The meeting of the John J. Van Gyzen Detachment was called to order by Commandant Bruce Aldrich at 10:00 hours. 41 members were present. The colors were posted, the pledge of allegiance and opening prayer.
Motion made, seconded and passed suspend regular order of business for nomination of officers for 2024.
Nominations are;
Commandant Bruce Aldrich
Sr Vice Commandant Brian Brown
Jr Vice Jeff Waite
Judge Advocate Manuel Menezes
Paymaster Andrew Robinson
Motion, made, seconded and passed to close nominations and revert to regular order of business.
Roll call of officers:
Present- Commandant, Sr. Vice Commandant, Jr. Vice Commandant, Adjutant, Judge Advocate, Sgt. at Arms, Webmaster, Chaplain and Quartermaster.
Absent- Paymaster
Correspondence:
- Thank you from DCF office of Fall River for the donation of Christmas toys.
- Thank from Fall River Citizens for Citizens for the Christmas toys.
- Thank you from Fisher House of Boston for the donation
- Received a donation from the Somerset DTC office.
Motion made, seconded and passed to accept correspondence.
Motion made, seconded and passed to accept the January minutes.
Motion made, seconded and passed to accept Paymasters report.
Officers reports;
Sr. Vice Commandant;
- Nothing to report;
Jr Vice Commandant;
- Nothing to report;
Judge Advocate;
- Manny is in the process of trying to find out what medals our Iwo Jima survivor, Walter is deserving of. This Question was asked by Walters wife. Hard to believe he doesn’t deserve any.
Commandants report:
- Todays do-nuts provided by Quality Auto.
- Thank you card to be signed for Master Guns and his wife for helping Joe out in the hospital and taking him to the train station.
- Bruce sent out 2 emails asking who received metal life membership cards. Response was poor. Any way Bruce found out they are doing away with the metal ones and will be issuing plastic ones instead.
- New challenge coins are in.
- If you have the opportunity, watch the Marine Corps put the Colorado Buffaloes college football team through Marine PT training. Would have never made it through boot camp.
- Got the runaround when I inquired about putting our bus in the Bristol fourth of July parade.
- Bruce has asked Manny to see if we can enter the bus in the July 4th parade in Bristol.
Motion made, seconded and passed to accept all officer`s reports.
New business;
- Pizza party for the VA Hospital in Brockton Saturday 2/24/2024 at 13:00 hours. We will be leaving headquarters at 12:00 hours. Don`t forget the Pogey Bait !!!!.
- After a discussion among the officers it was agreed that we have the Iwo Jima Memorial ceremony on Sunday March 24 at 11:00 hours the day the island was secured.
- Bruce has booked the AMVETS hall in Somerset for Saturday June 22 at 12:00 hours. Volunteers should be there by 11:30 hours. Condiments and side dishes will be appreciated.
- All officers are requested to stay after the meeting to discuss the detachments finances.
- Motion made, seconded and passed to accept all officer`s reports.
For the good;
- Thank you and appreciation from Mike and Brandon for the donation. Received a gift of a challenge coin from Mike for the detachment as a thank you. They also gave a briefing on their trip.
- History project. You will be interviewed by a student for 30 minutes which will be recorded and sent to the Library of Congress and kept forever.
Sickbay report;
- Joe Estrella is home from Virginia.
Bill Murphy Is back in the hospital.
Next meeting will be Saturday March 2 at 10:00 hours.
Motion made, seconded and passed to adjourn the meeting 11:00 hours.
Respectfully submitted
William F. Niewola Jr.
Detachment Adjutant
NEXT MEETING WILL BE SATURDAY MORNING
MARCH 2 @ 10:00 hours.
SEMPER FI!!!!!!!
Let us not forget our fallen brothers and sisters and those in harm’s way. Amen.