November 2023 Newsletter
November is a Month for Giving Thanks
Honoring Our Veterans
On November 11th board members John and Judy Maten and Debi Hollis gathered at Centennial Commons for the City of Royal Oak's Veterans Day ceremony. The Michigan WWII Legacy Memorial hosted a continental breakfast for those in attendance.
We would like to thank Arts, Beats, & Eats for their donation of coffee and bagels, provided and served by Mike Keith of The Office Coffee Shop in Royal Oak. We would also like to thank Give Thanks Bakery of Royal Oak for their donation of pastries.
Fundraising Continues in Full Force
The board has been working to raise $2 million to complete the Memorial as designed. To help us reach this goal, Joan Clarke has joined the team as our chief campaign strategist.
Joan is the founder and CEO of 2Hearts Consulting. She has orchestrated campaigns across the country for over 280 clients in the past forty years, raising over $4 billion.
Within the next few weeks we will be launching a state-wide fundraising campaign. Michigan's Greatest Generation worked together to help win WWII. It will take all of us working together (again) to complete The Michigan WWII Legacy Memorial in their honor. If you would like to meet with Joan to hear more about our campaign, please contact her at Joan.Clarke@michiganww2memorial.org.
Make your donation today.
Campaign Updates:
- We want to thank the Family of Aarol W. "Bud" & Elaine M. Corbat Irish for their gift of $10,000. We are truly grateful for their generous donation. Many members of the Irish family attended the Phase 1 dedication in August. They were thrilled to see one of their father's quotes from the book A Thousand Letters Home featured on the Mail Call plaque. This book was written by his daughter Teresa K. Irish, based on Bud's wartime correspondence.
- We were pleased to receive a $25,000 grant from the Royal Oak Community Opportunity Fund. The grant was announced at the City of Royal Oak Commission meeting on November 13th.
Top photo: Army WWII veteran Aaron "Bud" Irish. Bottom photo: The family of Bud and Elaine Irish at the Phase 1 dedication
BOOK OF THE MONTH
As the Allies raced to defeat Hitler, four men, all in the same unit, earned medal after medal for battlefield heroism. Maurice "Footsie" Britt, a former professional football player, became the very first American to receive every award for valor in a single war. Michael Daly was a West Point dropout who risked his neck over and over to keep his men alive. Keith Ware would one day become the first and only draftee in history to attain the rank of general before serving in Vietnam. In WWII, Ware owed his life to the finest soldier he ever commanded, a baby-faced Texan named Audie Murphy. In the campaign to liberate Europe, each would gain the ultimate accolade, the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Tapping into personal interviews and a wealth of primary source material, Alex Kershaw has delivered his most gripping account yet of American courage, spanning more than six hundred days of increasingly merciless combat, from the deserts of North Africa to the dark heart of Nazi Germany. Once the guns fell silent, these four exceptional warriors would discover just how heavy the Medal of Honor could be—and how great the expectations associated with it. Having survived against all odds, who among them would finally find peace? (Taken from the Amazon review)
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Monday, November 20, 2023
WWII Memorial Latest Updates and News
Sunday, November 19, 2023
Friday, November 17, 2023
Woodhaven PetSmart Stuffed Animal Donation
District 4 Riders Stuffed Animal Program:
The Riders Group from District 4 expresses gratitude to Woodhaven PetSmart for their exceptional involvement in the Stuffed Animal Donation Program. PetSmart urged its customers to contribute animals to our VFW Riders program, and we received remarkable results. Mike Lewis, the Flat Rock Post Commander; Bill Schaffer, the Riders President; Denny Bowdler, the Sergeant-at-Arms; and Gary DeMars, the Webmaster, visited the Woodhaven PetSmart store to collect what we assumed would be a moderate donation. However, they were pleasantly surprised to find out that they had 20 bags of donated animals to contribute to our program. We applaud PetSmart employees and its customers for a job well done.
VFW Riders Events - Stuffed Animal Donation
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Thursday, November 16, 2023
VFW Day of Service Note
Be sure to check out the photo attached to his post. This photo was a national email sent out by the National VFW Headquarters. It's a great reminder of the amazing work we accomplished during the 2024 VFW Day of Service event and our current project. We should all feel proud of D4 Riders' recognition for our Stuffed Animal Program and the Day of Service project, where we built beds in Hamtramck.
Sunday, November 12, 2023
Monday, November 6, 2023
VFW Riders Events - Christmas Party
VFW Riders Events
Event Coordinator Bill Schaffer Form Date 11-04-2023 Riders Event Description D4 Riders Christmas Party Ride Destination Wyandotte Post 1136 Destination Address - Optional 633 Ford Ave, Wyandotte, MI, 48192 Comments You and your significant other are cordially invited to our D4 Riders' annual Christmas party on Friday, December 1st, 2023, at 6 p.m. The event will take place at the Wyandotte Post 1136. This is a Potluck party, so please bring a dish to share. We would appreciate it if you could RSVP to Gary DeMars at gary@demars.me and let him know if you will be attending and the dish you plan to bring. Please note that the Riders Group will provide Fried Chicken. We are looking forward to seeing you there! Ride Type Dinner Ride Ride Date 12-01-2023 Staging Location Wyandotte Post 1136 Staging Address 633 Ford Ave, Wyandotte, MI, 48192 Staging Time 6:00 PM KSU 6:00 PM
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