Commander’s Report
 Columbia Base
January 2008 

From the Commander,

2007 ended on a sad note with the loss of Art Randall who passed away this last November. A true blue submariner, he did much to advance our Veteran’s organizations. Art will be deeply missed both Nationally and at the Columbia Base. 

So maybe, in remembrance, this is the time to tell my sea story about Art! At the time of this telling, Art was the Central District Commander. In December, Art asked me to look at the central part of  Missouri to see if there were SubVets who would like to see a base close to them. After agreeing to this, I found 8 vets who were interested and reported this info back to Art. ONLY THEN! Did it dawn on me… Paddy Ryan, you’ve been had!  Fished in! Sure enough we called the new crew together in Columbia, MO.and I got voted in as Commander!

Art had a life-long history as an organization coordinator. Thank you Art for all you did for the U.S. Submarine Veterans.

The January 26^th meeting was well attended with over 50% in attendance, again! There were numerous items on the agenda:

1.  Art was the editor of the Oily Rag, our newsletter. We decided to post our newsletter on our newsletter on our Web-site as all our crew has access to the Net. 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

2.   Our endeavors to find a good solution to the display of the Wall of Honor is progressing and have plans for showcasing it in various locations such as the VA Hospital, etc.

3.   Plans are in the works for Parade Activities during Memorial Day week in Columbia with the USS Columbia SS771 Crew. Also plans for the 4^th of July celebrations in Jefferson City are being made. We are planning a trailer with our own banners and decoration. We hope to find other local parades to enter as well.

A few us got together after the meeting at Houlihans. Always a fun time and a good way to get to know one another.

Let’s all try to keep in touch with our older Veterans by giving them a call now and again to check on their health and well being. Our next meeting will be April 26^th at the American Legion in Columbia. Hope everyone can make it! We plan to have Ken McCoy, Central District Commander as our guest.

Green Board,

Joseph Ryan, Commander

USSVI  Columbia Base Meeting Minutes 

January 26, 2008

American Legion

Herbert Williams Post No. 202

Columbia, Missouri

 Art Townsend - Base Secretary

1)      Commander Joe Ryan called the meeting to order at 1407 hours.  The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance, then a moment of silence and brief eulogy for Art Randall.

2)       Art Townsend summarized the minutes from the previous meeting.  Joe provided the Treasurer’s report, donations of $600 were reported, $38 was spent on Division patches and $200 was donated to the recently established Art Randall Scholarship Fund.  Joe indicated that he felt an additional signature should be provided for our Base bank account, so Art Townsend will be added to our account signing list.

3)       Under Membership, Joe reminded everyone again that annual dues are payable again in January, we currently have (5) members paying annually.

4)      We discussed the following new business topics:

Joe reminded us he has several Central District 1 patches and additional Columbia Base patches

Joe passed around a Vietnam Medallion certificate and medal recently received from the State of Missouri, and also  additional copies of the Vietnam Medallion  application form from the State of Missouri for interested members.

The TJC Base plans to sponsor 1-2 Buses for the trip to the National Convention this year.  Those interested can get additional info from Joe.

Ken Recoy (District Commander) was to be at this meeting, but re-scheduled to the April meeting.

It was decided that Ron will assume responsibility for the Wall of Honor plaques for now and work on a suitable display board.  An option was to ship these off to the Muskogee Base for display, but the consensus was to hold off for now and maintain them locally.

The April meeting will be right before the Memorial Day parade, so Joe will have more parade logistics details by then, but he indicated we will definitely participate.  He also plans to have our float at the Jefferson City 4^th of July parade.

Joe plans to finalize the list of official Base plank owners by the next meeting.

5)       Joe has scheduled meetings for 2008, planning (generally) to be on the 4^th Saturday of every 3^rd month.  At this point, remaining meetings are scheduled for April 26^th, July 26^th, and October 25^th.  These are subject to change as required and Joe will let us know.  Meeting was adjourned at 1520 hours.  Members in attendance were Tim Ava, Jim Wilde, Warren Forrest, Ron Haddock, Art Townsend, and Joe Ryan.