American Legion District 21 Veterans Day edition

21ST DISTRICT

LEGION

NAIRE

RIVERSIDE COUNTY AMERICAN LEGION

VETERANS DAY 2018

“Putting the Fight in the Fighting 21st District - Audacity, Audacity, always Audacity!”

COMMANDER’S M E S S A G E

PRESIDENT’S M E S S A G E

Greetings District 21,

Monique Clemons

I am very pleased to be serving as your District Commander for this year.

I have had the chance to meet members from every Post and I look forward to meeting even more of our Legion Family here in District 21.

Veteran’s Day is around the corner and many of our Posts will host Events in Celebration of the day. We must remember that the act of honoring and serving Veterans is not something we do because the calendar tells us too. We must remember that it is our mission to do it every day.

Hello to all of the members of District 21. As you all know I am Cathy McCoy President, of the American Legion Auxiliary. We have started a new year and this year is special because we are 100 years old.

Genesis of the A.L. .........Page 4

Cathy McCoy

Our numbers have fallen off in the last few years and we have to change it. When you go out into your area wear your shirt with our emblem. Advertise in the paper about the things we do for our Veterans, and their families. When you send a delegate to Girls State, or give out a scholarship put it in the paper with pictures.

The Holidays will also soon be upon us and we need to remember our Brothers and Sisters who our struggling and don’t have food and shelter for the Holidays. So, while you are planning your Post Holiday events think about doing a food and clothes drive for homeless vets. If you have any questions or need assistance with that contact the District Service Officer or me and we can help. This too is also a daily issue so your activities can continue past the Holidays and just become part of your Monthly Post activities.

If your Unit goes to Match Air Reserve Base to feed the veterans who live there let us know about it. The more our name gets out into the public eye the better.

I am looking forward to an exciting year and Thank you again for the Honor of being your District Commander.

I am looking forward to meeting all the new members and our old friends.

FOR GOD AND COUNTRY Monique Clemons District 21 Commander

PLUS INSIDE...

We must all work together for the betterment of our Veterans and their families.

John Barrett .................Page 6

9/11 Tribute ............... Page 11

Please attend our District Meetings to learn more. The next meeting is on November 4, 2018 at Post 519 in Palm Springs. The time is 10 a.m.

FOR GOD AND COUNTRY Cathy McCoy District 21 Auxiliary President

Special thanks to Rees Lloyd for his cutting edge commentary and To Dr. John Ellis, President of C.A.L.P.A, with out his support this paper would not be made possible.

Phyllis Jordan ............. Page 20

Protecting Veterans .... Page 30

21ST DISTRICT LEGIONNAIRE | VETERANS DAY 2018

21ST DISTRICT OFFICERS 2018 - 2019 Commander Monique Clemons 510-508-5709 • meclemons72@yahoo.com 1st Vice Commander Dave Mader 913-731-7589 • dmader40@yahoo.com 2nd Vice Commander Joel Ortiz ortizjoemet@aol.com 3rd Vice Commander Matthew Casey 951-306-6011 • mcasey1947@msn.com Adjutant Ed Vondrat (760) 409-7812 • e.vondra@yahoo.com Asst. Adjutant Harold “Buzz” Waltz (760) 774-5481 • bwaltz@dc.rr.com Finance Officer Edward Romero 951-531-5202 • lorgal34@yahoo.com Sergeant at Arms Alberto Navarro 323-637-8677 • alberto.navarro@outlook.com E–Board East Harold “Buzz” Waltz 760-774-5481 • bwaltz@dc.rr.com E-Board Central Larry Blair 951-225-5519 • hernandezlarryj@gmail.com E-Board West Larry Hernandez 909-342-3989 • Mcasey1947@msn.com Chaplain Russ Mills 909-631-1970t • goinupsoon@sbcglobal.net Judge Advocate Herman Granados (760) 574–6076 • drhook@dc.rr.com Service Officer Marquis Palmer 951-850-7211 • americanpalmer@gmail.com Jr. Past Commander Eddie Blankenship 951-531-5202 • lorgal34@yahoo.com SAL Past Commander Post 519 Ed Vondra 760-409-7812 • e.vondra@yahoo.com

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Serving Riverside County Lic ic #906115

MEMBERSHIP REPORT DISTRICT 21 STANDINGS

Post# Post Name & City

e lin rs rs n e b O sfe al Ls d d m n F i i al t e Pa 9 Pa 9 Tra 9 To PU M l Go 9 9 9 9 oa 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 G 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 %

0053

Harold W. Hyland, Hemet

8

43

15

119

1

186

264

70.45%

0079

Riverside, Riverside

0

50

19

0

0

69

305

22.62%

0200

Lynn Mort, Lake Elsinore

7

19

11

46

0

83

220

37.73%

0216

William H. Jameson, Jr., Corona 2

7

4

16

0

29

51

56.86%

0289

Carl R. Meairs, Riverside

9

15

14

83

0

121

215

56.28%

0328

Norco, Norco

3

47

28

163

0

241

562

42.88%

0428

San Gorgonio Pass, Banning

1

11

6

29

0

47

85

55.29%

0500

Mira Loma, Mira Loma

2

11

6

41

0

60

130

46.15%

0519

Owen Coffman, Palm Springs

8

49

54

217

0

328

702

46.72%

0574

Morrison Mem., Moreno Valley 7

25

14

56

0

102

201

50.75%

0595

Perris, Perris

8

53

19

70

0

150

283

53.00%

0739

Herman Granados, Indio

8

39

19

109

0

175

315

55.56%

0742

Joe Dominguez, Corona

1

14

17

64

1

97

176

55.11%

0800

Idyllwild, Idyllwild

2

22

11

104

0

139

227

61.23%

0848

San Jacinto, San Jacinto

1

24

17

41

1

84

304

27.63%

0852

Temecula/Murrieta, Temecula

0

19

19

20

1

59

150

39.33%

0951

Fellowship, Riverside

0

1

7

0

1

9

49

18.37%

District 22 Totals

67 449

280 1178

5

1979 4239 46.69%

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21ST DISTRICT LEGIONNAIRE | VETERANS DAY 2018

DISTRICT 21 POSTS E–BOARD EAST Post 53 Harold W. Highland, Hemet Post 428 San Gorgonio Pass, Banning Post 519 Owen Coffman, Palm Springs Post 739 Herman Granados, Indio Post 800 Idyllwild, Idyllwild Post 848 San Jacinto, San Jacinto E–BOARD CENTRAL Post 53 Harold W. Highland, Hemet Post 200 Lynn Mort, Lake Elsinore Post 595 Perris, Perris Post 574 Morrison Memorial, Moreno Valley Post 852 Temecula/Murrieta Valley E–BOARD WEST Fairmont Park, Riverside William H. Jameson Jr., Corona Carl R. Meairs, Riverside Norco, Norco Mira Loma, Jurupa Valley Joe Dominguez, Corona

Post 79 Post 216 Post 289 Post 328 Post 500 Post 742

MEDIA ADDRESSES 21st District www.caldistrict21.org District 21, Post Websites Post 53, Hemet www.alpost53.org Post 79, (Fairmont Park) Riverside www.americanlegionpost79riverside.com Post 200, Lake Elsinore www.legionpost200.org Post 328, Norco www.americanlegionpost328.org Post 500, Mira Loma www.miralomapost500.org Post 519, Palm Springs www.americanlegionpalmsprings.org Post 848, San Jacinto http.legionpost848.org/Join.htm Post 852, Temecula/Murrieta www.al852tmv.org 4

GENESIS OF

THE AMERICAN LEGION

BY MARK SEAVEY

T

Twenty non-career officers personally selected by Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt Jr. were ordered by American Expeditionary Forces Commanding Gen. John Pershing to report to a YMCA office in Paris on Feb. 15, 1919. Their ostensible purpose was to address declining morale among cold, wet, miserable troops awaiting passage home from the war that was supposed to end all wars. But the officers, who met again for dinner the following evening, had something more in mind than the moods of their restless buddies. This was the perfect time, they decided, to talk about a new kind of veterans association, one specifically for them, built on what they had learned from the war.

Nine of the 20 officers had something else in common: they were alumni of the Plattsburgh Training Camps of upstate New York, where civilian volunteers defied the Wilson White House by preparing to fight in a war the president did not initially want the United States to enter.

U.S. intervention was controversial. Many considered it to be purely a European affair. And with thousands of new immigrants to the United States from the warring nations in Europe, uprisings were a concern if America went in.

After Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, on June 28, 1914, armies mobilized across the European landscape, and the Great War was on, a war like none before it.

Military investment had been relatively high in Europe before the assassination. The opposite was true in the United States. Alec Campbell noted in his 2010 essay “The Sociopolitical Origins of The American Legion” that between the U.S. Civil War and World War I, major European states “enrolled between 0.7 and 1.65 percent of their populations in the military while the United States came in between 0.06 and 0.17 percent. These numbers understate the relative differences, as conscription and reserve forces increased the available fighting power of most European states in that period.”

The United States, an ocean away from Europe, saw no great need for a large standing military, with a friendly neighbor to the north and only sporadic conflicts on the southern border. The national focus remained on developing the West, building railroads, overcoming native tribes and harvesting the bountiful natural resources west of the Mississippi.

Even during the Spanish-American War, when future President Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders gained fame, the United States involved only about 72,000 troops. And although limited in scope, the Spanish-American War “could build national accord as well as national character” and resolve “class and sectional hatreds,” Roosevelt suggested.

He recruited troops from elite colleges and clubs and then “scattered eastern swells through (the) entire unit ... purposely bunking cowhands with capitalists.”

According to author M. Perlman, newspapers claimed this was “the most representative body of men on American soil, for in it were cowboys and millionaires, side by side, all men equal.”

In contrast, Europe was much more familiar with military action and political battles. In the last two decades of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th, the continent saw conflicts between Serbia and Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey; numerous uprisings and subsequent suppressions of groups opposing the Ottoman Empire; an attempt by Macedonia to split off; a Russo-Japanese conflict; and numerous peasant revolts. Germany was still consolidating into one, as was Italy. European armies marched into each other, seemingly at the slightest provocation, while America marched westward, away from these distant skirmishes, laying tracks of economic expansion.

The assassination of Ferdinand, however, disrupted America’s manifest destiny and fractured U.S. foreign policy. Roosevelt, as president from 1901 until 1909, had sought to raise America’s international clout by securing the Panama Canal and negotiating peace terms to end the Russo-Japanese War. He launched the sparkling new Great White Fleet with a two-year world tour to demonstrate U.S. naval prowess.

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(Continued from Page 4)

In contrast, Woodrow Wilson was elected in 1912 on a platform of neutrality and isolationism, hearkening to a view espoused by Thomas Jefferson, who said that “essential principles of our government (are) peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.”

The Great War challenged Wilson’s resolve, but in 1916 he was re-elected on a platform summed up by the campaign slogan: “He kept us out of war.”

The Preparedness Movement Roosevelt and others, like former Secretary of the Army Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood, were less sure the United States would be able to – or should – stay out of the fight in Europe. They resolved to ensure that if the call to arms came, at least some Americans would be trained to lead. At the time, the U.S. military had less than one-tenth of the personnel needed for the eventual war.

Wood and Roosevelt, along with former war secretaries Elihu Root and Henry Stimson, began calling for preparedness. Wood started the National Security League (NSL) in 1914, and by the middle of that year “the League’s total civilian membership resembled an interlocking preparedness directory,” one author noted. The NSL quickly grew to more than 50,000 members in 155 chapters across 42 states.

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The German U-boat sinking of the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania on May 7, 1915, validated to many the need for U.S. military intervention. Of the nearly 1,200 who perished in the attack, 128 were Americans. U.S. entry into the war grew ever more likely.

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Roosevelt and Wood believed that lists of people were helpful, but modern training was vital.

Thus was conceived the “Plattsburgh Idea,” named for a small city near the Canadian border where voluntary training could be conducted by college-educated men, including Theodore Roosevelt Jr., under the watchful eyes of the former president and Wood.

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The broader concept was a series of military training camps for business and professional men, similar to programs already operated by the Army on some college campuses in the form of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. The Plattsburgh camps took greater shape in the fall of 1915 and were attended by roughly 1,700 men that year. By the end of the 1916 camps, another 17,000 had completed volunteer training. The Military Training Camps Association (MTCA) that would govern Plattsburgh and other regional camps across the country expected 50,000 more to train in 1917. That prediction was obviated on April 6, 1917, when Wilson pivoted and declared U.S. entry in the Great War.

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Future founders of The American Legion – many of whom were also members of a nationwide volunteer network called American Legion, Inc. – were quickly commissioned as officers to help lead Pershing’s young force. At war, the future founders realized that physical conditions, discipline and mental sharpness among the mostly drafted U.S. troops generally were inadequate. Literacy, fitness, weaponry, training and supplies were also sorely lacking.

In addition, many AEF troops were new U.S. immigrants and had scant understanding of what they were fighting for. To many, the concepts of justice, freedom and democracy were foreign, literally and figuratively, and English was a second language, if they could speak it at all.

“Nine of the initial 20 Legion organizers had been involved as leaders or participants in the Plattsburg(h) movement,” Campbell writes. “Three had been involved in the NSL, and five were National Guard officers. Accounting for multiple associations, 60 percent had been involved in at least one pre-war preparedness organization, and 75 percent had been involved in either a preparedness organization or the National Guard.”

Franklin D’Olier, who in 1919 would be elected the first national commander of The American Legion, never trained at Plattsburgh, but he granted leave to employees of his mercantile business to attend.

Author Ralph Barton Perry, writing in 1922, explained that a typical Plattsburg(h) trainee “discovered new physical values. He learned to view his body in a new light, as something to be cared for, as a man might groom his horse. He learned that he walked on his feet and that his feet had to be respected accordingly. He learned something about his physical energy, its reserves and its limits, and what you can do to increase it ... He discovered extremes of fatigue and hunger that were totally new to him, and the soul-satisfying joy which may exalt such humble things as sitting down by the roadside and drinking warm water from a

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21ST DISTRICT LEGIONNAIRE | VETERANS DAY 2018

JOHN BARRETT

4 0 Y E A R S A L E G I ON NA I R E !

BY DR. JOHN ELLIS, ED.D.

P

Perhaps he should have said it in German, “Hallo! Wie geht es dir?” But, instead, he blurted it out in English “Hello. How are you?” when he saw two attractive girls out and about on a sunny Frankfurt day. It may not have been the greatest pick up line a guy has ever used (especially not knowing if a girl even spoke his language)... but as a young airman stationed at Rhein-Main Air Force Base in 1950 “it worked,” John Barrett says with a laugh. “Heck! I don’t know what possessed me, but I asked the one girl who spoke passable English out on the spot and the crazy thing is... she accepted!” And THAT’S how John Barrett met his bride, Hannelore, of 65 years!

“I really wasn’t exactly much of a chick magnet in high school,” he says, “but chasing girls was pretty much the only extra-curricular activity there was out on Long Island in those days. The challenge, of course, was catching ‘em... which I was never really all that good at... until I met Sweet Pea (his pet name for Hannelore).

John “Jack” William Barrett was born on October 7th, 1931, into a world on the verge of WWII. His Dad, Al, was a mechanic and his Mom, Charlotte, was a typical suburban housewife... mom to 2 older brothers and 2 sisters.

His growing up years in Hempstead, NY, were relatively uneventful, aside from his lying about his age so he could join the State Army Guard at 17, where he spent a couple of years until his unit disbanded when it transitioned to the National Guard.

“There weren’t a whole lot of jobs around when I graduated in 1949,” John says. “So, with the Korean war just starting, I decided to join the Air Force, since we lived close to Mitchell Field.”

He was trained as an aeronautical engineer “a fancy title for mechanic,” he says with a roll of his eyes, “a talent I learned from my Dad.” After a 4-year tour of duty, he was able to land a

job with Lockheed in New York where, among other aircraft, he found himself working on President Kennedy’s Air Force One. After 9 years, though, John brought Hannelore and their now two sons (along with Hannelore’s mom), out to California to be close to his Dad whose health was declining. “It was during this time, I was kind of in 3employment limbo,” he says. “But after Dad passed on, I discovered I could still re-enlist in the Air Force at the ripe old age of 32.”

He was able to go in at the same rank, E-6, he’d had before. But, instead of aircraft, this time around he found himself trained on mobile communication generators, an assignment that evolved into a 26-year career track, during which he 4saw duty in such exotic foreign locales as England, France, Norway, Germany and Korea before retiring as a Chief Master Sergeant.

As John knew only so well (having lived near a military installation as a kid) a young man’s direction can be shaped by his surroundings, so it was no surprise when both of John’s boys followed in their father’s footsteps. John Jr. served 15 years in the Air Force while Allen was a “lifer”, putting in 40 years.

After his discharge, John & Hannelore moved to the Coachella Valley where they’d previously vacationed, with John landing a job as a security guard to keep busy, while also joining both the VFW and American Legion.

The reason he’s maintained his membership the past 40 years?

“It’s rewarding to be part of an organization that not only represents the very best values of our country and community,” he says, “but that also supports veterans, like myself, in so many ways.” For John Barrett, it continues to be a privilege to serve!

DISTRICT 21 POST SOCIAL FEEDS Post 53, Hemet Facebook: American Legion Hemet Post 53

Post 800,

Idyllwild Facebook: American Legion Post 800 Idyllwild, CA

Post 289, Riverside Facebook: American Legion Post 289

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Post 848,

San Jacinto

Post 739, Indio Facebook: Indio American Legion Post

Facebook: American Legion Post 848

Post 595, Perris Facebook: American Legion Perris Post 595

Temecula/Murrieta Valley

Post 852 Facebook: American Legion Post 852 Temecula/Murrieta, CA

Serving Riverside County G E N E SI S OF T H E A M E R IC A N L E G ION

(Continued from Page 5)

canteen. When he came to carry his house, his wardrobe and his stores about on his back, he learned how few things a man really needs to keep him going, (needs) and how many things he can get along without.”

Politics 101 Following the February 1919 meeting of officers, and after the formative Paris Caucus a month later, focus among the Legion’s all-officer founders turned to creating a national organization that would represent different parts of the country without regard to socioeconomic, political, educational or military pedigree. The new American Legion would not fall into traps of admitting officers only or taking sides in political contests.

“The two great veterans’ organizations with which we were all familiar as boys and girls were highly political and intensely partisan,” D’Olier wrote in 1928. “In the North, the Legion was called the successor to the Grand Army of the Republic, and in the South it was thought of as the heir to the traditions of the United Confederate Veterans. In New York state, the political currents already had caught up Roosevelt and he was, or shortly became, a candidate for the Legislature.”

Before moving to a permanent national headquarters in Indianapolis, the Legion used the MTCA office in New York, conveniently located near the famous Harvard Club, of which the Roosevelts were members.

Manhattan and the Harvard Club were not necessarily the best icons to appeal to a broad cross section of veterans. For the newly formed organization to endure, it would need to diversify. The founders distanced the new organization from the elite optics of northeastern Ivy League culture. To achieve that distance, they installed a sort of Senate, the National Executive Committee, with elected representatives from across the country, representing each state. To identify potential NEC members, the founders turned to the MTCA and recruited from its diverse list of alumni.

“The incidental costs of finding state committeemen were borne by the MTCA, which paid for the hundreds of telegrams sent to potential state organizers,” Campbell wrote.

“Moreover, state-level contacts were often made through preparedness organizations.”

Initial attempts to gather names for early American Legion organizing committees in the states were often made by Arthur Cosby, executive secretary of the MTCA, a former Rough Rider who served under Roosevelt but was not a veteran of the Great War and so was ineligible for Legion membership. Cosby helped the cause by using his MTCA contacts to find what he called “the right sort of men.”

D’Olier was particularly cognizant of Roosevelt’s Republican persuasion and how that might be viewed in states that leaned Democrat. To balance it out among the more famous Legion founders, D’Olier, a Quaker, and other early leaders of the organization paired Roosevelt with Bennett Champ Clark, son of U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Champ Clark, a Democrat from Missouri. Clark had graduated from a Plattsburgh sister camp at Fort Myer, Va., and knew the MTCA. D’Olier noted that in letters to recruit MTCA alumni as leaders of The American Legion, “most of the delegates were obtained by dealing through men in the different states that some of us knew. In dealing with Democratic states, we would sign Clark’s name to telegrams, and in Republican states, we would use Roosevelt’s. In doubtful states, both names.”

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“It would be unfortunate to place The American Legion in conflict with the political parties,” opined Brig. Gen. William G. Price, a veteran of Cuban service during the Spanish-American War who later led the 28th Infantry Division. “But (the Legion) will uphold what is right so firmly and forcefully that whatever party is wrong will learn to fear it. It is the brotherhood of men who have realized thoroughly their responsibility to the nation.”

As the organization took shape, membership recruitment was the foremost concern, and a “Speakers Bureau” of Legionnaires took the group’s message from the local meeting hall to the public square.

www.ag uacaliente-nsn.gov

As one such Legion speaker noted, “readjustments in social and labor conditions are taking place, and it is a very vital function of The American Legion to show ... not only why it is to the interest of all to become members of the Legion but also the great part which the Legion does play in national affairs.”

(Continued on page 9) 7

21ST DISTRICT LEGIONNAIRE | VETERANS DAY 2018 POST 289

VETERAN STEAK NIGHT Our Veterans have given us this great country. They are the warriors who fought for freedom and democracy at all cost. They left their families to fight on foreign soil so our families could live freely. They endured the perils of war, they stood guard in freezing weather and they persevered through hellacious conditions and some were prisoners of war. Some never returned.

O

American Legion Post 289 honors our Veterans from Loma Linda VA Hospital by offering those who can make the journey to the Post, an evening of good food, entertainment and friendship. We respect them, we honor them.

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Dinner consists of a choice of a bar-b-que of Rib Eye Steak, Ribs, Chicken or Salmon and dinner includes Salad, homemade Soup, Scalloped Potatoes, Vegetables and Dinner Roll.

Desert is provided by the members of our Auxiliary Unit 289.

Every first Thursday of the month, Auxiliary members prepare the meal. The preparation crew begins at 10:00AM and continues throughout the day. A second crew arrives to serve the Veterans and assist them in every way possible. Some Veterans prefer to talk, some need assistance cutting their choice of meat and our Auxiliary service crew respectfully meets their need. A third crew of BBQ Masters arrive at 5:00PM and these Legionnaires prepare every steak to order! Membership and guests do not place orders or eat until every Veteran has their dinner. Members of Squadron 289 visit with our noble guests and thank them for their service. Entertainment is provided and at times, a Veterans will ask an Auxiliary member for a dance!! To participate is an honor.

Post 289 hold our Veterans in high esteem.

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Serving Riverside County G E N E SI S OF T H E A M E R IC A N L E G ION

(Continued from Page 7)

REMEMBERANCE

George Wheat noted in his 1919 “The Story of The American Legion” that “... it became most necessary to properly present the Legion to those men who had remained at home and who had gotten out of the service, and to those who were incoming from France and rapidly being demobilized, as it was upon them that the success of the Legion depended. Furthermore, their opinions were the soil upon which the various state organizations had to work, and at that particular time it was vital that the Legion should be widely known and thoroughly understood; that its aims and ambitions should not be misconstrued either willfully or unintentionally, nor its precepts perverted.”

The Drive for Members As Roosevelt, D’Olier and others worked out of the MTCA offices in New York to raise money and get the Legion up and running, state officers were hitting the streets to find eligible veterans to join.

“It was a long, hard-working summer and fall,” D’Olier wrote. “By July 1, six weeks after the St. Louis Caucus, we had less than a thousand posts going. But by Aug. 1, the number had more than doubled, and by Sept. 1, it had quadrupled. On Oct. 1, the number of posts was 5,670, and we felt that the Legion was right and would win.”

V

Veterans Day is a day of remembrance of those who have passed... those who paid the ultimate sacrifice... of those who served and are now with Post Everlasting. The following photos represent what we, as Legionnaires do... we honor our fellow veterans as best we can.

(Photos by Lupita Azzolina).

At the first national convention in November that year, D’Olier found himself on the ballot for national commander, a position he had not asked for, dreamed of or even particularly relished.

“I left for Minneapolis a candidate for nothing except some railroad tickets to take my family on that promised vacation,” he wrote. “Bill Donovan and Ted Roosevelt talked me into permitting my name to go before the convention. They picked me for my negative qualities. I had never made a public speech in my life. I had never given an interview to a newspaper reporter. I had never been in politics and would never get in because I lacked the qualifications. I was thought to be capable of giving the Legion a quiet, plain business administration, which was felt to be a good thing during a presidential year.”

D’Olier, beholden to no one, and without any obvious political persuasions or desires, was just what the Legion needed to avoid the politicization that had divided previous veterans organizations.

“I was no orator, had no desire to become one ... and anyway felt that the country was a bit fed up on oratory and that the public would be more interested in plain business statements as to what the Legion was actually accomplishing and intended to do ... I felt that the public would be more interested in brief communiqués from the front than in oratorical effort.”

Campbell wrote that “the organizational model for the Legion was the MTCA, which had sought mass-based participation. The Legion was not meant to be a tightly controlled elite organization like the NSL. Ideologically, the Legion’s leaders believed in what they were doing and that the vast majority of common Americans shared their views.”

Unsurprisingly, many of the first resolutions passed by the Legion dealt with preparedness. The Report of the Committee on Military Policy set forth unambiguously its belief that “a large standing army is uneconomic and un-American. National safety with freedom from militarism is best assured by a national citizen army and navy based on the democratic and American principles of the quality of obligation and opportunity for all.”

Universal military training – and, importantly, not universal military service – would long be a priority of the Legion. “We have had a bitter experience in the cost of unpreparedness for national defense and the lack of proper training on the part of officers and men,” the committee reported. “We favor a national military and naval system based on universal military obligation, to include a relatively small regular army and navy, and a citizen army and navy capable of rapid expansion sufficient to meet any national emergency.”

The Plattsburgh Idea had become official policy of the brand-new American Legion.

The committee added in its first report that “we favor the continuance of training camps for the training and education of officers to serve in case of national requirement.”

Physical and mental discipline, military preparedness, promotion of democracy, and strengthening of young people all were undoubtedly topics discussed among future founders of The American Legion between training-camp exercises before the war. And when they had proof of their convictions fresh in mind in the winter of 1919, they turned their principles into an organization that would long outlive them all.

LEFT TO RIGHT FROM TOP: 1. Legion Riders often lead the way as we put our own to rest. 2. Legionnaires serve as pall bearers. 3. We send off our fellow veterans with an honor guard and 3 volley salute. 4. Ashley Azzolina says a final farewell to her father Angelo. 5. Legion Riders and veterans throughout the District present the colors as Army veteran Angelo Azzolina is laid to rest. 6. Veterans Day Cartoon.

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21ST DISTRICT LEGIONNAIRE | VETERANS DAY 2018

SOLVING VETERAN HOMELESSNESS R I V E R S I D E , T H E O N LY C I T Y I N C A L I F O R N I A T O S O LV E VETERAN HOMELESSNESS, IS ON A MISSION TO GO BIG

BY AMITA SHARMA

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Army veteran Bill Bruick spent his last night homeless lying on a tiny patch of dirt, now festooned with a pink flowering shrub behind a Food 4 Less grocery store in Riverside.

“There were no bushes,” Bruick said, pointing to the exact spot still remembering the lump in the ground. “I slept right here. I liked it because nobody could really see me back here. Nobody ever parked back here. I got lucky you know.”

That night in 2013 capped 10 years of living outside a shopping center for the 51-year-old Bruick who resembles a young Charlton Heston.

There are around 40,000 homeless veterans in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. More than 11,000 of them live in California. The state has seen a 17 percent rise in homeless vets since 2016.

The city of Riverside is the only city in California to end veteran homelessness, according to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. It is one of 62 communities in 32 states to do so.

Many homeless vets suffer from substance abuse and mental illness.

Bruick said depression and alcoholism had hobbled him since leaving the Army in 1996. He filled his days drinking beer and vodka. He started early.

“As soon as the liquor store opened at 6 a.m.,” Bruick said. “I’d pass out during the day. Normally, around midnight, I’d stop. Even when I was sick, I’d still force alcohol down me because I would be shaking real bad.”

Seven stints of rehab did nothing for Bruick, but one bout of alcohol poisoning and a letter from his two daughters in Germany expressing a desire to visit inspired change.

“I was like, `Wow, I’ve got to do something,’” Bruick said.

“I don’t want them seeing me in this state.”

Around the same time, Riverside was in the midst of embracing then-President Barack Obama’s push to the coun-

10

try’s mayors to end veteran homelessness.

“As a veteran myself, it was easy to for me to accept that challenge,” said Riverside Mayor Rusty Bailey.

He had also seen his two family friends’ anguished descent into homelessness. And he said when he was in the ninth grade; his church would feed the homeless on Sunday nights.

“I walked in one night, I’m passing out food, taking a tray and there’s a classmate of mine, you could see….,” said Bailey as he choked up recalling the encounter. “Sorry I get so emotional about this. It’s personal.”

Bailey said he wanted the city’s outreach workers to get personal with homeless vets, by knowing their names and repeated visits, sometimes as many as 50. Then came offers of a place to live. It is an approach called Housing First. The idea is to get vets off the street or out of shelters and into permanent housing before addressing substance abuse or mental health issues.

“We have the success stories to prove that Housing First is the right policy for ending homelessness,” Bailey said.

Through the project, veterans had access to VA housing vouchers. But Bailey still had to convince apartment owners to rent to people coming off the streets.

And he works at a facility that houses vets until they’re placed in permanent homes.

“I love it,” Bruick said. “I can explain to them what my situation was. I say I was like you. I had nothing. Now I have a car and a place to live. A lot of the vets have had a hard time on the streets and they don’t trust anyone and we have to get them to trust us.”

Mayor Bailey is now applying what the city learned through housing veterans to Riverside’s 400 chronically homeless people. The Riverside City Council backed a plan in March that would place them in housing before offering them social services.

“I see what we’ve done and I’m proud of that,” Bailey said. “But I also see what we need to do and that worries me because it’s easy to support veterans. It’s hard to support ex-cons or the mentally ill individuals or substance abusers shooting up in the parking lot.”

Another challenge is the chronically homeless also do not have access to the same well-financed federal housing vouchers and social services as veterans.

But Gordon Walker, who heads San Diego’s Regional Task Force on the Homeless, is still optimistic.

“Once you have the political will, the money tends to appear,” Walker said.

“I pounded on the table and said it’s inexcusable to have veterans in our city who don’t have homes,” Bailey said. “Landlords, where are you at? And many of them stepped up.”

He is not involved in the Riverside program but he believes it could show the way forward for other California cities like Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco.

Once they got a place to live, vets were paired up with social services, from mental health to substance abuse to job training.

“Those cities are some of the richest in the country,” Walker said. “It’s how the money is committed and how the citizens want their cities to be.”

By the end of 2016, Riverside had housed all 89 of its vets. The city’s share of the feat was $348,000.

Or as Bruick said, it is about cities having faith in all of their citizens.

Bruick was one of the Riverside program’s early beneficiaries. He went to rehab for the eighth time. Today, he lives in a one-bedroom apartment in Riverside with his fiancée.

Bruick has been sober now for 5 years. He has still not seen his daughters. But he is hoping for a visit with them and his five grandchildren this summer.

Serving Riverside County POST 739

9/11 TRIBUTE

A M E R I C A N L E G I O N D E PA R T M E N T O R AT O R I C A L F I N A L S

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Steve Waggoner plays taps while the Post 739 Honor Guard renders Present Arms during the Posts 9/11 candlelight remembrance ceremony.

Thank you, veterans!

We proudly support our veterans in the community and in our clinics through treatment.

9-11 was a time for remembrance at a candlelight ceremony held at Post 739 in Indio.

Photos by Lupita Azzolina a Movement for Life clinic

Indio

Cathedral City

81557 Dr Carreon Blvd, Suite C4 Indio, CA 92201 (760) 347-6195

35325 Date Palm Dr. Ste 131 Cathedral City, CA 92234 (760) 202-0368

Loma Linda 328 Commercial Road, Suite 108 San Bernadino, CA 92408 (909) 494-6645

We Salute and Thank Our Veterans – Past, Present and Future.

You are Our H eroes.

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21ST DISTRICT LEGIONNAIRE | VETERANS DAY 2018

CAPITAL FUNDRAISER

BY MARK BARFKNECHT

We know that there’s a great deal of pride in being part of the American Legion, but sometimes our busy lives don’t permit us to be as involved as we’d like. Not everyone can volunteer as a bartender or work in a hot fireworks booth. Our family needs often take priority over whatever’s happening at the Post, and rightfully so.

We also know that the pride of membership is still there and now we have a new way for you to lend a hand.

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We’ve recently instituted a fundraising program that will assist with Capital Improvement and unscheduled maintenance while allowing our members to pay their dues, thereby eliminating those prodding reminders that seem to continue for months.

Our members (or anybody else for that matter) can sign up to make a regular monthly donation right from their bank account. This is the same way funds are raised by Wounded Warriors, Public Television, the ASPCA, and many other organizations. The big difference here, is that the funds raised by this program go directly to benefit American Legion Post 739. There’s no huge administrative costs, like others have. We have no paid staff, no outstanding loans or obligations to service and, although we have an extensive “to do” list, our membership creates that list and sets its priorities.

How does it work? It’s easy! Just like those other organizations, you simply fill out the form in this newsletter granting American Legion Post 739 permission to withdraw a specific amount once each month from your bank account. There is no minimum or maximum. Also, like other organizations, we offer an incentive!

It’s not a window sticker or a tote bag. It’s your membership dues. That’s right! If your monthly donation is a minimum of 20-bucks, we’ll use a portion of your annual total to pay your dues in August of each year. Hopefully, this will eliminate those nagging reminders. This also ensures your “continued membership” in the American Legion.

I always envy those members I meet whose cards say 25 or 35 or 50 continuous years.

That could be you someday, but not if you put off your dues until they become forgotten.

And, the part of the donation that isn’t dues, is tax deductible!

Many of you are PUFL (Paid Up For Life) members. Obviously you don’t have annual dues we can pay, but you can take pleasure in knowing that your tax deductible donation will go even farther to assist our Post.

This program may not be for everyone. Maybe you just want to pay your dues every year and continue to support Post 739 the same way you have been. That’s okay too.

You can also sign up for a single annual withdrawal (the 1st week of July every year) to cover just your dues.

We sure hope you consider being part of this Capital Fundraiser. Your donation will really go a long way toward helping us help ourselves.

We proudly support our Veterans who choose to serve and fight for our freedom!

Southern California 38000 Monroe Street • Indio, CA 92203-9500

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Serving Riverside County POST 216

PAUL WILLIAM BENNET TRANSFER TO POST EVERL ASTING

BY W. H. JAMESON, JR.

“It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.”

— Father Dennis Edward O’Brien, USMC

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Paul William Bennett, age 82, passed away on October 20, 2017 in Riverside, California. He was born and raised in New York; and enlisted in the US Navy shortly after high school. He served from June 1, 1951 to July 2, 1953 during the Korean War.

After the military Paul moved his family to Southern California where he worked on the docks as a forklift operator through the Teamsters and did this all his life until retirement.

Paul was very proud of his military service and loved being around other Veterans. He joined the American Legion and was a member for many years and was Past Post Commander of American Legion Post 216 in Corona.

Graveside Military Honors were on Friday, November 10, 2017 at Riverside National Cemetery at 12:30 in the afternoon. Arrangements were entrusted to the care of Grimes - Akes Family Funeral Home.

Obituary courtesy of Grimes – Akes.

Past Post 216 Commander Paul William Bennett (May 5, 1934 - October 20, 2017)

PALM SPRINGS AIR MUSEUM 745 N. Gene Autry Trail | Palm Springs, CA 92262 | (760) 778-6262 13

21ST DISTRICT LEGIONNAIRE | VETERANS DAY 2018

PERSEVERANCE C HA NG E C OM E S F ROM W I T H I N !

BY DR. JOHN ELLIS, ED.D.

It’s a typical night. The guy’s ready for bed. Gets comfy under the covers and… BAM! Wakes up to a sharp pain piercing through his back. Startled, he gets up… takes a shower, thinking maybe it’ll make him feel better.

Possibly a pinched nerve? Who knows. But… then he collapses in the bathroom and can barely crawl, So? Following a 911-call, his buddies from the fire department (where he’s been a volunteer fire lieutenant) come running to help.

I

The year was 1984… the year that Army veteran Danny Castro became wheelchair bound in the prime of life at just 41 years of age! “The docs discovered a blood clot up against my spine,” he says. “They couldn’t say what caused it or where it came from.

But, it paralyzed me from the waist down.

“Of course, it wasn’t an easy thing to accept. I wallowed in self pity. I was angry at the world. I lashed out at those I loved.

But, in the end, what could I do? I could continue to treat everyone around me like s**t or accept the fact that my situation wasn’t likely to change and that it was me…

I had to be the one to change. Nobody else could do it for me.” _______________ The second oldest of 5 brothers and 2 sisters, Daniel Cervantes Castro was born on October 29, 1943 to a WWII Navy veteran, Lupe and his bride Anita. Life growing up was typical. Danny attended Coachella Valley High School where his natural athleticism found him participating in competitive swimming, wrestling and football.

Following graduation in 1962, he worked in the fields picking cotton to help his family and, also, did some carpentry work on the side before landing a job in the parts department at a local Chevrolet dealer.

“I had a number of buddies who got drafted and went to Vietnam,” says Danny. “But, my draft number was so high, I still hadn’t gotten called. So? I contacted my draft board and volunteered which, if drafted, meant I’d serve just 2 years as opposed to 3 years if I enlisted!”

Of course, Danny got his wish. He received his induction notice in the mail in 1968,

underwent basic training at Ft. Ord and ended up as an armored personnel carrier crewman at LZ Blackhorse Base Camp in Vietnam.

Discharged a Spec 5, Danny returned to Chevrolet where he worked for the next 20 years. In the meantime, he had some serious wooing to do.

His buddies had hosted a going away party prior to his departure for Vietnam… but told him he’d have to bring a date or not attend.

“Some friends!” Danny says with a growl and a grin. “Problem was, I didn’t know a lot of girls back then. So? I asked this one gal who was just a casual acquaintance… and THAT was my Martha, to whom I ended up getting hitched within a year after I got out of the service.”

Danny and Martha wrote back and forth while he was overseas and, at one point when he was scheduled for R & R (Rest and Recuperation) he offered to buy her an airline ticket if she’d meet him in Hawaii.

And? She emphatically said “NO!” telling her girlfriends, as she relates, “that he probably just wants me for my body!”

“Well?” Danny adds with a wink, “what was so wrong with that? Anyway, I ended up going to Singapore instead!”

While Danny’s life has had its ups and downs… the “ups” include siring two great kids and being honored as District Veteran of the Year by the State Legislature for his work with the American Legion where, among other contributions, he organizes the Hurley Creek Horseshoe Tournament fundraiser each August. As for the “downs”, earlier this year Danny found himself in the Long Beach VA Hospital, recovering from a fractured leg which happened when he accidentally

(Continued on page 15) 14

Serving Riverside County POST 53

P E R SE RV E R A N C E

(Continued from Page 14)

HEMET

tipped over in his wheelchair disembarking from his vehicle at Church.

“It’s okay, though,” he says. “It happens. But, look on the bright side, I have a wife who’s an absolute angel for standing by me all these years, family who loves me, friends who care, and,” he adds with a smile, “I’m above ground!” It all comes back full circle to the acceptance Danny learned so many years ago. Sure, he could bitch about how unlucky he is and how unfair life seems. But that’s not him.

Instead Danny is an inspiration to those around him, taking life in stride, being upbeat and staying positive. “After all,” he says, “there are so many other people who are less fortunate than me. As it is, I’m actually blessed in so many ways.” It’s an attitude that rubs off on all those who know him and the reward? They are blessed in return!

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The American Legion is the nation‘s largest wartime veterans service organization, committed to mentoring youth, sponsorship of wholesome programs in our communities, advocating patriotism and honor, promoting strong national security, and continued devotion to our fellow service members and veterans.

American Legion Post 53 of Hemet, CA. has a long history in the local community. Chartered in 1919(the same year Congress granted the National Charter to the American Legion), the Legion met at Hemet Elementary School. The existing building was erected in 1947 and has been in continuous operation since construction.

Thank you America’s Veterans, for all your selfless service to our great nation.

Acheson and Graham Garden of Prayer Mortuary Reader’s Choice Award Winner for Best Funeral Home

7944 Magnolia Ave. • Riverside, CA 92504 • (951) 688-1221 AchesonAndGraham.com • FD 1021

Thank You Veterans!

Senior campus consists of senior apartments and assisted living.

951.678.1555 • www.WildomarSenior.com 32325 S. Pasadena Street • Wildomar, CA 92595

Lic #336407346

Proud to support the American Legion and our Veterans 15

21ST DISTRICT LEGIONNAIRE | VETERANS DAY 2018 AREA 5

LEGISLATIVE REPORT BY: ROBERT BROWER, LEGISLATIVE COMMISSIONER, AREA 5, DEPARTMENT OF CALIFORNIA

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The following information on Veterans Related Legislation comes from The American Legion, Department of California’s Legislative Advocate in Sacramento, Seth Reeb. On August 31, the California Legislature adjourned for its final recess of the 2017-18 legislative session. Bills which made it all the way through the legislative process are now on the Governor’s desk or already Chaptered. The Governor has until October 1 to sign the bills in to law or veto them. Listed below are the bills which were active during the last weeks of the session.

If the Bill says that it has been “Chaptered”, that means the Governor has signed the bill in to law. The Bill status below is current as September 30.

For more information on the bill please go to www.ald22.org/news-events/legislative-update.

The California Legislature will reconvene the first week of December when the new Legislators for the 2019-2020 session are elected.

AB 865 (Levine D) Military personnel: veterans: resentencing: mitigating circumstances.

Location: 09/19/2018. CHAPTERED AB 888 (Low D) Charitable raffles.

Location: 09/20/2018. CHAPTERED AB 1786 (Cervantes D) Community colleges: academic credit for prior military experience.

Location: 09/19/2018. CHAPTERED AB 1810 (Committee on Budget) Health.

Location: 06/27/2018-A. CHAPTERED

AB 2439 (Garcia, Eduardo D) Official state LGBTQ Veterans Memorial.

Location: 08/20/2018-A. CHAPTERED AB 2521 (Quirk-Silva D) Reservists: active duty: deferment of financial obligations.

Location: 07/9/2018-A. CHAPTERED AB 2568 (Reyes D) County jails: veterans.

Location: 09/618. CHAPTERED AB 2722 (Medina D) Student financial aid: California Military Department GI Bill Award

AB 1873 (Obernolte R) Driver’s licenses: veteran designation.

Location: 09/21/2018. VETOED BY GOVERNOR

AB 2801 (Salas D) Crimes: Memorials: veterans and law enforcement.

Location: 09/19/2018 CHAPTERED

AB 2325 (Irwin D) County mental health services: veterans.

Location: 07/18/18. CHAPTERED

AB 2949 (Gloria D) Pupil residency: pupils of military families.

Location: 09/10/2018. CHAPTERED

AB 3212 (Irwin D) Service member protections.

Location: 09/19/2018 CHAPTERED ACR 67 (Aguiar-Curry D) Veterans’ Memorial Highway.

Location: 08/17/2018-A. CHAPTERED ACR 184 (Bigelow R) Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway.

Location: 08/14/2018-A. CHAPTERED SB 215 (Beall D) Diversion: mental disorders.

Location: On Governor’s Desk SB 349 (Lara D) Courthouses: Privilege from civil arrest.

Location: On Governor’s Desk SB 895 (Nguyen R) Pupil instruction: model curricula: Vietnamese American refugee experience, the Cambodian genocide, and Hmong history and cultural studies.

Location: 09/22/2018. CHAPTERED

(Continued on Page 17)

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Serving Riverside County L E G I S TAT I V E R E P ORT (Continued from Page 16) SB 1007 (Hertzberg D) Sales and use taxes: exemption: military and veteran medical facilities.

Location: 09/26/2018 CHAPTERED

3685 Main St., Suite 300 • Riverside, CA 92501 951.781.0573 x125 • www.Waddell.com

Castelli’s

SB 1071 (Roth D) Public postsecondary education: Chancellor of the California Community Colleges: policy to award course credit for prior military education, training, and service.

Location: 09/19/2019 CHAPTERED SB 1080 (Roth D) Transportation network companies: driver requirements and identification.

Location: 09/18/2018. CHAPTERED

RISTORANTE

SB 1137 (Vidak R) Veterans: professional licensing benefits.

Location: 09/14/2018. CHAPTERED

73098 Highway 111 • Palm Desert, CA 92260 760.773.3365 • www.Castellis.cc

SB 1304 (Roth D) Veterans: transitional assistance program: funding.

Location: 09/14/2018 CHAPTERED SB 1312 (Jackson D) State public employees: sick leave: veterans with service-related disabilities.

Location: 09/18/2018. CHAPTERED SB 1427 (Hill D) Discrimination: veteran or military status.

Location: On Governor’s Desk SCR 99 (Roth D) Military and Veteran Suicide Prevention Awareness Week.

Location: 9/11/2018. CHAPTERED SCR 101 (Roth D) Purple Heart Day. Location: 9/4/2018. CHAPTERED SCR 128 (Nguyen R) American flag.

Location: 7/2/2018-S. CHAPTERED

Sandi Ross

General Manager sandi@olivewoodcem.com

ph 951/683-6611 fax 951/683-0110

www.olivewoodcem.com

3300 Central Avenue Riverside, California 92506 17

21ST DISTRICT LEGIONNAIRE | VETERANS DAY 2018

GOOD NEWS FOR VETERANS Online Exchange Honorably discharged veterans can now sign up for tax-free, online shopping on select clothing, electronics, food and more at the online Exchange. Since 1895, the Exchange‘s mission has been to support the men and women of the armed forces during military operations, humanitarian missions and other endeavors around the world.

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In the past, only active-duty troops, members of the National Guard, reservists and their dependents, and military retirees and their dependents could use this money saving and convenient benefit.

To sign up, visit https://www.vetverify.org/.

Veteran Designation on California Driver’s License or California ID Card.

California’s veteran designation is available to all honorably discharged military service members for their California Driver’s License or California Identification Card.

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE

SENATOR MIKE MORRELL TWENTY-THIRD SENATE DISTRICT

CAPITOL OFFICE State Capitol Room 3056 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4023

DISTRICT OFFICE 10350 Commerce Center Drive, Suite A-220 Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730 (909) 919-7731 Senator.Morrell@sen.ca.gov

In addition to displaying the honor they have earned, with this designation, veterans can easily prove their eligibility to businesses offering discounts without having to carry papers.

Applying for the veteran driver’s license and ID is easy: 1. Locate your military discharge certificate (DD214). If you need help obtaining your military records, then contact your local County Veteran Service Officer (CVSO). Click Here to Find Your Local CVSO offices.

2. Stop by your local CVSO with your DD214 for verification. While there, learn about the many improved and expanded benefits and services available to veterans: 3. Go to www.dmv.ca.gov, or call the DMV at 1-800-777-0133, to make an appointment.

Bring your verified application form, and the small $5 application fee.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES National Archives Search for your military personnel records and view other resources for veterans

HEALTHCARE ASSISTANCE myCalVet Provides veterans and their families the opportunity to create a customized profile which targets the benefits, resources, and services available in their community and throughout the state.

Veterans Crisis Line Veterans and their loved ones can call (800) 273-8255 and Press 1, chat online, or send a text message to 838255 to receive confidential support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, or call your local 24-hour mental health crisis line.

Find a County Veterans Services Office County Veteran Service Offices (CVSO) are the key agencies in providing California‘s Veterans with assistance and connection to benefits and services in local communities throughout the state.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Database Find a veterans hospital or clinic near you.

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EVERY DAY SHOULD BE Hemborg Ford is proud to support the Riverside County American Legion, District 21.

We salute the sacrifice and service of every veteran in our great country.

NEW | PRE-OWNED | COMMERCIAL | FLEET PRICING | FINANCING | SERVICE

(Continued on Page 21)

1900 Hamner Ave, Norco, CA 92860

866.807.5555

HEMBORGFORD.COM

Advancing Therapeutics, Improving Lives.

For more than 25 years, Gilead has worked to develop medicines that address areas of unmet medical need for people around the world.

Our portfolio of medicines and pipeline of investigational drugs include treatments for HIV/AIDS, liver diseases, cancer, inflammatory and respiratory diseases and cardiovascular conditions.

Every day we strive to transform and simplify care for people with life-threatening illnesses.

GILEAD SALUTES ALL OF THE BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN WHO SERVE OUR COUNTRY AND PROTECT US EVERY DAY.

For more information, please visit www.gilead.com. © 2016 Gilead Sciences, Inc.

21ST DISTRICT LEGIONNAIRE | VETERANS DAY 2018

PHYLLIS JORDAN

A N I C O N I N T H E A M E R I C A N L E G I O N AU X I L I A RY

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Phyllis Jordan was an icon within the American Legion Auxiliary and she passed away in July 2018 leaving behind a legacy of epic proportions.

She was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary for 72 years and an Honorary Life Member of American Legion Auxiliary Unit 79, in Riverside, Ca. Phyllis held various Officer and Chairmanship positions within the American Legion Auxiliary Department of California as well as being the Chairman and Co-Chairman for the Department of California Convention Committee for the Palm Springs and Riverside Conventions.

Phyllis also was Past President of District 21 Auxiliary and held many positions as an Officer and Chairman and was a well-liked and active member of the 8 & 40 Riverside County Salon #456, in which she attained an Honorary Life Membership.

A Celebration of Life was held at American Legion Post 289 in Riverside and her ashes were escorted to Post 289 by the Riders. Many people offered memories of her uniqueness and style. Phyllis loved to dance and simply everything had to have “bling” adorn it! She never hesitated to offer assistance and she did it with grace and ease. Life long friendships were intricately woven and the single thread that bound her to everyone was her kindness.

Not only will she be missed by her family and friends, the American Legion Family lost a dedicated and hard-working member. Phyllis’s personality created a mosaic of knowledge, understanding, love and appreciation for everyone she touched.

Supporting our Local Whether we are helping to bring a new life into the world, caring for a broken bone, offering hope to cancer patients, or mending a broken heart, Riverside Community Hospital continues to provide dependable healthcare services to families throughout the Inland Empire Region. We are not your ordinary community hospital and patients no longer have to drive miles away for advanced medical procedures. Over the last decade, our hospital has evolved and grown with the generations and continues to expand our services to meet the needs of a growing community. With our current $315 million campus expansion project and investments in some of the latest, advanced technology, RCH has what it takes to care for the whole family.

Providing Healthcare You and Your Family Can Depend on When You Need it the Most.

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Veterans

Specialty Services You Can Depend on: • Women’s and Children’s Services • Level ll NICU and 24/7 Emergency Transport Team • Advanced Primary Stroke Center • Cardiovascular Care • Orthopedic Surgery • Kidney, Pancreas and Living Donor Transplants • Cancer Treatment including da Vinci Surgical Procedures and CyberKnife Treatments • NeuroSurgery

4445 Magnolia Avenue • Riverside, CA 92501 For a Physician Referral call (951) 788-3463 www.RiversideCommunityHospital.com

• Surgical Weight Loss Center • Inland Empire’s Largest Emergency Facility

Serving Riverside County

Provident Bank Salutes Our Veterans We appreciate ALL who served and who continue to serve to keep us safe.

G O OD N E WS F OR V E T E R A N S (Continued from Page 18) ACCESS TO HOUSING AND EDUCATION The College Tuition Fee Waiver for Veteran Dependents The College Tuition Fee Waiver for Veteran Dependents benefit waives mandatory system-wide tuition and fees at any State of California Community College, California State University, or University of California campus for qualified dependents of certain Veterans.

Veteran Homes Veterans who are age 55 and above, and discharged from active military service under honorable conditions, are eligible to apply for admission. The age requirement is waived for disabled or homeless veterans needing long-term care.

Experience why were different.

Home Loans If you are ready to buy a home, CalVet Home Loans is here to meet our Veterans‘ home financing needs.

myprovident.com

(800) 745-2217

Member FDIC

GENERAL ASSISTANCE AND INFORMATION San Francisco Online Veterans Resource Center Connect with government agencies and non-profit organizations whose missions are to meet your particular needs, including: healthcare and mental health services, education benefits, and employment opportunities.

San Francisco Veterans Affairs Commission Holds hearings and submits recommendations to the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor regarding the problems, interests and needs of veterans.

San Mateo County Veterans Services Office Information and referrals for clinical, medical, counseling, nonprofit services, and emergency assistance are available.

San Mateo County Veterans Commission Promotes programs and policies that address the unmet needs of veterans in San Mateo County.

Minority Veterans The Minority Veterans Division is the California Department of Veterans Affairs model for inters-and intra-agency co-operation, to ensure all Veterans receive equal service regardless of race, origin, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

Women Veterans CalVet division for Women Veterans provides information, advocacy, outreach, and support to Women Veterans and their families.

Vet Verify A new Veterans Online Shopping Benefit that allows you to sign up for tax-free, online shopping on select clothing, electronics, food and more at the online Exchange.

VETERANS RESOURCE BOOK U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs In addition, my staff and I are always ready to offer assistance on any state issues that you may have. Please do not hesitate to call my district office (650) 349-2200 to speak with a representative!

March 15-17, 2019

Retreat for Post Abortion Healing in Temecula CA All Calls are Confidential Contact: Dolores at 951/325-7702 or Email: RVTemecula@verizon.net PO Box 891896, Temecula CA 92589 For more Information: www.rachelsvineyard.org 21

21ST DISTRICT LEGIONNAIRE | VETERANS DAY 2018 POST 739

PHOTOS

®

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• 4 Wheel Alignment • Custom Wheels & Mounting • All Brands Special Order • Computer Balancing

5949 Mission Blvd. | Riverside, CA 92509 | (951) 788-0996 Hours: Tues. - Fri: 8am - 5pm • Sat: 8am - 2pm • Closed Sun. & Mon.

LEFT TO RIGHT FROM TOP: 1. Post 739 really is a family affair as evidenced by the turn out of this all related ‘wild bunch” at the Post’s Memorial Day potluck (rear l to r) the Bover’s clan ... Lorenzo, Nichole, Megan & Rebecca (holding Ezra) and (seated l to r) Billy & Brady and the Morals clan of Mike, Scarlett, Eli, Anamari & Viviana and the Moore’s... Michael, Ella, Christina & Ezra with (doin’ the boogaloo far left) ... James Moore. 3. Post 739’s Carmel Romero places a wreath in honor of those who paid the Ultimate Sacrifice during the Memorial Day ceremony held at the Coachella Valley Cemetery. 2. Post 739 Judge Advocate, Herman Granados (l) was honored at the June meeting for FIFTY (50) years of continuous membership in the Legion by Commander Steve Waggoner.

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Serving Riverside County POST 739

PHOTOS

HELMETS TO HARD HATS Honoring our Veterans with Career Pathways IBEW440.org 951.684.5665

THANK YOU

VETERANS Melanie A. Majeskey Family Service Counselor Cell: (951) 522-0512

LEFT TO RIGHT FROM TOP: 1. Indio Post 739 Legion RiderPancho Villarreal exemplifies the many ways Legionnaires can volunteer by his serving at a polling place during a recent election. 2. Post 739 Color Guard members (l to r) Victor Delgado, Steve Waggoner, Juan T. Martinez & John Ellis posted the colors during a Memorial Day ceremony at the Rancho Mirage Ritz Carlton. Photo by Jean Martinez. 3.

Coachella Valley High School’s Angela Bravo (l) & Indio High School’s Maria Carmona represented Unit 739”s Auxiliary at Girls State held this past June. Photo by Jean Martinez

Pierce Brothers Crestlawn Memorial Park & Mortuary

11500 Arlington Ave. Riverside, CA 92505 (951) 689-1441 Melanie.Majeskey@DignityMemorial.com

FD 1343 0I06453

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21ST DISTRICT LEGIONNAIRE | VETERANS DAY 2018 POST 739

VOLUNTEERS MADE IT A GREAT SUMMER! A dedicated group of volunteers stepped forward when the call went out this summer from Indio Post 739. First, there were those who worked (and sweated) their butts off … setting up and manning the fireworks booth… including Tommy Madrid and Juan T. Martinez who pulled guard duty from 10 PM to 6 AM for 7 straight nights!

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And then… Mark Barfknecht led a team who ripped most everything out of the old lounge, pretty much leaving just four bare walls. And? It sure the heck wasn’t an abracadabra moment. It took a LOT of work!

Aside from removing tables and chairs and wall hangings… the entire bar had to disappear, concrete had to be poured and leveled, ceilings & walls primed and painted, plumbing and ice machine installed, new electrical strung, tile laid, new bar built, another TV put up, USB ports put in and a whole lot more!

It wouldn’t be fair to try to single out each individual who contributed (in some small or great way)… their time, effort, energy, unique talent (and, in some instances, even finances) to what proved to be a rather challenging job. From the beginning, though, it was a team effort where a special camaraderie bound together those who showed up daily to tackle a project that seemed to grow tentacles as it evolved.

Potholes in the parking lot were filled, a new gate in the fence was installed, the old furnace was removed, the roof was partially resealed and the hall ceiling was completely repainted.

And now? You’ve GOT to see it! The place snap-crackle and pops with a completely fresh and updated new look!

All this work, of course, is for you… as a member of Post 739 … to make it a place in which you continue to be proud to bring friends and family to enjoy Monday burger & dog nights, tacos on Thursdays or just come by for a cold one and watch the game on TV. As a volunteer organization, each of you also contributes to its success in some form or fashion, even if just by renewing your membership!

Others, however, go way above and beyond the call of duty… and, in this issue, we recognize retired Riverside County Sheriff’s Captain and Air Force veteran Mark Barfknecht, who’s served as foreman on the remodel, as Membership Chair, Chairborne fundraising Chairman, who participates as an Honor/Color guard member, represents the Legion in parades, is grill master at Legion barbecues, acts as master of ceremonies (and karaoke king) at special events, assists with the finances, plus donates time as a volunteer bartender!

LEFT TO RIGHT FROM TOP: 1. The old lounge disappeared only to be rebuilt. 2. Tommy Madrid.

3. Mark Barfknecht. 4. Looking something akin to space aliens with their protective gear, Tommy “Mr. Fix-It” Madrid & Mark Barfknecht teamed up to spray paint the hall ceiling. 5. Mike Young put his electrical skill to work on the new bar area.

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Serving Riverside County POST 739

VOLUNTEERS MADE IT A GREAT SUMMER!

LEFT TO RIGHT FROM TOP: 1. Master sheet-rocker Kim Bowlin (above) worked his magic on the walls and ceilings. 2. Carmel Romero troweled patches in the parking lot. 3. Tim Azzolina wheeled in cement. 4. Pat & Tony Moreno worked as a team. 5. Robert Lopez helped secure the concrete. 6. Mustachioed muscle man Jerry Moffitt helped with the tear down. 7. Creative genius Mike Thomas gets ready to install the bar.

LEFT TO RIGHT FROM TOP: 1. Pancho Villarreal prepped for painting. 2. Paint Maestro Serik Nieto.

3. “The Drill Sergeant� Victor Delgado at the ready. 4. Juanita Godwin lent a hand (two hands actually). 5. Rich Twiss and his fashionable paint look.

6. Among those who provided chow or the hard working troops included...

7. Mary Ryser. 8. Jean Padilla. 9. Maria Rameriz. 10. Waymon Ferman.

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21ST DISTRICT LEGIONNAIRE | VETERANS DAY 2018 POST 519

UPDATE FROM PALM SRPINGS O

On July 25th The American Legion Family of Post 519 in Palm Springs, Calif., opened their doors to aid those impacted by the Cranston fire in many ways, including serving up breakfast to the youth evacuated from the Idyllwild Arts Camp.

Tom McLean, member and operator of Post 519’s ham radio station, K6TAL, communicated that the post was open and provided detailed directions to first responders and evacuees on how to get to the post. The news that Post 519 was serving as a shelter was spread by text, radio and media.

We were contacted by a representative from the Arts Camp inquiring if we can accommodate their group of 75 people for breakfast. When news broke that Post 519 was going to serve breakfast to youth from the Idyllwild Arts Camp who had to evacuate because of the fire, Palm Springs restaurant Broken Yolk Cafe provided the food to serve the more than 75 kids and counselors. The Community is amazing and the Broken Yoke on a one day notice provided a full breakfast and cases of fruit for 2 days.

All of the leftover food and fruit was given to the homeless. Our member Venna Ofarrell-Fonte works with the Street Life Project. On Thursdays the feed the homeless dinners, give them goodie bags with shampoo along with other toiletries. It is just one of the things that we do at the American Legion. Along with Venna, We also want to mention Monty Schindler, Venna Ofarrell-Fonte,Justinn Garcia, Shannon, Ed and Leslie Vondra, Paula, Danielle Pantanella, Lori Bell, and anyone else we forgot to mention for all your hard work, they truly appreciated our support for their group.

The American Legion in Palm Springs is more than capable of becoming a Southern California emergency operations center. We are ready to be the emergency operations center that we can be. With any Southern California emergency, we can open up our doors and we can support and feed people and be a communication center with our Amateur Radio. Tom McLean, member and operator of Post 519’s ham radio station, K6TAL, is our communication station.

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Serving Riverside County

CRANSTON FIRE

C A L I F O R N I A P O S T O P E N S D O O R S T O F I R E E VA C U E E S , F I R S T R E S P O N D E R S

The 13,139-acre Cranston fire in the Idyllwild, Calif., and area is almost contained. However, when the fire erupted on July 25, Post 519 American Legion Family members immediately came to the rescue of those in need by opening their doors to evacuees, first responders and community members.

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The news that Post 519 was serving as a shelter was spread by text, radio and media. Post Commander Mike Templeton sent a text message to all Legion members asking for assistance with a response that was overwhelming and immediate. “I was pleased with our Sons, Auxiliary and Riders for their support,” he said. “This event energized the idea that we here at The American Legion in Palm Springs are more than capable of becoming a Southern California emergency operations center.”

Tom McLean, member and operator of Post 519’s ham radio station, K6TAL, communicated that the post was open and provided detailed directions to first responders and evacuees on how to get to the post. Then Templeton

reached out to Post 519 member and Palm Springs Mayor Robert Moon about the post operating as a relief shelter.

This opened the doors to local news channels making the announcement as well, which resulted in phone calls from the community offering to provide water, food, blankets and other supplies for the first responders and victims of the Cranston fire.

“When it was broadcasted that we can help, it was amazing. Everybody from Palm Springs became helpful,” Templeton said. “God bless The American Legion and God bless Palm Springs, because they really did a good job of reaching out to Idyllwild folks.”

When news broke that Post 519 was going to serve breakfast to youth from the Idyllwild Arts Camp who had to evacuate because of the fire, Palm Springs restaurant Broken Yolk Cafe provided the food to serve the more than 75 kids and counselors. Many of them enjoyed a second breakfast from the post, which Auxiliary and Sons members cooked and served.

“Our folks jumped on our board,” Templeton said. “We had so many here cooking breakfasts, entertaining the kids.

It brought smiles to everybody that was here.”

Templeton said the ability to serve as a shelter for the fire victims was made possible by local philanthropist Harold Matzner, who generously donated a large sum of money to provide Post 519 with a new roof and several air conditioners.

“We are ready to be the emergency operations center that we can be. With any Southern California emergency, we can open up our doors and we can support and feed people,” he said.

The American Legion’s new National Emergency Fund (NEF) Preparation Guide provides Legion Family members with the steps to take before, during and after a natural disaster. It also serves as a reminder that NEF is available to help eligible victims affected. Learn more about NEF at www.legion.org/emergency.

Veterans Day is one of our most important national days, a day set aside for reflection and remembrance of the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Today we pay our respects to all who served to protect our freedom and never came home from their service. As we remember their lives and their impact, we keep the families who lost their loved ones in our prayers.

V. MANUEL PEREZ RIVERSIDE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS • SUPERVISOR, FOURTH DISTRICT

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21ST DISTRICT LEGIONNAIRE | VETERANS DAY 2018

VA BACKLOG VA C L A I M S B A C K L O G G R E AT E R T H A N R E P O R T E D

BY NIKKI WENTLING

T

The number of backlogged benefits claims at the Department of Veterans Affairs is larger than the agency reported, according to findings released Monday from a government watchdog.

The VA considers backlogged claims to be veterans’ claims for benefits that take longer than 125 days to approve or deny. The VA Inspector General’s Office reported officials omitted 63,600 backlogged claims from its count during the first half of 2016, creating a misrepresentation of how many claims were delayed.

Overall, the VA’s estimated backlog represents only 79 percent of actual backlogged claims, the IG determined.

The report states “The pending backlog could be significantly understated.”

The VA has been criticized in recent years for being slow to make decisions on claims, which can take years to complete. In 2013, the number of backlogged claims hit a peak of 611,000.

The VA has taken steps to reduce the backlog, and as of last week, the agency reported there were about 86,000 backlogged claims. However, the VA is underestimating that number because of unclear parameters about which claims apply for the backlog, the IG concluded.

Inspectors blamed the problems on “ineffective oversight and training.” The Inspector General’s Office found no instances of fraud during its investigation.

In response to the report, Paul Lawrence, the VA undersecretary for benefits, vowed to retrain employees and clarify which claims should be counted in the backlog. He expects the training to be complete by next September.

JUST A COMMON SOLDIER  A S O L D I E R D I E D T O DAY 

BY A. LAWRENCE VAINCOURT

He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast, And he sat around the Legion, telling stories of the past.

Of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done, In his exploits with his buddies; they were heroes, every one.

And tho’ sometimes, to his neighbors, his tales became a joke, All his Legion buddies listened, for they knew whereof he spoke.

But we’ll hear his tales no longer for old Bill has passed away, And the world’s a little poorer, for a soldier died today.

He will not be mourned by many, just his children and his wife, For he lived an ordinary and quite uneventful life.

Held a job and raised a family, quietly going his own way, And the world won’t note his passing, though a soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth, their bodies lie in state, While thousands note their passing and proclaim that they were great.

Papers tell their whole life stories, from the time that they were young, But the passing of a soldier goes unnoticed and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution to the welfare of our land A guy who breaks his promises and cons his fellow man?

Or the ordinary fellow who, in times of war and strife, Goes off to serve his Country and offers up his life?

A politician’s stipend and the style in which he lives Are sometimes disproportionate to the service that he gives.

While the ordinary soldier, who offered up his all, Is paid off with a medal and perhaps, a pension small.

It’s so easy to forget them for it was so long ago, That the old Bills of our Country went to battle, but we know It was not the politicians, with their compromise and ploys, Who won for us the freedom that our Country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger, with your enemies at hand, Would you want a politician with his ever-shifting stand?

Or would you prefer a soldier, who has sworn to defend His home, his kin and Country and would fight until the end?

He was just a common soldier and his ranks are growing thin, But his presence should remind us we may need his like again.

For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldier’s part Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor while he’s here to hear the praise, Then at least let’s give him homage at the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simple headline in a paper that would say, Our Country is in mourning, for a soldier died today.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Supervisors Approve Policies Expanding Job May 23, 2018 and Training Opportunities for Veterans CONTACT:

Darin Schemmer, Office of Fourth District V. Manuel Perez, (760) 863-8211 RIVERSIDE – Qualifi ed veterans and their spouses seeking jobs in Supervisor the county workforce will be guaranteed job interviews during the hiring process, under provisions of a revitalized veteran employment preference program approved Tuesday.

Supervisors Approve Policies Expanding Job and Training

The Riverside County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously, 5-0, to adopt an overhaul of the existing veteran hiring preference policy and a new veterans education and training policy.

Opportunities for Veterans

The policies are components of the Veterans Improvement Program of Riverside County, brought forth by Supervisors V. Manuel Perez and Chuck Washington in December 2017.

“This is the most–veteranand veteran spouse-friendly employment program in our state and likely in thecounty country,” workforce said Supervisor V.will Manuel RIVERSIDE Qualified veterans and their spouses seeking jobs in the be Perez. “Veterans who have served our nation and our state are now ensured an interview for county positions. These important changes to our policies will aid our interviews veterans and their spouses the in finding jobs that utilize their talents,provisions education and dedication to serving theveteran public.” guaranteed job during hiring process, under of a revitalized

The updated policy revamps Riverside County’s longstanding veteran employment preference program, which established a point-based employment preference program approved Tuesday.

preference system for veterans seeking employment with the County of Riverside. The program was decades old, and was testing-based.

As many jobs do not require testing, the policy was in need of modernizing to make it more functional for veteran applicants and county departments.

The Riverside County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously, 5-0, to adopt an overhaul of the The enhanced veteran hiring program improves the preference given to veterans by giving interviews to all qualifying veterans and spouses, providedveteran that applicants meet the requirementspolicy of the job.and a new veterans education and training policy. existing hiring preference

All honorably discharged veterans and their spouses are eligible for the preference. Applicants are required to submit documented proof of the veteran’s honorable or general discharge, including a Form DD-214 or NGB-22, by the job-posting deadline.

The policies are components of the Veterans Improvement Program of Riverside County,

The program, which was developed by the county’s Human Resources Department and Executive Office in conjunction with the county department of Veterans’ Services, will beV. implemented all county The hiring preference policy took effect July 1. brought forth

by Supervisors Manuelacross Perez and departments.

Chuck Washington in December 2017.

A second policy, the Veterans Education and Training (VET) program, was also approved Tuesday. The VET program allows county departments to offer eligible veterans paid temporary apprenticeships or on-the-job training opportunities in a variety of occupational areas through the county’s Program.

“This is Temporary the mostAssignment veteranand veteran spouse-friendly employment program in our state and Both Board policies, C-3 C-20, canPerez. be found“Veterans on the agendawho document: likely in the country,” said Supervisor V.and Manuel have served our nation http://riversidecountyca.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=1814

and our state are now ensured an interview for county positions. These important changes to our CONTACT:

policies will aid ourDarin veterans andOffitheir spouses inSupervisor findingV.jobs that utilize their talents, education Schemmer, ce of Fourth District Manuel Perez, (760) 863-8211 and dedication to serving the public.”

Supervisor V. Manuel Perez represents the eastern two-thirds of Riverside County on the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.

Stretching from Palm Springs and Desert Hot Springs, south to the Salton Sea and east to Blythe and the Colorado River, the 4th District is the largest geographical district in the county. Supervisor Perez’s office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

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21ST DISTRICT LEGIONNAIRE | VETERANS DAY 2018 DISTRICT 21

PROTECTING VETERANS

9645 Magnolia Ave, Riverside, CA 92503 (951) 688-5743 • (800) 275-4648 ArlingtonMortuary.com

F R O M I D E N T I T Y F R AU D

e Hansen Family FD #1033

Happy vETERANS dAY Honoring All Who Served

Over 16.7 million people were affected by identity fraud in 2017 alone. Everyone is vulnerable; however, veterans are at a higher risk than civilians because of the military protocol they are accustomed to for personal identification. All veterans should be aware of the serious consequences that identity fraud can cause for both themselves and for their beneficiaries.

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Once a criminal has obtained personal information it can be misused in many ways. The two most common approaches, according to a 2017 Federal Trade Commission report, include credit card fraud where new accounts are opened in your name and tax fraud to obtain your tax refund. Bank account fraud and taking out loans and lines of credit in your name are other ways that criminals can take advantage of their victims, and you should consult your bank on what steps to take to prevent account fraud from happening.

All of these actions can negatively impact your credit score, affect your ability to access your benefits including medical care and housing, and can take a significant amount of time and money to resolve criminal charges and to close bad accounts. So how can you prevent that from happening?

Keep your personal information private. As a veteran, you are used to sharing your social security number to identify yourself as a service member and veteran. Con-

sider the source asking for your social security number and never share it via text, social media platforms or publicly accessible sites.

Shred your sensitive documents. Tax records should be kept for 7 years and you can shred any prior returns after consulting with your tax advisor. Make sure your documents are shred in a way that it is impossible to put back together for fraudulent purposes.

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Sign up for account alerts. Most financial service providers allow you to receive a text message or email if unusual activity or fraud is suspected on your accounts.

You can even set threshold alerts for transactions over a certain dollar amount so you are in-the-know when money leaves your accounts.

Regularly review bank and credit card account statements. Criminals will test to see if you notice small purchases they make on your account. If you don’t notice, they’ll use your account number to make large purchases that could prove devastating.

Review your credit report three times a year. Obtain a free credit report annually from each of the three credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) at www. annualcreditreport.com or by calling (877) 322-8228. In general, don’t check it more than three times a year as it could dink your credit.

For additional identity protection information, visit the US Department of Veterans Affairs at www.va.gov/identitytheft or listen to a recent interview with the Western Bankers Association regarding how banks are helping individuals protect their identity at www.cvcb.com/identity-protection.

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ISO 9001 ISO 13485 Micromold, Inc.

Robert D. Aust President

Micromold, Inc. 2100 Iowa Avenue Riverside, CA 92507

951.684.7130 Cell 951.415.2950 bob@micromoldinc.com

Opening doors for those who serve At Union BankÂŽ, we strive to make the dream of homeownership possible for service members and Veterans who have bravely served our country.

For information on VA loans, please contact:

Julia Gallardo Mortgage Consultant 951-283-1896 julia.gallardo@unionbank.com NMLS ID #296502

Edwin Mendoza Mortgage Consultant 323-449-1935 edwin.mendoza@unionbank.com NMLS ID #1230598

Joe Sia Mortgage Consultant 714-262-0052 joe.sia@unionbank.com NMLS ID #488371

Gabriel Gomez Producing Sales Manager 951-818-5385 gabriel.gomez@unionbank.com NMLS ID #450516

Marissa Peterson Branch Manager 9811 Magnolia Ave. #B Riverside, CA 92503 951-352-5575

Oscar Ugarte Branch Manager 11551 Foothill Blvd.

Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730 909-944-2421

Michelle Rodriguez Branch Manager 30125 Antelope Road Menifee, CA 92584 951-672-7474

Max Abbas Branch Manager 3625 Vine Street Riverside, CA 92507 951-346-1501

Loans subject to credit and collateral approval. Financing available for collateral located in CA, OR, or WA. Restrictions may apply. Terms and conditions subject to change. Š2018 MUFG Union Bank, N.A. All rights reserved. Member FDIC. Union Bank is a registered trademark and brand name of MUFG Union Bank, N.A. unionbank.com