October 2020 Indian River Chapter MOAA P.O. Box 644047 Vero Beach, FL 32964-4047 Indian River Chapter Since 1983 NEW MEMBERS WELCOME Do you know someone who is a retired or former military officer or widowed spouse of an officer, but not a member of our chapter or MOAA? If so, ask them to join and contact Carroll Oates at 954-494-8742. October 2020 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE By Bob Albrecht Greetings to all! This has surely proven to be a Park poised between the Museum of Art and challenging time for folks to carry on with the entrance to Veterans Memorial Island. On their lives in a degree of normalcy. Our chap- Saturday morning September 12Th our chap- ter had been muted socially as a group but we ter made a presentation of our $1000.00 dona- continue to fulfill our mission to “NEVER tion for the construction of the Words from STOP SERVING” in many ways. War Monument. Several of our members par- I am happy to announce that we have complet- ticipated in the 100-day March walking from ed two projects with the $5000 MOAA Foun- the Sculptor’s studio to the monument site. dation Grant. Our VP, Terry Treat working Remember, if you have not visited our Face- with the Veterans Council of Indian River book page as of yet, please do so. The Face- County (VCIRC) did an excellent job. This book page includes articles of interest to our project provided well needed home repairs to members and the community in general. two local veterans. Again, we thank the Please visit and LIKE our page @ircmoaa.org. MOAA Foundation for helping us help our lo- Share the page with your friends and feel free cal veterans. We are continuing to provide to make comments. funds to needy veterans impacted by COVID- 19 through our donations to the Upward American Veteran’s program of VCIRC. Warm Regards and Stay Safe, So far, we have provided relief in the amount of $2,519 to cover cost of mortgage and insur- Bob Albrecht ance for a veteran. Additionally, we helped an unemployed South County 35year old veteran President and his wife that received a three day notice to NEVER STOP SERVING pay or vacate the house. Together with funds provided by our chapter, the MOAA COVID-19 relief fund and individ- ual donations by our members we will contin- ue to support this worthy cause. We continue our support for the “Words from War” monument project, a monumental sculp- ture honoring our Iraq/Afghanistan Veterans. The monument will be installed in Riverside October 2020 FUND RAISING 2019 OFFICERS AND BOARD MAKE A CONTRIBUTION President By Carroll Oates LTC Robert Albrecht, Jr. 257-6678 I would like to propose that, because the COVID-19 1st Vice President Crisis has affected our ability to collect funds and raise money for our support to fellow veterans that we LTC Carroll Oates 954-494-8742 consider a monthly donation in the amount of what Membership Chair our contribution would be for the luncheon meeting. 2nd Vice President At this point, it looks like this situation will continue for at least the foreseeable future and this could be one MAJ Terry Treat 703-304-4935 way to help pick up the slack. I'm starting this month Program Chair and hope more join in. Secretary We will be coming up with additional methods in which to continue to SERVE. LTC James Blake 561-791-8467 God Bless you all and Thanks everyone and stay safe. Legislative Affairs LtCol Jay Torres 540-850-5113 Carroll Treasurer —————————- COL Patricia Ryan 401-369-1280 Chaplain DO YOU HAVE A DESIRE TO HELP GUIDE LtCol Eric “Rip” Wieler 794-9719 OUR FUTURE LEADERS? Immediate Past President By Jay Torres LtCol Jim Rannazzisi 703-303-3672 Military officers and their spouses are prime candi- Editor dates to serve as mentors for the next generation. CPT, USA Robert Scheppy 925-1117 The local chapter of Big Brothers/Big Sisters is look- ing for volunteers for its mentoring program. It’s a Board of Directors school based system with one-on-one mentoring oc- Col Carlos Halcomb 696-0094 curring on school grounds. COL Darryle “Sam” Kouns 978-6543 A background check and in-person interview are re- quired. For more information on this unique oppor- CAPT Eric Menger 532-6132 tunity to shape young minds go to [email protected] LtCol Jay Torres 540-850-5113 or call 772-466-8535. Rayma Murray 231-1935 (Surviving Spouse Liaison ) Jay LTJG James Dimarzo 713-9898 ————————— LtCol Eric “Rip” Wieler 794-9719 LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS Public Relations By Jay Torres COL Mike Di Scipio 217-8112 “A chapter must be politically nonpartisan. How- ever, a legislative committee can and should make MAJ Terry Treat 703-304-4935 a deliberate effort to inform its membership of can- didates' position. ————————————- October 2020 OUR GUEST SPEAKER Via Zoom OCTOBER 16, 2020 1330 HOURS By Terry Treat Our chapter will conduct a virtual meeting via Zoom on 16 Oct at 1330. Our speaker will be Jason Jeffries, City Planning and Development Director for Vero Beach. Jason will provide an update on the city’s plan to develop the old power plant site on the river. USS New York (LPD-21) Commissioned on November 7, 2009 The USS New York (LPD-21) was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center. It is the fifth in a new class of warship - designed for missions that include special operations against terror- ists. It carries a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat- ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft. Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down Photo: The old power plant in a foundry in Amite, LA to cast the ship's bow sec- tion. When it was poured into the molds on Sept 9, For those of you unfamiliar with virtual conferencing 2003, 'those big rough steelworkers treated it with to- and/or Zoom, the Chapter will conduct on line instruc- tal reverence,' recalled Navy Captain Kevin Wensing, tion on 9 Oct at 1000 and again on 13 Oct at 1330. who was there. 'It was a spiritual moment for every- Details on how to access the sessions will be provided body there.' via email on the day before each session. Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it To participate in the instruction sessions and the virtu- with his hand and the 'hair on my neck stood up.' 'It al meeting, you will need a PC, laptop or I-pad had a big meaning to it for all of us,' he said. 'They equipped with a built in camera and microphone. knocked us down. They can't keep us down. We're going to be back.' ———————————- The ship's motto? 'Never Forget' —————————————— October 2020 But Moe was regarded as the brainiest ballplayer of all A GREAT BIT OF HISTORY THAT WE NEED time. In fact, Casey Stengel once said: "That is the NOT FORGET!!! strangest man ever to play baseball.” Submitted by Terry Treat When all the baseball stars went to Japan, Moe Berg went with them and many people wondered why he went with "the team." The answer was simple: Moe Berg was a United States spy, working undercover with the CIA. Moe spoke 15 languages, including Japanese. And he had two loves: baseball and spying. In Tokyo, garbed in a kimono, Berg took flowers to the daughter of an American diplomat being treated in St. Luke's Hospital - the tallest building in the capital. He never delivered the flowers. The ball-player as- cended to the hospital roof and filmed key features: the harbor, military installations, and railway yards. Eight years later, General Jimmy Doolittle studied Berg's films in planning his spectacular raid on Tokyo. PRINCETON: His father disapproved of his baseball career and never once watched his son play. In high school, Moe learned Latin, Greek and French. Moe read 10 newspapers every day. He graduated magna cum laude from Princeton - having added Spanish, Italian, German and Sanskrit to his linguistic quiver. Photo: Moe Berg During further studies at the Sorbonne in Paris and JAPAN: When baseball greats Babe Ruth and Lou Columbia Law School, he picked up Japanese, Chi- Gehrig went on tour in baseball-crazy Japan in 1934, nese, Korean, Indian, Arabic, Portuguese and Hungar- some fans wondered why a third-string catcher named ian - 15 languages in all. While playing baseball for Moe Berg was included. Although he played with five Princeton University, Moe Berg would describe plays major-league teams from 1923 to 1939, he was a very in Latin or Sanskrit. mediocre baseball player. Photo: Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth (Continued on next page.) October 2020 (Continued from previous page.) YUGOSLAVIA: During World War II, Moe was par- Moe Berg's report was distributed to Prime Minister achuted into Yugoslavia to assess the value to the war Winston Churchill, President Franklin D. Roose- effort of the two groups of partisans there. He reported velt and key figures in the team developing the Atom- back that Marshall Tito's forces were widely support- ic Bomb. Roosevelt responded: "Give my regards to ed. Winston Churchill ordered all-out support for the the catcher.” Yugoslav underground fighter, rather than Mihaj- Most of Germany's leading physicists had been Jewish lovic's Serbians. and had fled the Nazis mainly to Britain and the Unit- ed States. NORWAY: Berg penetrated German-held Norway, met with members of the underground and located a MEDAL OF FREEDOM: After the war, Moe Berg secret heavy-water plant - part of the Nazis' effort to was awarded the Medal of Freedom - America's high- build an atomic bomb.