Commandant Mike DeBauche                                                                                         Editor John Sims   

 

 

 

Summer is here and the heat is on. We did kick the summer off right with a great turnout at the picnic. Everyone had a great time and congratulations to our scholarship recipients. Even the weather cooperated! It was plenty warm, but no rain this year! There were a few successful and well received events this month. The Annual MSCF Poker Run was a huge success. We were also well represented at the Flags for Freedom opening and closing ceremonies. Our Honor Guard presented the colors at the FBI WMD Seminar at Crown Center. Well done Marines. I salute you for your dedication and participation. Marines, I/we need your help. As many of you know, Steve Thomas has stepped down as our Honor Sergeant. Marine Thomas has done an outstanding job for the last two years, but it’s time for him to take off his pack and pass his duties on. As of right now, we need someone to take over the Honor Guard. You don’t have to be a former drill instructor to keep this unit running. All it takes is a few phone calls per event, keeping the equipment and improving our visibility in the community. I’m looking for someone to step up and help out the detachment. Be aware there has been damage to the front of the American Legion building. Until repairs are completed, please enter the building through the clubroom entrance, downstairs in the back of the building or the entrances on either side of the upper level. It is a bit inconvenient, but Marines always adapt, improvise, and overcome. Don’t forget to bring items for Platoons Forward, and any raffle items you would like to donate. See everyone at the meeting. Semper Fi. Mike DeBauche Commandant    

 Mail Call!                  Gen. Larry Oppenheimer Detachment #1025

6521 Nieman Road, Shawnee, KS     www. mklops.org 

Commandants message 

Volume 9 Issue 7   JULY, 2010 

 

Please convey info. on sick and distressed to Chaplain Reyes at 913/432-3688.

I need to share the following heartfelt " Thank You" from Gloria Graham, widow of our fallen Jim Graham. I join Mrs. Graham in thanking those that participated in Jim's Fallen Marine Ceremony and encourage everyone to participate in future Fallen Marine Ceremonies.

Mrs. Graham's note:

"Your group's participation at the funeral of my husband James "Jim" Graham was most appreciated. I certainly did not know about your very moving "Fallen Marine Ceremony". Indeed, it was very fitting for a man who dearly loved having been a Marine so many years ago. Jim never lost his keen interest in the Corps and attributed much to what he learned in his Marine corps training. I know he would have been very proud of your tribute. Once again, "Thank You" for a most impressive service. God Bless you all in your future endeavors.

Sincerely ,

Gloria L. Graham

We need to ask everybody to keep J.O. Smith in their prayers, his condition has worsened. (He doesn't want more said, but he's almost gone)

I spoke with Fred Miller today and he is feeling a lot better and says that he will be back with the Young Marines next Wednesday and that he also appreciates everyone's concern and prayers.

Lee Nelson is doing very well and we can take him off the sickbay commando list.

Separately, keep in mind that your VA disability rating can be increased if your service connected condition has worsened. You may also file for secondary issues if they are a cause of your service connected condition. Contact a service officer, or I can assist too, if you wish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

General Larry Oppenheimer Detachment #1025 Vol 9, No. 7 JuLY 2010 pg 2

 

Current Award, Campaign, Service, and Expeditionary Streamer Entitlement, to the Battle Colors of the Marine Corps

Revolutionary War Streamer

War of 1812 Streamer

Civil War Streamer

 

 

 

Fallen Marines There is no finer compliment than being called a Marine. It represents the highest honor & tradition bound together with courage & sacrifice on behalf of all mankind. Our Fallen Marine Honor Guard had the distinct honor of performing at the services of these marine who have answered the call.

                                  

      

 January 2010 Robert Lynn Peterson Tom Dervin Bobby G. Carter Paul K. Smith February 2010 Karl Kenneth Mairs Donald L. Beashore John Archer March 2010 Daniel Weaver Jack Gibbs Jim Graham

April 2010 Robert F. Brunsky James Mendenhall Vernon McQuerry May 2010 Ralph Baker John H. Siebers June 2010 Chuck Taliano Larry Joe Cox

Fallen Marines Month of July 2010

: Robert E. Orrick July 18th

:Earl Martin Sieggen July 15th

General Larry Oppenheimer Detachment #1025 Vol 9, No. 7 JuLY 2010 pg 3

COMMANDANT: Mike DeBauche packerbacker@pipeline.com SENIOR VICE: Marcia Sands masands1@aol.com JUNIOR VICE: John Byrnes jj-byrnes@sbcglobal.net J.A.G.: Rick Hinrichs rhinrichs@kc.rr.com PAY./ADJ.: Steve Yoakum shyspy82@comcast.net CHAPLAIN: Gonzalo Reyes usmcnam@earthlink.net SGT. AT ARMS: David Yurkovich davidpy@aol.com VAVS (VA Volunteer Service)

Anyone interested in learning more about the VA volunteer service, please contact

Mr. Art Peter at 816-331-4622. Take a look at the VA volunteer newsletter "THE EAGLE" for April by clicking on this website. http://www.volunteer.va.gov/docs/monthlynewsletter.pdf

 

General Larry Oppenheimer Detachment #1025 Vol 9, No. 7 July 2010 pg 4

               GEN. LARRY OPPENHEIMER

                   DETACHMENT # 1025 

OFFICERS 2010-2011

During training exercises, the Marine lieutenant who was driving down a muddy back road encountered another car stuck in the mud with a red-faced Marine colonel at the wheel. 'Your jeep stuck, sir?' asked the lieutenant as he pulled alongside. 'Nope,' replied the colonel, coming over and handing him the keys. 'Yours is.'

New Century Young Marines  

Nothing to report for this month.  

       

Commandant DeBauche  is always soliciting ideas to enhance our great website (he agrees there is always room for improvement!) 

Submit them to Mike at packerbacker@pipeline.com, ph. 913/484-5909. Websites & Email The website of the Marine Corps League on the National level is http://www.mcleague.org Anyone receiving a paper newsletter, but has email, please email John Sims at usmcquangtri69@gmail.com with the subject of “email newsletter”. Thanks!

A volunteer is still needed for the Community  Activities position if you are interested, please  contact  Commandant Mike DeBauche @ 913­484­5909  packerbacker@pipeline.com  

 

To have items sewn on to your covers and shirts, contact Marsha Davey at 913/268-1017 (10409 W 53rd St. in Shawnee); To have alterations done on your dress blues, contact Louise Bland at 913/831-4647 (10149 Edelweiss Circle in Merriam – near 75th & Switzer)

General Larry Oppenheimer Detachment #1025 Vol 9, No. 7 July 2010 pg 5

Marines in Need Any member who is aware of a Marine or his family in need is asked to first submit a request in writing to Marine Pat O’Malley of our Financial Assistance Review Committee, including a statement of the purpose, a cost estimate and the time period. Pat’s email is ksirish@yahoo.com; his address is 12412 Flint, Overland Park, KS 66213-2120. There were no Marines in need this past month.

General Larry Oppenheimer Detachment #1025 Vol 9, No. 7 July 2010 pg 6

The time has come for Marine Steve Thomas to pass the banner onto another Marine. Who is going to step up and relieve him? You probably think that you need to have been a USMC DI well that is NOT the case. Maybe you think that since one of Steve Thomas's duty stations was embassy duty you don't qualify, NOT SO! Hey Marines!! You just need to know how to walk and chew gum at the same time, no kidding if you don't believe me, ask Steve or our commandant Mike DeBauche. Come on, this is your chance to step up and be counted!Remember you are not trying out for the silent drill team.

Marine Corps History

Marines' Hymn

Words: L.Z. Phillips (1919) Music: Jacques Offenbach from Genevieve de Brabant (1868)

From the halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli, We fight our country’s battles in the air, on land and sea.

First to fight for right and freedom, and to keep our honor clean; We are proud to claim the title of United States Marine.

Our Flag’s unfurled to every breeze from dawn to setting sun. We have fought in every clime and place, where we could take a gun.

In the snow of far off northern lands and in sunny tropic scenes, You will find us always on the job –The United States Marines.

Here’s health to you and to our Corps, which we are proud to serve. In many a strife we’ve fought for life and never lost our nerve.

If the Army and the Navy ever look on heaven’s scenes, They will find the streets are guarded by United States Marines.

History of the Marines' Hymn

Following the war with the Barbary Pirates in 1805, when Lieutenant P.N. O'Bannon and his small force of Marines participated in the capture of Derne and hoisted the American flag for the first time over a fortress of the Old World, the Colors of the Corps was inscribed with the words: "To the Shores of Tripoli." After the Marines had participated in the capture and occupation of Mexico City and the Castle of Chapultepec, otherwise known as the "Halls of Montezuma," the words on the Colors were changed to read: "From the Shores of Tripoli to the Halls of Montezuma."

Following the close of the Mexican War came the first verse of the Marines' Hymn, written, according to tradition, by a Marine on duty in Mexico. For the sake of euphony, the unknown author transposed the phrases in the motto on the Colors so that the first two lines of the Hymn would read: "From the Halls of Montezuma, To the Shores of Tripoli."

A serious attempt to trace the tune of the Marines' Hymn to its source is revealed in correspondence between Colonel A.S. McLemore, USMC, and Walter F. Smith, second leader of the Marine Band. Colonel McLemore wrote: "Major Richard Wallach, USMC, says that in 1878, when he was in Paris, France, the aria to which the Marines' Hymn is now sung was a very popular one."

The name of the opera and a part of the chorus was secured from Major Wallach and forwarded to Mr. Smith, who replied: "Major Wallach is to be congratulated upon a wonderfully accurate musical memory, for the aria of the Marine Hymn is certainly to be found in the opera, 'Genevieve de Brabant'...The melody is not in the exact form of the Marine Hymn, but is undoubtedly the aria from which it was taken. I am informed, however, by one of the members of the band, who has a Spanish wife, that the aria was one familiar to her childhood and it may, therefore, be a Spanish folk song.

General Larry Oppenheimer Detachment #1025 Vol 9, No. 7 July 2010 pg 7

In a letter to Major Harold F. Wingman, USMC, dated 18 July [1919], John Philip Sousa wrote: "The melody of the 'Halls of Montezuma' is taken from Offenbach's comic opera, 'Genevieve de Brabant' and is sung by two gendarmes." Most people believe that the aria of the Marines' Hymn was, in fact, taken from "Genevieve de Brabant," an opera-bouffe (a farcical form of opera, generally termed musical comedy) composed by Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880), and presented at the Theatre de Bouffes Parisiens, Paris, on November 19, 1859.

Offenbach was born in Cologne, Germany, June 20, 1819 and died October 5, 1880. He studied music from an early age and in 1838 entered the Paris Conservatoire as a student. In 1834 he was admitted as a violoncellist to the Opera Comique and soon attained much popularity with Parisien audiences. He became conductor of the Theatre Francais in 1847 and subsequently leased the Theatre Comte, which he reopened as the Bouffes-Parisiens. Most of his operas are classed as comic (light and fanciful) and include numerous popular productions, many of which still hold a high place in European and American countries.

Genevieve de Brabant was the wife of Count Siegfried of Brabant. Brabant, a district in the central lowlands of Holland and Belgium, formerly constituted an independent duchy. The southern portions were inhabited by Walloons, a class of people now occupying the southeastern part of Belgium, especially the provinces of Liege, Arlon and Namur.

Outstanding Leaders of The Marine Corps

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Smedley Butler 

July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940 (aged 58) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"[Two‐time Medal of Honor winner] Smedley Butler won renown as a Marine battlefield hero, campaigning in most of America's foreign military expeditions from 1898 onward: Cuba, the Philippines, China, Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti, France (AEF),  and  finally China  again  in  the  late 1920s. Butler also  achieved  fame  for  taking  charge of Philadelphia's  city police  in  a notable push for militarization in the 1920s, and he was the leading national advocate for paramilitary police reform analogous to Marine pacification in the Caribbean & Central America. In some of the boldest peacetime military intrusions ever into domestic American  life,  he  launched  annual Marine  expeditionary maneuvers  from  Quantico  into  surrounding  states,  culminating  in football games & popular on‐site Civil War battle reenactments. Butler's post‐military career is as fascinating as his military. After a rescinded court‐martial and premature retirement in 1931, he dramatically renounced war & imperialism, thereafter devoting his considerable energies & prestige to various dissident & leftist political causes, such as the WWI veterans' Bonus Expeditionary Force &  labor union  insurgency. He was a major spokesman for the League Against War and Fascism, and the most prominent leader of the veterans' antiwar movement of the 1930s...

Nickname "Old Gimlet Eye" 

"The Fighting Quaker" "Old Duckboard" 

Place of birth  West Chester, Pennsylvania 

Place of death  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

Place of burial Oaklands Cemetery West Chester, Pennsylvania 

Allegiance  United States of America 

Service/branch  United States Marine Corps 

Years of service  1898–1931 

Rank  Major General 

Commands held 13th Marine Regiment Marine Expeditionary Force, China 

 

Battles/wars 

Spanish‐American War 

Philippine-American War

• Battle of Noveleta 

Boxer Rebellion

• Battle of Tientsin • Battle of San Tan Pating 

Banana Wars

• Siege of Granada • Battle of Coyotepe Hill • Infiltration of Mexico 

City • Battle of Fort Dipitie • Battle of Fort Riviere 

Mexican Revolution

• Battle of Veracruz 

World War I

• Western Front 

Awards

Medal of Honor (2) Marine Corps Brevet Medal Army Distinguished Service Medal 

General Larry Oppenheimer Detachment #1025 Vol 9, No. 7 July 2010 pg 9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, now you can!  Marine Dennis Armstrong one of our detachment members is an expert at custom woodworking as you can see!  He has graciously offered to make custom plaques (about 12" x 24") for any or all of our membership.  Keeping in the Marine Corps brotherhood tradition, he is only going to charge our 

detachment for the actual materials, he is providing his talent at no charge!  This is a great way for you to support our detachment and at the same time receive a beautiful memory that you will be proud to display! He can be reached at 913‐244‐7302. 

                                                                                              

Have you ever wished that along with the memories, photo's and other items that you cherish of your Marine Corps career, you had a beautiful plaque of that special unit that you served in?   

General Larry Oppenheimer Detachment #1025 Vol 9, No. 7 July 2010 pg 10

FUND RAISER for our detachment

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

General Larry Oppenheimer Detachment #1025 Vol 9, No. 7 July 2010 pg 11

THEY SAY A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS! 

RACK TIME JUST ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE

 

 

 

 

It is very important that you support our advertisers. The rate to advertise in the Mail Call is just $40.00 per year for 12 issues.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

General Larry Oppenheimer Detachment #1025 Vol 9, No. 7 July 2010 pg 12

 

    General Larry Oppenheimer Detachment #1025 Vol 9, No. 7 July 2010 pg 13 

 

Available to Rent 

 

Available to Rent 

 

Available to Rent 

 

Available to Rent 

 

Available to Rent 

 

Available for Rent 

I encourage submissions of any announcements, pictures, stories, to the editor from detachment members. Deadline for all submissions by the 10th of every month. Email: usmcquangtri69@gmail.com or Call: John Sims @ 913.530.2535. Mail Address: 14004 West 72nd Terrace, Shawnee, KS 66216.

RMEMEBER RECRUIT - RECRUIT - RECRUIT - RECRUIT

One final request, PLEASE BRING YOUR DUES TO THE MONTHLY MEETING WHEN THEY ARE DUE!

Our next meeting is on Wednesday, July 28th, 2010, and will start at 1800 hours. Be aware there has been damage to the front of the American Legion building. Until repairs are completed, please enter the building through the clubroom entrance, downstairs in the back of the building or the entrances on either side of the upper level. It is a bit inconvenient, but Marines always adapt, improvise, and overcome. Don’t forget to bring items for Platoons Forward, and any raffle items you would like to donate. See everyone at the meeting. Semper Fi, John Sims - Mail Call Editor

    General Larry Oppenheimer Detachment #1025 Vol 9, No. 7. July 2010 pg 14

Good day everyone, I hope that you are enjoying the "Mail Call" and please contact me with any suggestions or comments. I would like to start adding photos and copy concerning our detachment's activities. I have my camera at the ready and if any of you happen to attend a function that I am unable to or even if I am and you take some pictures, please tell me and I will look at having them in our next issue of the Mail Call.