield Republican. Representatives from Homer 97 and Dakota City 376 were present. Homer 97 was our next stop. Snacks there consisted of deer patties and deer links in spicy, Teriacki and cheesy flavors. The district commander and his wife shot the deer that was served.
Roast pork steaks were served for dinner at South Sioux City 307. There were a lot of good speakers here, and it was very well attended. Mayor Sandra Ehrich gave a short speech. Cathy Hueller, Honor Flight coordinator, talked about the many flights from Nebraska, and thanked the Legion for their help in all she did. Mary McNamara followed with her appreciation to all the help she had bringing the moving wall to the area. She then unveiled their plans for a permanent memorial and park. It is a huge project with many phases and will take a lot of time and work to complete. Dakota County Star reporter Blake Branch had plenty to write about.
On Wednesday, we started at the Coleridge School, which houses grades 6-12. They moved up their Veterans Day program one week so that I could be their guest speaker. They have the whole school present (average class size: 20), veterans, Auxiliaries and guests. The MC is former state senator and Legionnaire Elroy Hefner from Coleridge 114. The kids were really good, both with the singing and the band playing. We thought there was no choir, but it turns out all but two in the choir do double-duty in the band. It appeared only seven people in the band weren’t in the choir. This was a very good service, and I thanked them for moving it up to allow me to participate. They had old newspaper articles posted, one of which had the headline: Coleridge-the Most Patriotic Town in America. It dealt with a WW I battle in which a lot of soldiers who died were from Coleridge.
A brief stop was made at Crofton 128, a small post with eight members present. The editor for the Crofton Journal was also there, and conducted an interview. They have a new memorial, so we stopped to see it on the way out. Niobrara 224 provided a fried chicken lunch. Again, the editor of the Niobrara Tribune asked a lot of questions and accompanied us to the Sage Brothers Memorial when we left. Representatives from Creighton 24, Vertigre 259 and Verdel 223 were present. The Sage Brothers Memorial chronicles the death of the three Sage brothers who were all stationed on the USS Evans when it was cut in half by the Australian carrier Melbourne. All three brothers were stationed on the same ship at their request.
We made another brief stop at Spencer 78, which will always have a warm spot in my heart as that is where I was commissioned an admiral in the Nebraska Navy. Representatives from Stewart 115, Bristow 76, O’Neil 93 and Lynch 228 witnessed this historic event. Next up was a fried chicken dinner at Chambers 320, which my Aide, Larry, may remember as he was also commissioned an Admiral in the Nebraska Navy (four hours junior to me). This was witnessed by representatives from Atkinson 86, Ewing 214 and Burwell 298. The Riders escorted us back to the hotel in O’Neil for the night. This is Ann Rehbein’s hometown. We stopped by City Hall where members of O’Neil 93 and the public were watching film from the last Honor Flight. One of the participants was present.
Thursday, the Riders led us to Osmond 326 for a reception. More Riders met us at the post. This was another small post with a good turnout and plenty of pastries. The next reception was at Pierce 72 where a reporter from the Pierce County leader asked a few questions. Again, good questions and more pastries. Norfolk 16 provided a roast beef lunch, which was attended by representatives of Uttica 49, Columbus 84, St Paul 119, Albion 162, Tilden 170, Boelus 201, Platte Center 283 and Denton 355. Susan Risinger of WJAG Talk Radio conducted an interview about Veterans Day. A full house was present for my remarks and again, many questions followed.
After lunch, we went to the Norfolk State Veterans Home. A large number of residents were gathered for the Auxiliary’s Dollar Days, where they get money to spend and there are many items made by the residents on sale. A resident gave me a one-winged eagle that he made himself. It’s not often that you get a gift like this. This was a formal program for the residents, and I was able to make some remarks in appreciation of their service. They had a singer as their main entertainment, and she was excellent.
The final event for this visit was a roast beef dinner at Omaha 1. It doubled as their early bird dinner, so the place was packed. The mayor gave me the Key to the City, and commented that this was the first time he had ever given anyone the Key to the City. My remarks were well received and a member passed me his suggestions for membership at the end. Throughout this visit and the Kansas visit, the one question asked by nearly every small post concerned increasing the eligibility periods. Despite The American Legion only having 11 percent market penetration nationally, most of these communities are more like 7.5 percent as the younger veterans leave and don’t come back.
Nebraska has had a lot of rain in the last couple of weeks, and most farmers are well behind in their harvesting. But we took credit for bringing the Florida sun to Nebraska, and much progress was made in our few days in state. But we told them that the sun would be leaving by Saturday as we were taking it on to Maine.
