MINUTES for 2019-05-28 FINAL - Laserfiche WebLink

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Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes May 28,2019 Page 13 Wery: Thank you. All: Applause Chair Doolittle: I know they do this every year, so it's nice that they are being recognized. Yoshimoto: There's another letter to Rankin Gossert, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 387. I don't know who should Iyo: Emile Chair Doolittle: Yeah, Emile stays in contact with him. From all of us on the committee, thank you for what you've done and what you've always done. Wery: A few years ago, the Korean War Veterans, their time was 19950-1953 so those guys are basically, they replaced WWII guys. VFW Hilo chapter and the Korean War Veterans Hilo chapter are very close. They decided that they would come in and support the Korean War Veterans in our effort. Well, it shifted over the years. The Korean War Veterans are basically supporting the VFW because of the bodies, bottomline. This last one, one of the guys that were out there working, he's 92 years old. There's a lady that's in the VFW, she retired from the National Guard, she went and got seven volunetters from the National Guard to come over. She was there Thursday and Friday and she went with this guy. She took over the power washer, we finished about 11 o'clock. What we normally do is each team has an area that they have to work, when they get finished they go up to cemetery number two and get started. Also what happens is on Thursday, we send a team down to the Vietnam Memorial and they power wash the whole thing and they come back up. We have lunch up at cemetery number two because by then everyone is down at cemetery number one. Number two has 8,000 stones. Lewis: How many are in one? Wery: About half that, I think. When we start Friday morning, of cours we've already had a head start and we finish about 11 o'clock. But anyway, he came to me this one guy, when we first talked about going t VFW to support, he stood up and said that's our kuleana, that's our responsibility, we don't need nobody else helping up, hardcore. He came to me, I was watching him Thursday and he was having a hard time. So I went to talk to him, you have to understand, these guys are all alphas, very very proud, hardcore, they don't ask anybody for anything. All you have to do is go to the meetings. I've gone to those meetings, they fight with each other, guys in their 80's they want to fight. He came to me, he said, "Emile, I can not do this no more." I said, "I understand." I talk to Rankin, the Commandr for VFW and next year VFW Hilo will be doing it and the Korean War Veterans will support them. We don't have the bodies anymore. It's been a slow passing of the colors. It's brutal up there, when the sun is out up there. Not only the