A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....07-22-03....A Few MORE of FR's Finest

Billie

[Dubya]

Just some veterans news.

2 celebrations planned at medical center

By Frank Perkins
Special to the Star-Telegram

Two celebrations will make this week special at the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

The first is a birthday party honoring former Navy Yeoman Marie Odee Johnson, who turns 106 Wednesday. The longtime Dallas resident is the oldest of 12 female World War I veterans living in North Texas, according to VA records.

The Dallas Navy League chapter will make a presentation to Johnson at 1:30 p.m. in the VA's Transitional Care Unit at the hospital, where she lives. Intended mostly for short-term care, the VA allows World War I veterans older than 100 to stay as long as they wish. Johnson moved there in 1998.

She joined the Navy during the last days of World War I while working as a secretary with the Dallas office of the FBI, according to her daughter, Marilyn Brooks, 75.

"I think those sailor boys working in the recruiting office at the federal building talked her into it," Brooks said. Johnson had two brothers in the Army and a sister in the Navy.

"She didn't ask anybody's permission. She just signed up and went," Brooks said. "She was just that kind of a daredevil. The first her family knew of her enlistment was when she called her father and told him, 'Well, you best put another war service star in the window.'

"She took a train to her duty station in Washington, D.C., and told me that at each stop, the people in that town or village would give fruit and snacks to the soldiers and sailors on the train," Brooks said.

Johnson was a secretary to a Marine general in Washington. "It was a great assignment," Brooks said. "The general was in charge of entertaining the troops when they came back from Europe, so my mother was kept busy passing out free tickets to Broadway shows and baseball games."

After her discharge, she returned to her job with the FBI in Dallas. She met another federal employee, Edward C. Johnson, wounded in action during World War I, and they married in 1924. "I was their only chickadee," Brooks said.

Brooks expects her mom to have a great time at the party. "She loves attention and talking to people, although she refuses to wear her hearing aid," Brooks said.

The VA estimates that 500 World War I veterans, fewer than 75 of them women, remain nationwide.

The second celebration, honoring the 50th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, will be at 3 p.m. Sunday in the atrium of the medical center. The Dallas Veterans Council-Korean War Commemorative Partners is the sponsor.

Eight Korean War veterans -- an Army Distinguished Service Cross recipient, a Navy admiral, generals from the Air Force and Marines, and four former enlisted men -- will share their experiences, and the Town North Concert Band will perform. The event is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Stonell Greene at (214) 819-1886.

[Dubya]

Thanks for sharing this.

[dansangel]

((((((((((Cal)))))))))

Sorry I missed you this morning. I've been busy with my new hires training class.

Hope you had (are having) a great day! :-)

[Dubya]

video entitled Military Prayer Point

VERY GOOD VIDEO.

[Aquamarine]

The Military Prayer Point flash video was very powerful. Thanks for sharing.

[dansangel]

(((((((((dutchess)))))))))

Been a month of Sundays since we've interfaced.

OK, so I exaggerate....but it *has* been a while!

[Aquamarine]

Happy to hear that you had a pleasant trip down South.Your family seems like such a great group of people, especially enjoyed seeing Brian.

[dansangel]

((((((((Meekie))))))))

Hoping you are able to stay cool over in the lonestar state!

((((((((Pippin))))))

That couple you described are morons. I say, good riddance to them!

[dansangel]

Beautiful pledge ((((((((((Mama_Bear)))))))))

I have to share something with both of you. A very dear co-worker surprised me today with a beanie bear. It is a commemorative of the USS Ronald Reagan and sports a patch on his chest stating so. He also has a sailor cap on his head and the tie arouund his neck. On his tag it says his name is "Ronnie."

I absolutely adore it! :-)

[dansangel]

That was absolutely chilling....and absolutely spot on.

Thank you for the link. I haven't forgotten. I wear a mercy band on my right wrist 24/7 with Margaret L. Benson's name on it. She was a Port Authority Police Department employee who died that day. She and her family are remembered in my daily prayers.

(((((((((lonestar and wienie))))))))))

[Aquamarine]

Never Forget.....that gave me chills.

[dansangel]

((((((((((Colleen)))))))))

Thank you for sharing your photos with us. Getting together with family is absolutely the *best*, isn't it?

[Aquamarine]

Thanks for link. The worlds a better place today.

[Mama_Bear]

It is a commemorative of the USS Ronald Reagan and sports a patch on his chest stating so.

Oh, how sweet! What a nice gift. :-)

I went to google looking for an image of it, but I couldn't find anything. It must be so new that it isn't out there yet.

[dansangel]

Let me see if I can find an image on Ebay.

;-)

Any excuse to go window shopping....lol!! BRB.....

[Aquamarine]

I posted this here a couple of weeks ago. Just went back and found it real quick...

New Beanie Baby to Commemorate Commissioning of USS Ronald Reagan

I want one too! :)

[dansangel]

LOL!! You beat me to it!

I just up loaded this one which will probably not show up very well on a white background:

[LadyX]

"The second celebration, honoring the 50th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, will be at 3 p.m. Sunday in the atrium of the medical center. The Dallas Veterans Council-Korean War Commemorative Partners is the sponsor."

I had been at Parris Island more than a year when the truce went into effect, Dubya, and my husband (did not know him until later) was a POW who thus was liberated and marched back across the 38th Parallel depicted in that old movie about it.

Were you in Korea during the Conflict?

Glad you liked the video. Liberals tend to forget that God Himself sent men into war for His purposes - - -
sometimes it is necessary to quell evil.

[MeekOneGOP]

Seems like I keep hearing thunder in the distance.
Says 99 degrees right now. Hope we get some rain.

[deadhead]

A president who symbolized peace through strength will soon be associated with a toy best described as a little softie.

Beanie Babies mogul Ty Warner unveiled a new bear that pays homage to President Ronald Reagan -- it's part of a fund-raising effort by the Santa Barbara Navy League on behalf of America's newest aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, set to be commissioned July 12.

"The design was all done by the Navy League. No one in the family, per se, had anything to do with it. Of course, it was approved by Nancy. She has final say over anything like that. But the design of it, the look of it, that was all done by Ty and the Navy League."

Limited stock will be available. Item is now in stock and shipping.