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The Voice for Chaplaincy - Chartered by Congress - Serving Since 1925
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Weekly Newsgram - November 15th,
2017
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Harvard University Honors Chaplains on Veterans Day
This past Saturday, November 11, Harvard University and the Harvard Veterans Alumni Organization (HVAO) honored the actions of the Four Chaplains, and the service and sacrifice of all Harvard veterans, during the annual Veterans Day service in Memorial Church-itself dedicated 85 years ago to honor Harvard's World War I dead.
Army colonel Everett Spain, an HVAO director, took charge of telling the veterans, ROTC candidates, active-duty service members, and civilians assembled in the pews about the lives and death of the four men who "passed life's ultimate test." Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff, a retired captain in the U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps, delivered the keynote address.
From 1942 to 1944, Harvard served as home for the U.S. Army's Chaplain School, where a five-week program during the height of World War II graduated 20 consecutive classes of "sky pilots"-6,449 in all: priests, ministers, and rabbis representing the three faiths then recognized by the American military. Their training included long marches, defense against chemical warfare, military law, first aid, military sanitation, and graves registration. Men of different denominations were intentionally bunked together, to promote tolerance and understanding
President Drew Faust, a veteran's daughter, attended the service, and HVAO's founder, Tom Reardon '68, thanked her warmly for welcoming the Reserve Officers' Training Corps back to campus in 2011 and for her support of service members and veterans enrolled at the University. His remarks also announced a further step to continue links between Harvard and those who serve in the military: the College has joined a national mentoring effort that encourages and supports veterans seeking an undergraduate degree. The three-year, preliminary affiliation with Service to School's VetLink program is supported by Reardon and a fellow Vietnam veteran, Bruns Grayson '74.
"Harvard students and alumni who answer the call to serve in the military are an essential part our University community," Faust declared in a statement issued just before the Saturday service. The new plaque displayed in Memorial Church, honoring four men who passed through Harvard and, indirectly, the thousands of fellow chaplains who followed them, offers a valuable reminder of one aspect of that service.
Lyman Smith
Executive Director
Above excerpted from the Harvard Magazine. Full article available here
The program for the service available
here
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In Memoriam
November 2, 2017
Tacoma, WA
For almost 30 years, Pat was the glue that held Joint Base Lewis-McChord and I Corps Religious Support Offices together. Pat was known for her love of soldiers, their families, and many civilians on base.
Memorial Service for Pat and Al Owings will be on Wednesday, 22 November at 1000 at Lewis North Chapel - 11621 South Drive & 12th St. Joint Base Lewis McChord, WA.
A reception follows at American Lake Conference Center - 8085 NCO Beach Rd. JBLM
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Your MCA at Arlington
Veterans Day 2017
The National Veterans Day Committee (NVDC) in partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs hosted the national celebration of Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery on November 11. The MCA is one of 15 member organizations in the NVDC and participates in this ceremony each year.
This year our colors were carried by two Soldiers who volunteered to represent us in the parade opening the ceremony.
SSG Preston Robbins and SGT
Mame Fall lifted the colors high and with pride as they brought them into the amphitheater along with colors from over fifty other Veteran Service Organizations.
Vice President Michael R. Pence represented the President at the gathering and placed a wreath on behalf of the American People at the Tomb of the Unknowns prior to delivering his address. Your Executive Director was included among those who were seated on the apse during the program. You may watch the entire program
here.
One cannot capture the spirit and significance of this ceremony without being present. Each year your MCA is part of both this and the Memorial Day ceremony remembering our nation's fallen. It's not too late to put one or both of these on your calendars for 2018 and honor those who have served by joining in - perhaps even lifting our colors high as you march in the parade. If interested for 2018 or beyond - please contact mca-usa.org.
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Veterans Remembered in Canada
National Remembrance Day
OTTAWA - Thousands of Canadians stood in the biting cold for national Remembrance Day services on Saturday as the military's senior chaplain delivered a powerful message to those struggling with thoughts of suicide as a result of their time in uniform.
Clad in the white robes of his office, Brig.-Gen. Guy Chapdelaine prayed for those who died defending the country and its way of life before turning to "soldiers suffering from injuries visible and invisible."
"We pray for all those who because of the strain of life have considered or attempted suicide," Chapdelaine said as the large crowd gathered around the National War Memorial stood in respectful silence.
"Inspire us to take meaningful action to understand, address and reduce the risk of suicide and be a supportive, compassionate support to our comrades and loved ones at risk. Help us to give them hope."
It was a poignant moment, and one that resonated with many in attendance as Canada tries to come to grips with the psychological toll that war has taken on many of its current and former military personnel.
"It's very important that it is put out there for people," said Cpl. Robert Vincent, who travelled from Pembroke, Ont., to attend the ceremony in Ottawa with his family.
"There will be people all over Canada watching this today and elsewhere as well. So it's important that the message is said here. Any chance we get to help out a veteran is great."
Full Article by
Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press
here
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If you missed the November 8th
edition of the Newsgram
click here
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SUPPORTING CHAPLAINCY IN AND OUT OF UNIFORM: Active, Retired and Former Chaplains of the
United States Army,
United States Navy,
United States Air Force, Department of
Veterans Affairs, and
Civil Air Patrol
AND THOSE THEY SERVE: military members, veterans, and their families
at home and around the world
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The Military Chaplains Association of the USA
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