November 2002

1-The Holiday season will soon be upon us and thoughts of family and friends arrive. Let us take this time to be thankful for all the blessings in life we have. Also, it is a good time to communicate with our Brother Sky Soldiers that we care about them. Why not send them a card or package. One way to do this is through www.Parapacks.com but any way that get the word to the Sky Soldiers that they are appreciated is good.

2- A fellow Sky Soldier [G.K. Stesiak] has an agent in California who is trying to get Gerry's book turned into a movie. It is a story about a line medic in the 173d Airborne. So I ask all Sky Soldiers that have read the book and liked it to please go to www.amazon.com and look up the book RAPTOR’S PREY by G.K. Stesiak and post a comment on how well you like it. It seems that Hollywood uses the comments posted about the book in their decision process about turning print into the Big Screen. I personally think it about time we had some movies about Sky Soldiers. So if you get time drop a comment at www.amazon.com .

3- Veterans Day at the Wall in Washington D.C. was kind of a bust. The wind picked up to 50 mile gust at times and the cold rain surely didn’t help. The usual crowd was there but it is always good to see the Brothers again.

4- Orlando, Florida,  Veterans day parade was great and the Florida chapter was represented. See the photos at;  http://www.173rdairborne.com/chaptervii.htm

5- Recently I have come across some sites where States award veterans (Past and present) State medals for their service. Please see the bottom of the left hand column at; http://www.173rdairborne.com/menu.htm . If you know of any other States that offer similar services to vets please share it, so I can pass it on!

6- A Cry for Help!. Late at night I got a call form a Joseph Lira. It seems he was adopted at a young age. He recently found out that his biological father was a Sky Soldier; JOSE LIRA, RA118-39-090 and he served with the 319th Field Artillery and was reported missing in November 1967. Since he is not listed on the KIA list, I ask anyone that might have information about this Sky Soldier contact his son at LIRANAM2@EARTHLINK.NET . See the picture of Joseph Lira (Click Here)

7- Recently, Numerous E-mails and comments have been posted about the state of the Society of the 173d Airborne Brigade. This site, 173rdAirborne.com is dedicated to ALL  Sky Soldiers, past and present and is not affiliated with the society or the active Brigade in Italy. It will however continue to support both. I hope that in time cool heads will prevail and we all will get along. That’s the problem with us paratroopers, strong personalities and always ready to fight. Now the time has come for us to work together. So lets bury the hatchet (Not in each other) and drive on from here.

8- Our hearts go out to our Australian Brothers in the recent terrorist attack that took so many lives.

9. Several States award service medals to active duty and veterans, Also some states offer education grants (Money). please see the list on the left hand column in the Miscellaneous section of this page -> menu.htm. If you know of any other states offering something for vets or soldiers. Please let me know and I'll post it!

10- Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

11- See ya in Reno!

	HERDWORD
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