Meeting Notes for November 10, 2016

 
By: Hermann Welm
President Kathy Gailey, “The African Queen,” called the meeting to order, reminding us that the R.I. President is John F. Germ and his theme for the year is “Rotary Serving Humanity.”  The meeting was held in the South Building in the South Building of the San Ramon Regional Medical Center, and lunch was “catered” by the excellent staff of their Dietary Department.  Thank you, Gary Sloan for making this happen again as part of our Veteran’s Day Program.
 
Our Greeter, Barry Toby, led us in the Salute to the Flag.  PP Don Jones then led the group in the singing in a rousing rendition of “God Bless America!”  It has to be noted here that Edgardo and Elizabeth brought a small service dog and “Brown Beauty” did an admirable job sing along!  Barry also gave us a Thought for the Day, which this poor Scribe missed hearing entirely.
 
Visiting Rotarians: Elizabeth Kline, Edgardo Carrillo’s wife, now in the “E-Club,” and Michelle Lee, of the Dougherty Valley club.
 
 
Other Visitors:  In addition to the many members of the military, mostly active-duty Reservists from the Western Army Reserve Intelligence Center (“WARISC”) stationed at Camp Parks, we had Mary Greco, Cindy Toby, both former “First Ladies” of our club, Dan Pratt, from the San Ramon Police Department, and two employees of the hospital, John Ellis and Julie Panis.  Several other attendees, presumably invited veterans, were Julio Perez Guerrero, Alan Scharzach, and Randy and Jesse Castro.
 
 
Recognition of Veterans:  Kathie went table to table asking the members of the military present to introduce themselves and tell us which unit they served with and how long they have been in the military.  Next she once again toured the room and asked Rotarians and guests who are veterans to introduce themselves with a short explanation of where they served.  At the risk of forgetting someone, here follows a list of Rotarians present and their branch of service:  Guy Greco (Army Reserve, 1963 to 1969), “Pat” Paterson (Air Force, 1957 to 1971), Hermann Welm (Navy, 1963 to 1969), Glen Weber (Air Force, 1969 to 1971), Fred Nevarez (Coast Guard, 4 years),Geoff Johnson (Army, 1958 to 1962) and Edgardo Carrillo (Marine Corps, 1968 to 1978).
 
 
Announcements:
 
Jerry Marrs and Colette Lay were acknowledged and thanked for heading up a very successful Online Auction for Education.  This year’s take was $112,000 of which 80 percent will be donated to the San Ramon Valley Education Foundation and the balance will be used for Rotary Scholarships to California High School Seniors.
 
Kathy mentioned that Horace is still seeking some additional food items for the Thanksgiving Meal for the Homeless at the Trinity Center.  Several member spoke up and volunteered to bake pies and prepare side dishes (which are to be delivered to the Center on Wednesday, between 9 and 3).
 
Ana Dominguez and Marie Galbo were thanked for organizing today’s activities.  They, in turn, asked Gary’s food service staff to step forward and be recognized for another outstanding meal!
 
Bill Brodie noted that there are still six tickets left for the Rotary Day at the Races, November 19, at 11:00 am.  The cost, including parking and lunch, is $40.00 per person.  Please contact him if you (and your spouse) wish to attend and “play the ponies!
 
Marie Galbo noted that Jay Tontz seems to be alert and doing as well as can be expected.
 
Kathy informed all that it’s time to sign up for shifts at the Christmas Tree Lot.  It will be open from November 25th until December 10th.  Sign up via our website.
 
The Rotary Lunch with the Seniors will be held at the San Ramon Senior Center on December 8th.
 
The Christmas Party will he held on December 10th at the Tucker’s home, starting at 6:00 pm.
 
 
Good News/Fine Free:  None
 
 
Recognitions:  None
 
 
Program:   Bill Green, President of Vietnam Veterans of Diablo Valley, spoke about his experiences as a draftee in the U.S Army during the Vietnam War.  He was drafted in August, 1967 and arrived in Vietnam on January 13, 1968.  He served in the Infantry in the northern portion of South Vietnam, known as I Corps, much of the time in combat along the Laotian border.  You will no doubt remember that the Ho Chi Minh Trail ran from North Vietnam thru Laos into the various sectors of South Vietnam supplying enemy forces, Regulars and the Viet Cong, with armaments and reinforcements.
 
For the first six months Bill served as “Point Man” for his unit, a dangerous job since he had to (1) lead the way to the objective, (2) recognize and disarm booby-traps, and (3) not lead them into an ambush.  He learned to hate snakes and monkeys while doing this job.  Snakes for obvious reasons; monkeys because they would scream up a racket when he entered their territory thus alerting the enemy of their movements.
 
Of the ten men in his unit, nine were wounded  --  Bill and another were wounded twice, thus two Purple Heart medals each  --  seven of whom bad enough to be sent home.  He spoke quite eloquently about the brotherhood and affection one develops for comrades because of the heavy dependence on each other! 
 
Casualties were replaced with new arrivals from the USA; they were called NFG’s.  Bill did not explain what that stood for but did mention that he tried hard NOT to get close to them since he’d only feel more pain when they became casualties themselves.  But it didn’t work, once again because one has to rely on them and that leads to comradeship.
 
During his twelve months in Vietnam, Bill earned not only the Purple Heart Medals but also two Bronze Stars.  This medal awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone.
 
When Bill returned from Vietnam he said he was a changed man; he was angry.   He was later diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which he refers to as Post Traumatic Stress, not liking the “disorder” part of the name.  Like many Vietnam combat veterans, and World War Two veterans as well, Bill did not discuss his service in Vietnam after his discharge.
 
Some additional, and interesting, statistics about the Vietnam War.  Most know that about 58,000 service personnel died in the war, but not so well known is that about 10,000 of these were non-combat fatalities.  Also, of the roughly 2.5 million Americans who served in Vietnam only 25 percent were draftees.  This comes as a surprise to this Scribe since one always hears that this war was fought by draftees!
 
Raffle:   None
 
 
Next Week:  The next meeting will be the Club Elections for the 2017/18 Board of Directors.  Our Greeter was to be Jay Tontz; not to worry, a sub will be found so you WILL be greeted!