USSVI Columba Base-Base Notes

A base meeting was held, progress on the wall plaques will be on hold till January 2009. National elections have finally finished. Vice Cmdr will be contacting the WWII Submarine veterans in the area and seeing if they would like to join our meetings as USSVI and WWII groups will merge.

Cmdr will contact the American Submariner magazine and see about boat sponsership, its around $25 a year. Cmdr will also check on the plankowners certificates.

Vice Cmdr will drop off the extra American Submariner magazines at the local VA Center in Columbia, MO.

No base meetings were held in April and July due to gas prices and many people out of town.

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 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.

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.

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.

Our fourth quarter meeting was another productive one. An overview of the year had us participating in the City of Columbia's Memorial Day Parade (along with the Muddy Mo Chapter of the WWII Subvets). We were assisting with the activities for the USS Columbia (SS771) crew members in town for the week.

On the Fourth of July we participated in the Jefferson CIty Parade with Topeka -Jeff City Base.

Although we lost 2 members, we picked up 3 new ones. One of our new members, Brian Sharp from Auxvasse, Mo north of Columbia knows of 5 subvets in that area. This in an area where we haven't as yet had any recruiting and which we think has great recruiting potential.

After getting our base web site, Columbiabase .org, and our newsletter, The Oily Rag online by the end of our first year, we entered the competition for class one (small base) National Awards. And blow me down! if we didn't win FIRST PLACE for web site of the year! Great job by Ron Haddock! We also won first runner-up for Newsletter of the Year, this thanks to Art Randall.

On a sad note Art Randall is seriously ill. He has been diagnosed with lung cancer and his prognosis is not good. Let's keep Art and Perry in our thoughts and prayers during this difficult time for them. Here is their home address if you should wish to send them a card.

TO wrap things up I will work on rail designs on my trailer for use in parades next year. We will continue to keep in close contact with the Missouri Naval Museum as their plans progress.

1) Commander Joe Ryan called the meeting to order at 1402 hours. The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance.

2) Art Townsend read the minutes from the April 28th meeting (thank you, Susan!). Joe provided the Treasurer’s report, a few minor transactions were reported, our total funds remain at $173.25.

3) Under Membership, Brian Sharp was introduced, attending his first meeting as a new member. Additionally, Jim Wilde mentioned the benefit of wearing caps, hats, etc. for recognition. He also mentioned that there are several sources for these items, one being The Submarine Ships Store, which offers free shipping and handling for purchased items. We have (4) members who are Holland Club members. Joe reminded that annual dues are payable again in January, and we still have (5) members paying annually.

4) Joe reported that the Honor Team participated in Memorial Day and 4^th of July parades in Columbia. Also participated as Honor Guard for a deceased vet a few weeks back.

5) Joe also reported that a new patch is available from Central District 1, and a Vietnam Medallion application form from the State of Missouri was passed around for qualified members.

6) Our guest speaker was Bryan Ross from the Missouri Naval Museum. Bryan indicated that the USS Trout was now being scrapped and is no longer available, but that the USS Ling (now in NJ) recently lost it’s lease and is now a possibility for us. Bryan reported that Jeff City is interested in establishing ship(s) at Adrian’s Island, and that this site may be preferable to the original site at the prison. He further reported that the major fundraising push was started on October 1^st of this year, with the initial stage targeting Missouri-based corporate donors, then the plan is to leverage those donation.

7) Central Division has issued the call for scholarship applications. Also reported that three new bases have been established within the division. Art Randall is having some health issues, and has asked to be relieved from his duties for now.

8) Joe reported that our Base Website won 1^st Place for 2007, as a Class-1 website, and that our Base Newsletter won 1^st Runnerup for newsletter of the year. Ron Haddock set up and runs our website, at www.columbiabase.org . He indicated that any members with ideas or suggestions were welcome to contact him.

9) Joe has received several plaques from Art Randall, and he indicated he would work more on the plans for the Wall of Honor this winter. Joe said that Herman’s nomination for the Ben Bastura award didn’t ultimately win, but was a very impressive nomination package. Ron will provide more details of the nomination on our website.

10) Brian Sharp will investigate possibility of getting a larger sub model made, for parades, etc., also he agreed to send Joe a sketch of his idea for a mod for the trailer railing.

11) Under Good of the Order, Joe provided information from National on the dangers of Mesothelioma, a very deadly form of cancer, of particular interest to those who may have been exposed to asbestos during their service period. Also mentioned was that the VA card was very good to have, that the VA is very good at assisting with any veteran’s affairs issues for members. Finally, Jim Wilde reminded us that “vanity” license plates are available for Missouri veterans at the License Bureau for a nominal fee, and that several different categories were available for those interested.

12) It was agreed that future meetings would continue to be held here at the American Legion, as available. Joe has scheduled meetings for 2008, planning (generally) to be on the 4^th Saturday of every 3^rd month. At this point, meetings are scheduled for January 26, 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 1521 hours. Members in attendance were Brian Sharp, Jim Wilde, Bill Porter, Warren Forrest, Herman Smith, Ron Haddock, Art Townsend, and Joe Ryan.