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July, 4 2018 

Hello, Shipmate
 
It's been awhile (April) since our last Constant Contact newsletter.   We wanted to give you a reprieve from hearing from us for a while.
 
So, please allow the board to wish you a belated Happy Mother's and Father's Day. We hope your families showed how special you are to them and how much you are loved, valued and appreciated.
 
Memorial Day also passed. It is the most solemn veterans observance of the year. We gave thanks to those who came before us and showed us the way. We hope you did, too.
 
The following articles contain information about Agent Orange legislation, our ships store and the upcoming reunion. We hope they are of benefit to you.
 
If you are reading this prior to Independence Day, have a happy and very safe fourth! If after, we join you in wishing our country a Happy Birthday!
 
God bless, see you in Branson.
 
Manny Seligmann
President
REUNION UPDATE
 
We decided on Branson in July of 2016 and it's amazing how fast the time has passed.   In just about two months, we'll be gathering in the Ozarks for our biennial gathering. Will you be there?   One of the items taken care of at our business meeting is the location of the next reunion.   In this case, it will be an east coast location and as we did in Charleston, we'll be voting on time of year as well as the site.  We are finalizing the list of sites so that we can research costs, things to do, etc.   And yes, Boston is on the list. We need your input to keep our reunions "Wainwright Special".
 
The deadline to register and not incur late penalties is August 15. Please take a moment and get yours done and submitted. If you decide to print out the form and send in along with a check, please be sure to indicate if you will be attending the welcome reception. There is no cost to you but there is to the association and we need to make sure we have enough food. The reunion committee did all possible to keep the costs down this time to make it affordable. We are especially looking forward to our west coast brothers joining us. We do have registrations from some of you, including first timers!  
Make the commitment, join us!
 
We have met the minimum numbers required for Dixie Stampede and the Branson Belle which is great news. We are still a little behind on the minimum number of folks who will be going to the Titanic Museum so they will offer their group discount.
 
Our memorial service will be located in what may be one of, if not the best, location ever. Take a moment to check out the venue at:  
http://www.shrineoftheholyspirit.com/ 

Unfortunately, we lose members from time to time and the only way we know is by being alerted by a member of the association who either knew the departed shipmate or comes across an announcement of the passing. Would each of you please review the memorial list on the website at: http://www.usswainwright.org/shipmates/memorial-page/ and if you see an omission, please let the board know right away.   We want to keep that list as updated as possible so we can say that sailors name aloud during the service. As long as we keep them in our thoughts, they are still with us.
 
In order to vote at the business meeting, dues must be current. We are in the process of updating the membership roster on the website to include a "dues paid" column so you can determine if you are current.   In a perfect world, dues notices would be sent out often and timely.   However, we all know that life, family and jobs often get in the way of our best intentions. Dues as well as ships store revenue help keep the association financially sound.   Please check and if you're behind or coming up on renewal, send in your payment.
 
In a previous newsletter, we talked about a reunion craft sale to be used as a fund raiser.   We received very little response. It's not too late-please contact Trena Bennett at: trena_6440@hotmail.com to discuss your ideas.   We'll still have the regular raffle of items you bring that represent where you live. Speaking of the raffle, we have learned from experience and this year's will be efficient and quick.
AGENT ORANGE UPDATE

As of this writing, HR (House Resolution) 299 passed on a unanimous vote of all present at the end of June.   Now the bill will go to the Senate for consideration and once passed, to the President for signature.  If you're unfamiliar with the legislation, it provides for the VA to provide AO coverage for all blue water navy sailors who operated in the territorial waters of Viet Nam below the 17th parallel.   Knowing that PIRAZ was well above that line, we determined that coverage would also be provided for those who TRANSITED that area, such as we did moving from Da Nang up to station.

There's no way to know how long that will take but, in the meantime, all shipmates who belong to the Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club and have any of the diseases or conditions that are presumed to have been caused by dioxin exposure should start gathering evidence to prove you were exposed so as to obtain VA benefits.   A complete list of the CURRENT conditions can be found at:   
http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/diseases.asp#veterans.
To aid the affected shipmates, we will be adding information to the website to assist in the filing of claims.   It's important to know that, if coverage is granted by the VA, that coverage will be effective the date of the claim. 

The Facebook group Blue Water Navy Association and it's founders have worked tirelessly to get Congress to take the recent action and will continue to do so until it is law.   There is a great deal of information to be found there.

Special thanks to our founder, J C Carlson, for the work he has done to keep us abreast of the situation.


Ships Logs documents
SHIPS STORE UPDATE

 One of the issues the board recognized that needed improvement was the cost of shipping goods purchased through our ships store.    We started by using the one rate boxes offered by the Post Office but kept looking for additional savings both to keep more money in your pocket and to possibly increase sales.   After MANY conversations with local post masters and the Post Office national team, we think we may have finally come up with a solution which is web-based.
 
Most of the sales come through our PayPal account and Kurt Ausbeck along with Richard Molck headed up the project to add the weight of each item to its description.   PayPal also allows us to build a table of weights vs shipping cost so that as the weight increases as you add items to your "cart", the postage will automatically be added.
 
For those of you who have purchased items recently, you've noticed that the minimum shipping charge as been reduced from $12.00 to $6.00 with incremental increases as the weight increases.   We will continue to tweak the system to make sure we're keeping the cost  at the proper levels.
 
Kurt is busy sourcing new items and replenishing stock for the Branson reunion and has agreed to stay in his role as storekeeper for the next term.   BZ, Kurt, and thanks for your continued efforts.
 
Also, we all see Facebook offers for T-shirts, sweatshirts, etc. that bear the Wainwright name and designation and while those "deals" look enticing, the quality isn't near what we sell and, quite frankly, undercut our sales.   Our ships store is a revenue producing source of income for us and we need all shipmates to support it.   If you see an item that you think might have a wide appeal, forward the link to us and we'll see if we can source it at a reasonable cost.
Trailer Donations
The USS Wainwright Veterans Association is a 501(c) 3 non-profit association of men who served aboard any of the three USS Wainwright ships. Our association exists to keep alive the memory of all vessels named Wainwright. With our mobile museum we educate the public about what our sailors have accomplished, and or completed while onboard any of the ship's named Wainwright. This mobile museum also promotes the United States Navy and Americanism, but we cannot do this without your support. We need your donations to support cost of operating this one of a kind teaching tool. Your donations are 100% tax deductible so please be generous and help us keep our museum going. Donations can be made on our web site http://www.usswainwright.org/donate/
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Wainwright Veterans Association Newsletter | 269-397-1354 | newsletter@usswainwright.org | http://www.usswainwright.org/
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