Volume 3, Issue 4 June 2012 The Long Rifleman Louisville-Thruston Chapter Gen. George Rogers Clark Founder of Louisville Kentucky Society of the Sons of the American Revolution 2012 - 2013 Officers President’s Remarks President: Compatriots: John H. Huffman Sr. On Thursday, May 3, 2012, members from the Louisville-Thruston and Gov. Isaac Shelby Chapters, KYSSAR, joined with compatriots President Elect: from several other state societies to march in the annual Kentucky Douglas T. Collins Derby Pegasus Parade in downtown Louisville. A special thanks this year to Gov. Isaac Shelby for furnishing a flat-bed truck which 1st Vice President: Rev. Paul W. Smith made getting to and from the parade area much easier for partiCipants. Judging by the cheers from speCtators along the parade route, every- 2nd Vice President: one seemed to appreciate the presence of the SAR contingent. Drake W. Rinesmith As your chapter president, I have recently attended several JROTC Award Ceremonies held 3rd Vice President: in various high schools throughout Jefferson County. It has been a real pleasure to take part in (vacant) these events and to represent our society by awarding the SAR medal and certifiCate to these outstanding young men and women cadets. They are all part of the Army, Navy, Air Force Secretary: and Marine Corps JROTC programs, and the professionalism displayed by some of these or- Jon E. Huffman ganizations was most impressive. Treasurer: Joseph L. Shields I want to encourage everyone to come out to Louisville International Airport on the evening of June 6th for the first Honor Flight event of the year. It’s the 68th anniversary of the D-Day Registrar: invasion, and over 100 WW II veterans are expected to arrive baCK in Louisville from their Jessie Hagan day-trip to Washington D.C. Come and join us in welcoming home these deserving men and women to whom we owe so much. I look forward to seeing you there! Chancellor: Stephen C. Emery If you haven’t visited our chapter web site lately, I encourage you to do so. President Elect Doug Collins has taken on the tasK of Web Master and has done a great job by updating the Historian: site and adding several new features which everyone should find interesting and educational. Jon E. Huffman You can visit our web site by going to <louthrustonsar.org> As always, I am grateful to all our Chaplain: staff for the time and effort they devote to serving our society. Rev. Paul W. Smith Most importantly, I invite all of our members and friends to attend the Flag Day Luncheon at Past President: Audubon Country Club on Saturday, June 16, 2012. Our featured speaker will be Maj. Gen. George E. Meyers Carl D. Black (USAF Ret.), and as part of the program, we plan to recognize and honor our chapter’s WW II vets. It’s not too late to make your reservations, so please plan on joining us Color Guard Cdr.: in paying tribute to these patriots. Registration is at 11:00 am., and the cost is $15.00 per per- Daniel N. Klinck son. Give Joe Shields a call at (502) 452-6942 and make your reservations! John H. Huffman, Sr., Chapter President Volume 3, Issue 4 Page Two 2012 Kentucky Derby Pegasus Parade Participants from five states gathered at SAR National Headquarters before being trans- ported to downtown Louisville to march in the Derby Parade. This was the fourth year in a row that SAR has participated in the annual event. SAR Visits France In February, Louisville-Thruston member and former President General J. David Sympson and his wife, Evelyn were among fourteen Americans who visited France as guests of the SAR French Compatriots. A week-long series of events concerning the French Alliance and the American War of Independence got underway at Ver- sailles with two days of ceremonies to honor comte de Vergennes on the 225th anni- versary of his death. Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes (1719-1787) was a French statesman and diplomat who served as Foreign Minister to King Louis XVI during the American Revolutionary War. He played a vital role in negotiating agree- ments that provided aid to the American rebels. The French furnished supplies, arms, ammunition and volunteers to the colonists in their fight against Britain. While at Versailles, the group visited the apartments of de Vergennes, viewed original treaty documents from French arChives, remembered him at church serviCes and laid a wreath in his honor. The management of the Palace of Versailles hosted the events. Comte de Vergennes The SAR group then traveled to the city of Angers, about 200 miles southwest of Paris, to the unveiling of a bust of General Louis Lebegue Duportail (1743-1802) at the military engineering academy of France. Duportail was a French military leader who served as a volunteer and the chief engineer of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Under an agreement between Benjamin Franklin and King Louis XVI of France, he was secretly sent to America in March 1777, and served on Washington’s staff until October 1783. He is a founder of the U.S. Corps of Engineers. At Angers, the French army staff and its cadets hosted the event, which featured a lecture on Duportail’s life, a social reception and a visit to the engineering museum. Gen. Louis Duportail Volume 3, Issue 4 Page Three SAR Visits France (cont.) The weeK concluded with the group visiting several chateaus of historical signifiCance in the Loire Valley before return- ing to Versailles and a farewell dinner for the Americans hosted by the Societies in France of the SAR. (L to R) Jacques, comte de Trentinian, Etienne, marquis de Certaines and former President General J. David Sympson shown here in the library at Versailles. Jacques is Vice Presi- dent General of Europe NSSAR and Etienne is an administra- tor of the France SAR Society. Compatriot J. David Sympson, shown with his wife, Evelyn, laid a wreath at the burial vault of de Vergennes at the Palace of Versailles. The SAR party traveled to the city of Angers for the unveiling of a bust of General Louis Duportail at the French military engineering academy. Pictured here with David Sympson are Comte Jacques de Trentinian (3rd from left), Gen. Francis Autran, Commandant of the School of Engineering, and Lanny Patten, PASSAR (far right). Volume 3, Issue 4 Page Four Our American Heroes - Part 2 Our American Heroes - Part 2 There are 27 compatriots on the rolls of Louisville-Thruston Chapter who served in the armed forces during WW II. This is the second of a three-part series which features our WW II veterans. The third and final installment will ap- pear in the July issue. The following excerpt was taken from remarKs made by Senator Bob Dole at the Dedication Ceremony of the National World War II Memorial in Washington D.C. on May 29, 2004: In the first week of January 1945, a hungry and lonesome second lieutenant from a small town in Kansas dispatched a message to his folks back home: “You can send me something to eat whenever you are ready,” he wrote. “Send candy, gum, cookies, cheese, grape jelly, popcorn, nuts, peanut clusters, ViCKs Vapo Rub, wool socks, wool scarf, fudge, ice cream, liver and onions, fried chiCKen, banana cake, milK, fruit cocKtail, Swiss steak, cracKers, more candy, Lifesavers, peanuts, the piano, the radio, the living room suite, the record player and Frank Sinatra. I guess you might as well send the whole house if you can get it into a five-pound box. P.S., keep your fingers crossed.” In authoring that only slightly exaggerated wish list, I merely echoed the longings of 16 million Americans whose great- est wish was for an end to the fighting. Sixty years on our ranks have dwindled. Our final reunion cannot long be Volume 3, Issue 4 Page Five Our American Heroes - Part 2 (cont.) delayed. Yet as we gather in the twilight, it is brightened by the knowledge that we have kept faith with our comrades. We have raised this memorial to commemorate the service and sacrifiCe of an entire generation. What we dedicate today is not a memorial to war, rather it’s a tribute to the physical and moral courage that makes heroes out of farm and city boys and that inspires AmeriCans in every generation to lay down their lives for people they will never meet, for ideals that make life itself worth living. May God bless you all. Louisville-Thruston Chapter WW II Veterans Bethune, Everett P. Futrell, Morris E. Marshall, Malcolm Y. Swope, Samuel G. Black, Leslie E. Gray, Charles W. Myles, Edmund N. Thom, Donald C. Burba, Foster S. Hamm, Clyde W. O’Brien, Edward J. Valentine, Robert F. Camp, William H. Hillard, Jack R. Reed, Edsel S. Via, Dennis L. Carlisle, Paul D. Horine, Wallace R. Rush, Everett N. Watkins, Jennings E. Denny, Cedric F. Hurst, Charles G. Short, Clarence H. White, Novia J. Fuller, Hayden K. Lewis, James B. Snyder, Gordon A. Futrell, Morris E. U.S. Marine Corps, 1940-1946 Morris Futrell was born March 24, 1921 in St. Louis, MO. He joined the Marine Corps on September 6, 1940 shortly after Germany invaded Poland when it seemed eminent that the U.S. would get involved in the war. He was trained as a “wireman,” whose job primarily involved the laying and maintaining of communication lines in combat situations between forward observation posts and artillery batteries behind the lines. Initially he was assigned to the 10th Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, but on January 23, 1943, he was reassigned to Auckland, NZ as part of the newly formed 12th Battalion, 3rd Marine Division.