.

When visiting website,take a look at the upcoming birthdays on right side and drop a line to the birthday boys/girls.

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Chapter hats,shirts and jackets are available at Artistic Stitch located at 79-08 Cooper Ave, Glendale, NY 11385.

They have all designs and colors so you can customize your shirt or jacket.

Making Queens’ Vietnam vets proud

Somewhere, Pat Toro must be smiling.

The late president of the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 32 fought hard for Queens to have its own memorial to the 420 local residents who served and died in the decade-long Vietnam War.

Toro, who died of leukemia in 2014, resided in Forest Hills, was a retired investigator for the Port Authority and served with the Marines in Vietnam. He worked hard to honor his fellow Vietnam veterans in some way, including bringing the “Moving Wall” — a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. — to Middle Village’s Juniper Valley Park in 2012.

But Toro wanted a permanent monument so future generations in Queens would recognize the service of the borough’s Vietnam vets. He wouldn’t live to finally hear the good news from Borough President Melinda Katz on May 26 that the memorial would finally be built at Elmhurst Park.

Katz secured the final $1.5 million required for the Parks Department to move forward with the memorial’s design and creation. It will take some time before it’s all complete, but the hardest part — securing both the political and financial capital — has been accomplished.

There are those who will lament how long it took to get this memorial project moving. Toro and his fellow vets began advocating for it nearly a decade ago during the planning stages of Elmhurst Park, which was built on the site of the former Elmhurst Gas Tanks.

It’s a shame that it took so long, but the only thing more tragic for this cause would have been for the memorial to have never happened at all.

When they came home from the war more than 40 years ago, Vietnam vets were welcomed back with insults and disdain. They were not thanked for their service, as today’s veterans are thanked. Building a memorial won’t take back all the insults and misplaced anger hurled at those who served in Vietnam, but it will serve as a long-deserved token of gratitude for those vets, both living and deceased, who served us with honor.

We applaud Katz for coming through with the funds to complete this noble task. We await the day when the memorial is completed and dedicated.

We also applaud the tireless efforts of the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 32 for keeping Toro’s dream alive and advocating for the Queens memorial to their fallen comrades.

Finally, we thank them for their service to our nation.

Great news!!   Life member dues is now $50.00. No more yearly dues option.

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Google the following for information on filing claims and increases

jimstrickland912   There are a number of pages to help.

SMILE

The VA has you covered with the new

VA Dental Insurance Program (VADIP)

The VA Dental Insurance Program(VADIP) offers

dental insurance at a special low rate for Vererans.

Choose from plans offered by Delta Dental and MetLife.

To learn more click on one of the following links:

http://www.va.gov/healthbenefits/VADIP

http://www.deltadentalvadip.org

http://www.metlife.com/VADIP