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AMVETS Post 124 and Task Force Omega KY District 3 Team Up    

By Jeff “Mario” Smith, Guerilla Reporter

December 17, 2005

In the early eighties, I joined AMVETS to do my part for my Veteran brothers even if it was only paying the dues. I did the same with my American Legion membership. After a few years, money was tight in our young family and I did not have a local post, so I let my membership lapse. This year, a new AMVETS Post 124 opened up in Maysville, KY. Commander Gene Hook, and his sidekick Tony Smith, who just happens to be my brother, have been burning the midnight oil to get this post off the ground. Now I have a local post to be a part of, and a very active post it is.

A lot of volunteer work and dedication of the AMVETS members and the Ladies Auxiliary of the AMVETS has provided funds for projects.  We have been putting these funds to good use. There was a chartered bus trip to the KY Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial with lunch on Veteran’s Day, a Christmas Dinner for the 301^st Chemical Company, Kentucky Army National Guard families and troops, and now a flag donation and dedication for the Veterans at the Maysville Nursing and Rehabilitation Facility.

Commander Hook discovered that 18 Veterans were living at the facility and wanted to do something for them, so he met with the management to see what AMVETS could do. Suggestions were solicited and the first thing asked for was a wide screen television. After a chuckle, the conversation gravitated to a more reasonable request for an inside flag and pole for the day room. The TV wasn’t ruled out, but it seemed a bit aggressive at that point.

AMVETS membership approved the flag donation and agreed to look into the television. It seems the fundraising was going well, and the television wasn’t such an overly aggressive suggestion after all. With some negotiation at the local television supplier by Commander Hook, otherwise known as coercing, a reasonable price was agreed upon, and the wide screen television was purchased.

Next was what to do about presenting Old Glory. We decided to make it a “flag dedication ceremony” and asked our brothers and sisters of Task Force Omega KY District 3, another organization that Commander Hook, Tony Smith, and yours truly hold membership in, to provide a POW MIA Flag and pole to go with Old Glory. It is the mission of Task Force Omega to see that our POWs abandoned for political expediency and MIAs from all wars, are not forgotten. We believe that anywhere the American flag flies, the POW MIA flag should also fly as a reminder that all our heroes have not returned. See www.greasyonline.com for more information. The membership of TFO decided unanimously to provide the flag and pole. There was no question!

Rounding out the flag dedication was a Kentucky state flag and pole provided courtesy of Representative Mike Denham, Maysville. Representative Denham is a strong supporter of Veterans and Veteran issues and it was great to have Mike a part of the ceremony also. After Commander Hook spoke, thanking the Veterans in the home for their service to God and country, Tony Smith presented the American Flag and led everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance, one nation under God. Tony got off to an awkward start reverting by mistake to the old Boy Scout Creed, but we got him going in the right direction. It seems senior moments aren’t only for those who reside in the home, heh heh heh.

Representing Task Force Omega KY was yours truly presenting the POW MIA flag to the facility on behalf of Task Force Omega of KY District 3. I spoke a little about the mission of TFO and our most recent legislative successes. It felt good to be able to talk about some real changes made legislatively, in large part due to the dedication of TFO membership partnering with other organizations. Working together with others is what makes our various volunteer organizations bigger and stronger, and leads to success. There is power in numbers and we prove that time and time again.

Representative Denham likewise thanked the Veterans in attendance for their service, and their spouses for their sacrifices, and presented the Commonwealth of Kentucky flag. What an appropriate thing it is that our state flag has as its motto, “United We Stand, Divided We Fall”.

AMVETS Chaplain Bill Wilson led us all in prayer and that made the moment feel complete for this Veteran. The ladies of the AMVETS Auxiliary provided cookies and drinks and presented all Veterans living in the facility with a Christmas gift bag. We had fellowship with the folks and left with a good feeling in our hearts. Framed certificates created by Tony Smith and provided by AMVETS were presented to the facility so that all who see those flags will know from where they came and why.

The Veterans living in the Maysville Nursing and Rehabilitation Facility are…

Jack Harold Teegarden              Bernard Miller

Franklin Farris                                    Lloyd Grayson    

Erwin Paschoal                         Bernes Kirk

James Padgett                                    Isaac Lang

Wadsworth Simpson                George Estill

Dan Archdeacon                       Jess McCleese

Earl Arrasmith                                    Thomas Harding

Rufus Rhodes                                    Norman Simons

Thomas Wallingford                           Trella Saunders.

AMVETS is “Veterans Helping Veterans”, and Task Force Omega KY is all about bringing home our POWs and our MIAs, “POW/MIA, You are Not Forgotten”! Let freedom ring!

“Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.”

-- Jeremiah 31:16-17*

*Taken from the back cover of “The Angel and the Eagle” by J. E. Milliner. Joe Milliner and his wife Mary are Task Force Omega of KY members and are the parents of CWO William P. Milliner, shot down in Laos on 3-6-1971, possibly seen in captivity by POW Frank Anton, and still missing today. Information about Billy Milliner, and other POWs kept back by the communists, was refused by the Americans in charge of one or "our" embassies in Southeast Asia. The book is Joe’s story about his own captivity by the Nazis after himself being shot down in Europe in WWII, and his family’s fight for information from a non-cooperating government (USA) about their “Billy”. For your autographed copy of the book, send $20 to Joseph E. Milliner, 281 Fincastle Way, Shepherdsville, KY, 40165. Tell him Mario sent you.

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