VFW Post 10147 Apopka/Altamonte Springs

I was born in Aurora, Illinois on November 5, 1944 at Copley Hospital.  I graduated from West Aurora High School in 1963.  I attended Aurora College studying Accounting until I joined the Marine Corps in March 1964.  I attended Boot Camp in San Diego, CA.  My MOS was 4131, Exchange Man.  I was stationed at El Toro MCAS from 1964 until 1966 when I received orders for Viet Nam.  I served in Chu Lai, Viet Nam.  I ran a Post Exchange there.

I was honorably discharged in March 1967.  I returned to Aurora, Illinois and took a job in data processing with Barber Greene Company.  In August 1967 I married my high school sweetheart, Kathy.  I then worked for United Parcel  Services in their Data Processing Center in St. Charles, Illinois. Kathy and I moved to Altamonte Springs, Florida in November 1969 with our eighteen month old son, Michael.  I worked for NARS (National  Advanced Reservation Service) for a short time then took a position with FIS (Florida Informanagement Services) a data processing service for Savings & Loans and Banks.  I advanced from Computer Operator to Division Manager and Senior Vice President  during my twenty-seven plus year career with FIS.  My second son, Steven was born in 1971.  Steven is an Apopka Police Officer.  Mike, my first son, is a Software Manager for Harris Corporation in Melbourne, Florida.

My soul mate and wife, Kathy, is a retired Registered Nurse.  She has worked in hospitals, Nursing Facilities, and for the State of Florida during her career.  She is still the primary care giver for her 97 year old mother who lives with us.

We have three grand-daughters; Julia 9, Sarah 7, and Annabelle 2.  Julia and Sarah live in Palm Bay, Florida.  Annabelle lives in Apopka, Florida.  They are our pride and joy.

I joined the VFW during 2009. I have been active at both the Wednesday and Saturday breakfasts.  I enjoy photography and have started an album for the post.  I also maintain the post website.  I also belong to ACPAAA (Apopka Civilian Police Alumni Association) and currently serve on the Board.  I am a member of Central Florida Orchid Society.  I am their webmaster also.  I grow orchids as a hobby.

I’m also a Board Member of IBCS (International Bossons Collectors Society).  I collect Bossons, which are plaster character heads, both human and animal.  I also have been collect Millcreek sculptures for over twenty years.

In my spare time I like to listen to all kinds of music and put together jig saw puzzles.  I also love to travel.

        Jim Collins                                                   

James Charles Collins (Jim) was born in Milford Ct. hospital to Cassie & F. Everett Collins on October 09, 1940 weighing 6 pounds, 21 inches long. He grew up and attended Milford schools until his freshman year, at which time his parents sent him to a private school in Hamden, Ct. because of his poor marks in public school. After two years at Hamden Hall he returned to public school where he did poorly. At that time he was sent to a private school in Bridgeport, Ct., THE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL, at that time affiliated with Yale University. He then graduated with honors and went off to UCONN, after 6 months he decided to quit and join the Navy.  The Navy wanted him to be a Nuclear Weapons Man but he wanted to go to sea.  After flunking out on purpose and offering him all kind of deals, he finally told them he just wanted to go to sea.  They finally sent him to the U.S.S. NEW DD/DDE 818, where he finally got to go to sea. He spent the next five years aboard seeing the world, getting married, having children, and then moving to N.A.S. Jacksonville for the last two years of a seven year hitch. His wife at that time became sick and the Navy not wanting him to go back to sea, gave him a hardship discharge.

After a few months in Florida he decided to move his family to Connecticut.  He went to work for Norden Technologies and after a down turn in the economy went to work for Commercial Plastics as inside salesman. When his wife became sick again he divorced her and took his girls. The wife died within a few months of the divorce. He rejoined the Church where he met an old classmate and they ended up getting married, she had 3 girls from her first marriage. This lasted for seven years until he found out she was abusing his girls.  Taking his girls and a car he moved to Florida.  Having worked for Woolco for a few years, he ended up working for them again.  He met his wife, Karen at Woolco in 1980 and they are still happily married after 30 years.  When Woolco announced they would be closing all stores he remembered a friend from Handy City telling him if he ever wanted another job just call ,he did and worked for them until W.R. Grace decided to close all stores to pay off a court case he lost in Germany. From then on he had no luck with employers as one after another closed up shop.  He went to work for Florida Hospital Corporation at one of their nursing homes in maintenance. After seven years of being on call 24 hours a day, the doctor told him to get out before they killed him.  Taking a cut in pay he was hired by Teak Isle Mfg. where he remained until retirement in 2005.  I joined the VFW in 2006.   Jim and Karen are now proud to have nine grandkids and seven great grandkids.

Jim Collins                               

          Stephen Allen  Sterner    

 I was born March 29, 1955 in Hanover, Pennsylvania.  In 1960 my family relocated to Round Bay, Severna Park, Maryland where we lived for thirty-eight years.  During that period I completed my primary education at St. John’s Catholic School and thereafter attended Severn School where I received my high school diploma.

In 1973 I received an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.  Prior to entering the academy, I completed one year in the Naval Academy Prep school in Bainbridge, Maryland.  After two years at the Naval Academy (majoring in engineering), I attended Anne Arundel Community College for one semester.  In 1978 I graduated from Auburn University with a degree in Economics.  Note: After leaving the Naval Academy, I also completed the remaining two years of an initial six year commitment in the naval reserve.

I entered the business world in 1979 at various sales positions with Coca Cola in the New Jersey-Washington DC areas and Ashland Oil Company in Kentucky, Chicago, and Delaware, plus stints with several petroleum distributors in Baltimore/Washington area.  In 1984, I secured a sales position with U Filler Up, a large petroleum distributor in the Richmond area.

In 1985, became incapacitated resulting in the discovery of a huge pituitary brain tumor (determined to have had nine years growth).  In the midst of several unsuccessful operations at John Hopkins Hospital to extract the tumor, a stroke was induced resulting in partial paralysis of the entire right side of the body.  However, it was subsequently concluded that the pituitary tumor could be controlled with medication.  After five rehab centers and several operations resulting from fractured limbs on the atrophied portion of the body, I moved in with my parents in 1987 in Severn Park, Maryland and since 1998 in Orlando, Florida.

I was married to Cheryl Forbus in 1980.  We had one child, Katie born in 1983.  Katie graduated from VCU in 2008 and was married in 2010.  Cheryl and I divorced in 1989 and our marriage was annulled by the Catholic Church in 2004.

Organizations

Life Member VFW Post 10147

Life Member American Legion Post 0297, Baltimore, MD

K of C 4^th Degree Annunciation Catholic Church Altamonte Springs, FL

Life Member Sigma Chi Fraternity, Auburn University

Official Volunteer, VA Hospital, Orlando, FL

Achievements

PADI Scuba Diving Certification

Advanced Like Saving

USNA Jr. Varsity La Crosse Team

NA prep school Varsity La Crosse Team

Severn School Varsity Football and La Crosse Teams

Tri-County Offensive Guard (Football)

Football Unsung Hero Award

Private Pilot’s License

 Earl J. Miller

I was born in Simsbury Conn. in 1919 at home. I went to Wapping Grammer School and then to Ellsworth High. I joined the army in 1942.  I took my basic training in Richmond, VA. at Camp Lee for 13 weeks then put on a train for Fort Dix in NJ, a P.O.E, then put on the Queen Mary for Sudbury, England.

We landed at Normandy Beach on D-3 with 6x6's and lost one truck.  We would drive 24 hours on, 24 hours off.  In early dawn I went over the line. When I realized it, I turned around and went like hell back to our troops. I counted 17 bullet holes in back of my load. About three months later we were given tractor trailers and put in a big field to learn to drive them. First time out was pretty much a disaster. Our company was picked to be on the Redball Express. We hauled supplies to Paris.  We hauled from St Lo to Paris, a mountainous route.  I spent 3 1/2 years overseas.  I went home after the war was over in 1945 in Oct.  I married the girl that waited 31/2 years for me in Nov.

  ED VELAZQUEZ 

 Ed Velazquez was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico in 1947.  The eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. R. Velazquez, both now retired school teachers; his father is a WW II veteran.  Ed attended school in San German, PR, graduating from high school in 1964 and subsequently serving in the U.S. Army, as a paratrooper, with the 82^nd Airborne Division, the 173^rd Airborne Brigade, in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and many other military medals and commendations.  Ed also served with the 11^th Special Forces Group, B Company, USAR.  Ed served four years on active duty and seven years with the U.S. Army Reserves, attaining a rank of First Lieutenant (Infantry), before being honorable discharged.

During his civilian career, Ed worked for the New York City Department of Correction, as a Correction Officer, and as a police officer and promoted to detective, as a member of the New York City Police Department; the Major Case Squad, being his last command.  After retiring from the police department, he worked in New York’s financial district, as a financial investigator, concentrating on financial crimes.

Ed is married to Diane Velazquez, a native New Yorker, who also is a retiree from the NYC Police Department, as a second grade detective.  They have two boys, Errol, who is married and residing in Long Island, and Samuel, who is an Iraqi Freedom veteran. 
Ed’s educational background consists of a Bachelors of Science, from St. John’s University, a Master of Business Administration and a Masters of Science, from Long Island University and Utica College, respectfully.

Ed and Diane are presently residing in Apopka, Florida and he is an active member with the Veteran of Foreign Wars, Post # 10147, in Apopka.  He holds the title of Junior Vice Commander, under the leadership of Artie Vecchio.

   John Echon

I was born on December 15, 1921 in Arnold, Pennsylvania.  My parents were Anna (McLaughlin) and John J. Echon.  I had one brother now deceased.  I was active as a youth in Boy Scouts and became an Eagle Scout.  I graduated from Arnold High School in 1940 and that fall attended Waynesburg College.  Due to a lack of funds I went to work for Alcoa in their research lab in New Kensington hoping to return to college.  After Pearl Harbor I enlisted in the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet program in 1942.  I attended flying school in Texas graduating as a pilot in March 1944.  I was sent to Gulfport, Mississippi where our crew was assembled on a B-17 Flying Fortress.  We trained there during the summer of 1944.  Every pass I received I high tailed it to New Orleans.  There I was fortunate meeting a Navy Wave named Lillian Hardin.  She was one of the first women to attain the rank of Chief Yeoman.  In September,  we went to Savannah, Georgia where we picked up a new B-17 that had been flown in from the factory.  We flew to Labrador then to Iceland and finally landed in Valley, Wales.  I was assigned to the 487^th B Group in Lavenham.  Our crew was very fortunate and safely completed thirty five missions over Germany.  We had some close calls including a fighter attack during the Battle of the Bulge where the group lost eight planes.  We were flying directly behind the Group Commander, General Castle when he was shot down and killed.  After returning to the States I was sent to Lockbourne Air Base in Columbus, Ohio where I went through four engine instructor’s school and upon graduation stayed on as a B-17 instructor until my discharge in October 1945.

In June 1946, Lillian and I were married.  We have three great daughters, Joyce, Jacqui, and Janet.  I returned to college and graduated in 1949.  I went to work for Texas Eastern Trans. Corporation, a cross country natural gas pipeline in West Chester, Pennsylvania.  In September 1958 we moved to Florida.  As I was in the founding group of employees who staffed Florida Gas Company, I retired from the company as Manager of Disbursements and Cash Investments.  In 1990 I met Artie selling poppies and joined Post 10147 and served as Quartermaster for eighteen years.  Due to Lillian’s having Alzheimers I have had to discontinue active participation in post activities, but I will always be a member in spirit. 

   Jim Greene

I was born and raised in Pacolet Mills, SC, a small textile manufacturing village in the northwestern part of the state.  Shortly after graduating from Pacolet High School in 1956, I moved to Arlington, VA, (initially living with an aunt and uncle) to work and attend night classes at George Washington University.  I went to work with the Air Transport Association of America and attended night classes at GWU for several semesters.

I continued working in the airline industry until I received my draft notice and went into the Army in March of 1962.  I completed basic training and Signal Corps School (as a Radio Teletype Operator) in Fort Gordon, GA.  After training I was assigned to the 7^th Infantry Division Artillery Headquarters Battery in Korea where I served a thirteen month tour.  After Korea, I completed my two year tour of active duty in Fort Lewis, WA.

I returned to my job with the Air Transport Association and continued working there until September of 1972 when I accepted a position with the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board, the government agency that regulated the economic aspects of airline operations.  I served as Chief of the Board’s Tariff Section for several years and in 1979 accepted a job with Official Airline Guides, a travel information company owned by the Dun and Bradstreet Corporation.  I joined OAG as Director Tariffs and was promoted to Vice President a year or so later.  I worked with OAG for about ten years and, in 1989, moved back to the Washington, DC, area and took a job with the Interstate Commerce Commission which, at the time, regulated the economic aspects of motor and rail transportation and certain water and pipeline carriage.

At the beginning of 1995 the ICC was abolished as a government agency and the functions for which I had responsibility were transferred to the Surface Transportation Board, a newly created independent regulatory agency housed in the Department of Transportation.  I continued working with the STB until I retired at the end of the year 2000 as Associate Director of the Office of Compliance and Enforcement.

My wife, Nancy, and I were married in 1967.  She, too, retired at the end of the year 2000 and we continued living in our home in Arlington, VA, until August of 2003 when we moved to Apopka.  We have two boys, Jim, Jr., and David, both of whom now live in Port Orange, FL, about an hour away from us. Jim works as a computer programmer and David has his own computer service business.  Jim is still single and David and his wife, Beth, have three children, ages 15, 8 and 6.  Having our children and grandchildren close adds much joy to our lives.

Nancy and I very much enjoy being retired and living here in Apopka.  We’ve developed a wonderful group of friends here and enjoy family, friends, golf, volunteer activities and travel.

   Nick Dini

I was born on January 4, 1929 in Ossining, New York (the home of Sing Sing Prison).  I graduated from high school in 1947.  I went to work for New York Central Railroad.  I was a foreman in the car shop. 

I was drafted January 16, 1951 and went to Fort Bragg, North Carolina for basic training.  For basic training I was sent to Abedeen Proving Grounds in Maryland for Artillery Training for ten weeks.  I returned to Fort Bragg for Field Training Company.  I got orders to go to Korea.  We traveled from Fort Bragg via Troop Train to Seattle, Washington.  I arrived in Japan late December of 1951.  Our company left Yokohama by Troop Train to Sasbo, Japan, then by boat to Pusan, Korea arriving on January 8, 1952.  On January 20, 1952 my company left Pusan by fleet on LSTs and landed in Inchon.  The company headed east by convoy to North Korea.  I was assigned north of the 38^th parallel north of Heartbreak Ridge to the Turkish Artillery Battalion of 105 Howitzers and with the 555 Artillery.  I left Korea in December 0f 1952 by Troop Ship and landed in San Francisco.  I was separated at Camp Kimmer, New Jersey in 1953.

I went back to work with New York Central Railroad.  I went to TV and radio repair school on the G.I. Bill.  It was a great help for my future employment.

My life with Eileen my late wife, who passed away on December 11, 2008, was the wonder of everything I did.  Our favorite song was an Elvis hit, “The Wonder of You!”  God bless my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

             James Schaffer         

I was born in Brooklyn, NY on May 8, 1944, six weeks after my dad shipped out for the European Theater with Patton's Third Army as a cryptographic officer.  I lived with my mom and grandmother in an apartment in Flatbush.  My dad Joe returned from Europe when I  

18 months old.  The family moved frequently until purchasing a home in Queens Village, NY.

We lived in Queens until January 1956 when the family purchased a new home in Rye; NY.I loved the community in Westchester County and participated in many sports while growing up.  I ran Track, Cross Country and Wrestled.  I was undefeated in dual matches my senior year and was named to the All County Wrestling Team.  After graduating from Rye High 

School I attended Alfred University in upstate NY.  I graduated from Alfred U.  in 1966 with a BA degree in Economics and English Literature.   While growing up I worked from the age of 14 on.  I had a paper route for a few years, worked as an assistant in a chemical lab, and 8 summers as a caddy at one of the oldest golf courses in the country (Apawmis Country Club

founded in 1896).  My junior and senior years in college I was a dormitory counselor and received free room and board.   My family moved from Rye my junior year to South Florida.  I joined them after graduating from college.   I soon received my draft notice in late 1966reporting for active duty in the US Army in February 1967

      I attended Infantry Basic Training at Fort Benning, Georgia and two months later was shipped to Fort Lewis , Washington for NCO Leadership training and the became an acting E-5 platoon sergeant after  only ten weeks in the military.  I was acting platoon sergeant during the next two months of Advanced Infantry Training.  I volunteered for a number of assignments during this period and after AIT I was transferred to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma for Artillery OCS.  I received my commission as a second lieutenant only ten months after entering active duty.  As a new 2nd Lieutenant awaiting orders for flight school, I was assigned as assistant group adjutant, primary duty Defense Counsel for Special Courts Martials.  In the spring of 1968 I received my orders for Primary Helicopter Flight Training at Ft. Wolters, Texas.  After I struggled through Primary training I was transferred to Ft. Rucker, Alabama for Advanced Helicopter training including instrument flight and weapons use.  

      I managed to complete my helicopter training in April 1969, got my Wings and orders for South Viet Nam reporting in May 1969 for duty with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment.

The Regiment was known as the "Blackhorse" Assigned to the Air Calvary Troop, I floated for the first couple of weeks on stand-by with the Cobra Gunship Platoon as a co-pilot.  My first combat was a scramble to assist a convoy that had been ambushed in the vicinity of Xuan Loc in III Corps Viet Nam.  The gunship AH1G took multiple hits from small arms fire but sustained no real damage.  I was finally assigned to a platoon, the lift platoon flying co-pilot in a Huey.   I flew missions daily carrying troops into and out of hot LZ's.  The next two months passed rapidly and I seemed to get additional duties every time I turned around.   Commissioned Officers got to handle duties in addition to flying.   My extra duties included: Malaria Control Officer, Piaster Conversion Agent, Aircraft Accident Investigation Officer, and Awards and Decorations Officer.   These extra duties did cut into my flying time and sometimes were a royal pain.  

      In August of 1969 I was assigned to the Aero Scout Platoon as scout pilot.  I flew the OH6 Cayuse as a human target for enemy forces.   I took fire frequently and was shot down a few times.  Because of the frequent enemy fire my aircraft received my nickname became "Magnet Ass".  On January 17, 1970 while flying a recon mission shortly after noon near the Michelein Rubber Plantation I was hit by enemy fire (AK47), the aircraft engine was immediately knocked out and the ship began burning.  The aircraft crashed within 50 meters of the enemy and I had to crawl away able to use only my right arm and right leg.  I used my emergency radio to call

for help which was on stand-by only 15-20 minutes away.  The rescue team called ARPS "Aero Rifle Platoon" scrambled aboard four slicks but without their Medic.  They quickly arrived on the scene located me and got me aboard one of the slicks and we headed for the nearest aid station.

      I spent the next four months at the 93 Evac in Saigon, the 106 General Hospital in Japan, and the Special Treatment Center at Ft. Gordon, Georgia.   I returned to active duty at the end of May 1970 with my left leg in a walking cast.   For my final three and a half years on active duty I was again assigned to Ft. Rucker, Alabama to the USAAVNS Brigade (US Army Aviation Bde).

My first assignment was as Battalion Adjutant.  More than a year later I received training as an instrument flight instructor.  I commanded a flight of instructors and student helicopter pilots.

In the fall of 1973 I was discharged from the Army as a result of the reductions in personnel at the end of the Viet Nam War.

      I had recently married my first wife Becky and upon my discharge we decided to move from Alabama to South Florida.   I began a career in the office supply/ printing industry, working my way up quickly to manage the companies printing division.   I managed three offset shops / copy centers.

I later worked as a sales representative in the wholesale office supply industry in Dade and Broward counties.   Becky and I divorced in 1985 and a few months later I met my present wife Margaret.

We were married in 1987 and moved to Central Florida where I quickly found a job managing a small office supply store in downtown Apopka.   My wife’s health began to deteriorate and I made a decision to apply for a position with the US Postal Service in late 1990.   I worked for the USPS for the next sixteen plus years and retired in 2006 due to my own health issues from my injuries sustained in Viet Nam.

      My current hobbies include collecting old 45 RPM records (1950-1960's), World War I and II sheet music, antiquing and restoring old oak furniture.  I love to read and my favorite authors are Clive Cussler and Ayn Rand.  I am an active veteran and belong to various veterans’ organizations including: VFW Post 10147, Disabled American Veterans, 1st Cavalry Division, Air Cavalry Troop Veterans of Vietnam and Cambodia, Blackhorse Association, Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association, Vietnam Veterans of Central Florida.   I enjoy working with the Apopka VFW and attending an occasional reunion.   I spend a couple of weeks a year on Sanibel Island vacationing with friends and family.  My wife and I spend as much time with our grandkids Drew and Kelly born February

29, 1996.  We also enjoy time with our daughters Lisa, Elizabeth and their families.

  Dwight Doggett                         

I was born in Clear Creek Township Ashland County Ohio.  Before the settlers moved in it was fur country.  The French came down from Lake Erie and trapped around Savannah Lake (Now named Bailey Lakes).  I was born at home on a hot August morning.  They say the family was enjoying watermelon at the time.  Years later I found a watermelon seed in the molding of that room and wondered if that was one from when I came into this world.

My family had a combination general and dairy farm.  It was in my daddy’s dairy barn that I heard the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor.  I was in high school at the time and our teachers focused mostly on the war in Europe (I had to look up where Pearl Harbor was).

So at the time I had a trap line to run before milking the cows, then school and back home to do the milking all over again.  It would be hard for youngsters to believe now a days that we took our muskrats on the school bus in an old feed sack.  A good rat brought $2.00 and a mink $15.00.  Raccoons didn’t bring much and possums twenty five cents.

About this time I met a young lady, five feet high and eyes of blue, after the war we got married and had four children.  She went to be with the Lord in 1996.

I enlisted in Uncle Sam’s Army in 1944 at 18.  So many eighteen year olds were being killed that I wasn’t sent overseas until I was nineteen.  First I was an MP at Camp Perry spending time on a special rifle range.  Then I served with the Engineers and was sent overseas with the 1748 Engineer Petroleum Group.  I served in the Ryukus campaign on I E Shima and Okinawa.

When I was there Ernie Pyle was killed and one of our company young men was buried next to Ernie.  While we were burying one of our company in a body bag, General Buckner was brought down the mountain on a Cossack pulled by white horses.  Whoever said “War is Hell” was right.

After the war ended I was sent to Korea as part of the Army of Liberation.  I had had enough of the noise and death and got out as soon as possible.

I went back to the dairy farm in Ohio then moved to Florida, farmed for awhile and then to the Post Office, retiring in 1985,

To end this tale, one day I got on the wrong plane and met the right woman, a Pennsylvania Dutch girl who is taking good care of me.  She was crowned “Queen of the Day” at the annual Gold Star Mothers luncheon in September 26, 2010.

Peace to all!

Dwight Doggett

  Friend "Pops" Collins                            

Friend Everett Collins was born April 17^th, 1916 in Milford, Ct. at home to parents, Clinton and Minnie.

 He attended Milford Schools, got a job at the local A&P; and then, went to work for First National Grocery Stores. He and Cassie Paine got married in 1939. In October of 1940, his son Jim was born. At this time and until after the war he spent his time working for Chance Vought Aircraft, building Corsairs for the war effort. During this time his daughter Margaret was born in 1943. Three times the Draft Board tried to draft him but his employer told them that he was worth more to the Aircraft industry here, than “Cannon Fodder”, overseas.  After the war, when Chance Vought decided to move their operations to Texas, he opted not to move. He then went to work as a Milkman at Clover Dairy in Milford, Ct.  He worked three jobs sometimes to make a living, which he did willingly.  After a few years he got a job at Norden Bombsite who made the famous Bombsite that had to be destroyed if the bombers that they were installed on crashed.  They were so good we did not want them to fall into enemy hands. He stayed with Norden for the rest of his working days.

In 1970, he and mom moved to Key Largo, Florida and stayed there until 1979, Mom had a feeling that I would be coming to Florida with my two girls and she was right. They lived in Casselberry until 2000 when they bought a double wide, about three miles away and stayed there until my mom passed in 2001. In 2004 he had a knee replaced and after the hurricanes he got tired of being alone and we moved him into our home in Apopka, where he still lives.

  Roger Capper                     

I was born September 19, 1926 in Forgan, Oklahoma.   It is a prairie town located on the former Cheyenne Strip of Oklahoma along the Kansas and Colorado border.  I was raised in the wheat farming area around Greensburg, Kansas.  During the great depression, my family moved to various locations around the state.  I attended many schools, rural one room schools as well as city schools.  Jobs were very scarce.  After attending a trade school, upon graduation I returned to Salina, Kansas.  I was employed AT THE Smoky Hill Army Air Base, in the armament department until enlisting in the Navy.

On February 19, 1944, at the age of seventeen I enlisted in the Navy.  I received basic training in Farragut, Idaho at Camp Ward.  After completing boot training, I was transferred to the Hawaiian Islands to continue small arms, rifle, and combat training.   My permanent duty station was on the USS IOWA BB 61.  I was assigned to a deck division operating small boats.  I was involved in six major engagements with the enemy.  The Iowa was one of the first ships to enter Tokyo Bay and watched the signing of the Unconditional Surrender of Japan, bring to end to WWII.  Upon return to Long Beach, California I was transferred to the U.S.S. Fall River C A 131.  The ship returned to Japan as an Occupation Force.  I was assigned to a boat division, until the end of my enlistment.

I received the Navy Good Conduct-Asiatic Pacific (6 stars) – China Service – Philippine Liberation (2 stars).  On September 16, 1947 I was discharged from the Navy and returned to my family’s home in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  I joined a U. S. Naval Reserve Unit and also returned to Colorado Springs High School graduating with the Senior Class with a GED Certification.  I worked at my father’s service station earning $.50 per hour.  I worked delivering 7 Up products, while awaiting an opening with the Power Company doing new construction.

I decided to return to the military.  In October, 1948 I enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard.  I was sent to San Francisco, California and was assigned to the USCGC Ironwood, a buoy tender.  I was waiting for Damage Control School to open in Groton, Connecticut.  Upon graduating as a DC3 (E4), I transferred to the USCGC  Chautauque in Alameda, California.  During my career in the Coast Guard I performed many types of duties, Weather Patrol, Air Sea Rescues, Port Security, Explosive Loading Supervisor, Construction ( both state side and in Guam M.I.), Assistant Fire Chief at USCG Academy, and Coast Guard Intelligence-USCGC Duane WPG-3.  In May, 1965 I retired with 21 years combined in the Navy and Coast Guard as an E-7.  I returned to Groton Connecticut where I went to work at General Dynamics Corporation Electric Boat Division as a Test Engineer building Submarines.  I then joined the city of Groton Police Department as a Patrolman.  November 1978 I was medically retired after a heart attack, which made me unable to work.  In 1979 I had a coronary bypass X2 and again on November 19, 1989 I had another coronary bypass X4, at Shands Hospital in Gainesville.  I move to Orlando from Colorado Springs, Colorado.

 LOUIS BORIA BIOGRAPHY

I was born March 22, 1927 in Brooklyn, New York.  I attended Manuel Training High School.  I entered the Marine Corps at the age of 16 and I spent twelve years in the Marine Corps.  During my service I was stationed and deployed to many different places.  I was stationed at Camp Lejeune, Hawaii, the Philippines, and Guam.  During WWII I landed with the 5^th Amphibian Force at Leyte, Philippines in the Pacific Campaign.  I was there for the liberation of the Philippines from Japan.  I was wounded there and received the first of many commendations.  I was deployed to Korea and landed at Inchon on September 16, 1950.  I was wounded for the second time and received my second Purple Heart.  This second wound later caused me to have some hearing lose.   Among my commendations for wartime duty are: 2 Purple Hearts, 2 Presidential Unit Citations, the Korean Presidential Citation, and the Naval Unit Citation.

I was in the Infantry during my whole career.  I received a medical discharge.  After my discharge I worked as a plumber for five years.

My wife, Julie, and I were married in 1953. We raised eight children, two daughters, and six sons.  All of my sons served in the Marine Corps.   Julie and I gave the greatest sacrifice when our oldest son, Louis III died in action of wounds received at Quan Tri, Viet Nam.  We have seventeen grandchildren and five great grandchildren. 

I love the Marine Corps.  It was my life.  I am proud of my four sons for being Marines, too.  It motivated me to do thing I never thought I could do.  Sempre Fi, always faithful.

 Charles Fonner

I was born on October 20, 1942 in Peoria, Illinois.  I graduated from high school and then I joined the Navy.   I was a Boiler man and served on the USS Vogelgesang DD 862.  Our ship was a participant in the Cuban and Thailand crises.  I was in the Navy for six years.  After the Navy, I served two years in the Coast Guard Reserves and fifteen years in the Coast Guard Auxiliary.

After serving, I drove a tractor trailer for forty-five years.  I did long haul deliveries most of the time.  I retired in 2005.

I am married to my beautiful wife, Colleen and we have two sons, Nick and Chris.

I have several hobbies that I enjoy.  I love off road 4X4 competition as well as trap shooting, hunting, and boating.

I was a VFW Post Commander in Mt. Plymouth for a couple of years before transferring to the Apopka Post in 2010.