July 4th Parade in Caldwell

Celebrate an Old-Tyme 4th of July with the smells, feel, and colors that your Dad remembers and has told you about. Yes, you, too, can experience a July 4th parade that is reminiscent of the '50's when Orange County was alive with patriotism, marching soldiers, and with bands playing and flags a-waving.

We don't have a band, but we have music blaring from floats and horses and cars and trucks of every description. The local veterans lead the parade followed by the Knights of Columbus Color Corps from Msgr. Francis K. O'Brien Assembly in Burlington. They have added color and patriotism to the parade for about five years and come back each year to the cheers and praise of the local Caldwell community.

How can you participate? Just be there at about 10 a.m. on July 4th. If you come early, it is okay. But, don't be put off by the lack of a crowd and just a blinking yellow light at the crossroads on NC57. Just put your chair down and sit awhile. The crowds start to gather along Guess Road starting at the Caldwell Volunteer Fire Station at 7020 Guess Road. At 10:30 the crowds will double, and double again. They will line up all the way to the Caldwell Community Center, located about a mile past NC57 on Guess Road.

At 11:00 a.m. the flashing yellow light at NC57 and Guess Road is changed to a stop light and all traffic, accept for the parade, stops. And, if you are lucky enough to hit the light at 11 a.m., you may well be selected as Parade Grand Marshal! As the parade approaches the crossroads, all goes silent and the parade stops to honor Old Glory and the we sing the National Anthem.

BRING YOUR FAMILY. BRING YOUR CHILDREN. WEAR RED, WHITE AND BLUE. Kids are invited to ride their bikes and pull their decorated wagons in the parade.

Local veterans and the Knights of Columbus are leading the parade, so they arrive at the community center early. We all sit back and enjoy the rest of the parade as it arrives.

For VFW Veterans and the Knights of Columbus and their families, we will have Hot Dogs at the end of the parade. We encourage all members bring their family picnic lunch and a little extra to share.

We need all veterans to join in and walk the parade route following the color guard. Wear your VFW cap and a uniform item. Several of us will carry banners and Post 9100 colors. District 6 will also provide colors and the district colors. If you can't walk the parade, head to the community center and put your chair along the side of the road near our VFW Post canopy. Just be sure to stand tall when Old Glory pass you by and render a salute.

Directions: Take Highway 57 from Hillsborough to Roxboro.Turn right at first flashing yellow light. Meet at the Caldwell Firehouse. Everyone meets at 10:30.

Post Decorates Local Veterans Graves

Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion veterans, joined by their wives, children and grandchildren, descended upon Memorial Cemetery on Legion Road, at 6:30 a.m. today to decorate the graves of military men and women.

Flags were placed on every grave identified as that of a veteran. “We put flags out on the first day of the three-day holiday weekend to bring attention to the sacrifices of our veterans,” said Lee Heavlin, VFW Post Commander. “You can see them waving over the graves from US 15-501. Those visiting the cemetery this weekend and on Memorial Day will be greeted by a sea of American Flags. They will know that we took time to remember those who are buried here,” he said.

A call for “Attention to Colors” was played by bugle. This call is the warning given on ships not underway and naval shore commands to alert everyone that the National Ensign would soon rise to the top of the command flag gaff. This was followed by a brief memorial service at 8 a.m., the normal time of assembly or formation of troops for the day.

At the conclusion of the ceremonies, Taps was played.

Attending the ceremony were representatives of local Boy Scout Troop 835 and veterans from World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. American Legion Post Commander Robert Patton also attended. He recently returned from a memorial service in Mauthausen, Austria, a former concentration camp. Bob Patton was part of the liberating forces and he and others were honored for their efforts to memorialize the loss of life at Mauthausen.

The decoration of graves is a tradition that started 141 years ago, after the Civil War, with the declaration of Decoration Day on May 30th, 1868. It was renamed Memorial Day in 1968.

Memorial Day Preparations Underway

This coming Saturday morning, May 23rd, we are gathering at about 6:30 a.m. at the Chapel Hill Cemetery on Legion Road to carpet the cemetery with flags. The result is stunning, as there are many graves identified as that of a veteran.

We will have Boy Scouts, friends of veterans, American Legionnaires, and members of our Post doing the honors. We will follow the flag laying with a special Memorial Service at 8 a.m. Taps will be played at the conclusion of the ceremony. This event is open to the public.

On Monday, the veterans will return for a morning service at 8 a.m. followed by an Open House at the American Legion Post at 1714 Legion Road.

A special remembrance: Major Daniel Murphy, U.S. Army, former Post Commander and a former District Commander, passed away this past year. He is pictured here participating in our decoration of graves in 2008. He is sorely missed.

Ladies Auxiliary Chartered

After many years of trying, the Post is proud to announce that we now have a Chapel Hill VFW Ladies Auxiliary. This is a great milestone in the history of our community as the Ladies Auxiliary is a strong advocate and supporter of Veterans. Membership in the Auxiliary is local supporters of our veterans.

Virginia Neville of Chapel Hill was elected the Charter President. Watch our post web site for more details about the auxiliary and to learn how to join this fine group.

For more information about the VFW Ladies Auxiliary, visit the National web site.

Civil Air Patrol Honored

The Post recently honored three cadets of the Hillsborough Civil Air Patrol at an honors ceremony.

Cadet 1st Lieutenant Daniel Kong, Cadet 2nd Lieutenant Garrett Dahms, and Cadet Command Master Sergeant Johnny Rubow received a Veterans of Foreign Wars certificate and medal in recognition of their leadership and outstanding service in the Civil Air Patrol. Representing the post for the Air Force was LTC Lawrence Jakes, USAF (Ret.)

The three cadets are also members of the unit Color Guard which received top honors recently. The North Carolina Wing website reports, "The cadet color guard competition with the Middle East Region was added 10-years ago and this was the first year that the NC Wing has taken both titles—color guard and drill team—for the region. Both teams will advance to the national competition in June."

The Post was honored to participate in this recognition ceremony as a representative of the North Carolina Department, Veterans of Foreign Wars. Representing the Civil Air Patrol was Colonel Roy W. Douglass, Wing Commander.

We Make a Difference in Chapel Hill

Today’s Chapel Hill Herald (part of the Durham Herald-Sun) has a lead story above the fold on the VFW Chapel Hill Post and American Legion Post’s joint participation in a Make a Wish-type Christmas Tree. If you recall, this is the tree loaded with requests for Christmas gifts for ARC-supported families. The total value of the tree was about $1,500.

The members of the Post voted to fund all gifts not picked by our members. The support was outstanding. Some members took two or three gift requests. Some took more. The American Legion members took care of the remaining requests. All gifts were purchased in time for delivery yesterday.

The story may be found at the Chapel Hill Herald web site.

A special thank you goes to Garland and Virginia Neville. Their work on the project was significant. They helped make a lot of dreams come true. On behalf of the membership, I salute them for a Job Well Done! They and all of our members are the face of the VFW in our local community. We can be proud of the things we are doing in Chapel Hill to make a difference and to promote patriotism and the Veterans of Foreign Wars as a civic organization..

Carolina Basketball Raffle Results - 2008

Each year the C V Cummings Chapel Hill Post has held a Raffle of two season tickets to Carolina Basketball.  This is for each home game of the season.

As is our tradition, immediately following today's UNC Chapel Hill - Duke Basketball game, we have drawn one winning ticket.

This year the phone rang, and rang, and rang.  No answer.  Just a voice message recording, "... please leave your name and number at the tone."  We did and in just about 15 minutes we got a call back from Larry Cribb of Jacksonville, NC.  He was shocked and excited.  He could not believe his fortune.  

Larry said, "I always buy tickets from the Vets.  This year I was there for the UNC-NC State game and i made it a point to participate.  I asked them, "Are you going to call me if I win?"  He went on to say that he did not expect to win, he just wanted to support the Veterans. 

Congratulations, Larry.  Your winning tickets will be on their way to you on Monday via. UPS Letter Delivery.  Send us a few snapshots of you with family and friends.  It is not often that we get such an opportunity to wave the flag of success.   You are Carolina bound!  See you at the Dome!

We hope you enjoy your seats, and we thank you for helping our Veterans.