Gung Ho

Commandant’s Message

October 26

October has begun with a bang! Today, Gene Free, Steve

McGinnis, Susan Miller, and I set up our booth at the Coosa

Valley Fairgrounds. The Fair begins next week, and we will

man the booth and attempt to recruit some new hard

chargers and sell a bunch of raffle tickets. 

Thanks to Frank Kurti, we have two of his handcrafted wooden motorcycle

rockers to raffle, plus a beautiful, patriotic-themed wall box

donated by a craftsman named Tim Corbin. I am hoping that

one of my tickets is drawn for that wall box!

At our meeting on Saturday morning, October 10th , we will

begin taking money and reservations for the Marine Corps

birthday dinner, to be held on November 14th at 6:00 pm at

the VFW Post, at which we will celebrate the 251st birthday of

our beloved Corps. John Henry’s, a local restaurant on Broad

Street in Rome, will cater our dinner again this year. 

Our guest of honor will be Major General John Croley, USMCR

(retired). General Croley was a Cobra pilot during his Marine

flying days, and he still flies helicopters for one of the metro

Atlanta sheriff’s departments. He was a pilot for American

Airlines when he was not serving on active status in the

Corps. 

The cost per person for the dinner will be $30.00. Our

Paymaster, Susan Beavers, will be standing by to accept your

money on Saturday. We have made reservations for 60

people… make sure you’re one of those!

While I have not heard anything about this year’s Veteran’s

Day Parade, I will assume that there will be one on November

11th , and that we will participate in it. More to follow as we

gain new information.

Finally, remember that our Chaplain, Gene Free, is chairing

the nominations committee for the December elections, and

he needs volunteers to serve in many of the elected and

appointed positions on the Detachment staff. Talk to him

about how you can serve. The future of the Detachment

depends upon it!

Semper Fi-

John McGuire

Commandant