The Eastwick Press Newspaper

Eastern Rensselaer County's Community Newspaper

A Healing Trip To Vietnam

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Are you looking for an opportunity to have a great meal, enjoy music, get rid of those unwanted Christmas presents and support a great cause? The Taconic Valley Post of American Legion Auxiliary has the answer for you. It is sponsoring a fund raising dinner and Chinese auction to help send its Commander, Wally O’Neill, and his wife, Sue, on a healing trip to Vietnam.
Wally spent two tours in Vietnam as a cook in the Marine Corps. He spend most of that time in the field, preparing and delivering meals under combat conditions. He tells of his initiation the first night he arrived. He and his men were immediately pinned down by enemy fire. While others were laying low and returning fire Wally was sent out to retrieve k-rations from the landing craft. His task of delivering them as he crawled from bunker to bunker took him all night. And for the next two years things went down hill from there.
The trip, organized by the Office of Rensselaer County Veterans Affairs is sending veterans back to Vietnam to see the rebuilding that has been done. They will also have a part in this rebuilding by participating in building a private home for handicapped children. It is hoped that along the way some of the scars of combat will also have been tended to.
The event will be Saturday January 21 at 5 pm at the Petersburgh Veterans Memorial Community Hall. Bring a dish to share, an item for the auction and your appetite. Admission at the door is $5 for those who bring food or an auction item and $10 for all others. Take-outs are available for $10 before 6 pm and $5 thereafter. There is no charge for those who want to participate in the auction only. DJ Ken Springer has volunteered do the music at the event.
There will be a Valentine basket door prize as well as a prize for the most unusual but tastiest dish. A commitment for bear stew has been made. Hopefully that will be topped by something even better.
Anyone who cannot attend but would like to donate a new or a gently used item can drop it off at the Petersburgh Veterans Memorial Hall during the Café hours on weekdays from 7 to 9 am or after 2 pm on the 21st.