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thedrifter
10-11-08, 10:52 AM
Veterans to mark US Navy's birthday

October 11, 2008
By Emily McFarlan Staff Writer

CARPENTERSVILLE -- How does the U.S. Navy celebrate its 233rd birthday?

With a little help from Carpentersville Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Post 5915, according to Post Cmdr. John Blanchard.

The Carpentersville VFW will host a ceremony and celebration Monday remembering the date the Navy was established during the Revolutionary War in 1775 by the Continental Congress.

The event will kick off with a ceremony at 6 p.m. at Veterans' Garden in Carpenter Park, at Maple and Lord avenues.

"I think it's the first time the VFW has done a birthday celebration, at least of this size," Blanchard said.

Planning events like the Navy birthday is just one way Blanchard, who took command of the Carpentersville VFW this spring, hopes to help change the image of the VFW, which he said has become stigmatized as "a drinking organization." He also said he hopes to help change the image of the community his post serves.

"(We're trying to do) a lot more with the school district, a lot more with the park district -- really helping Carpentersville," he said. "It is not really different from any other community across the country. It has problems and issues. We're stepping up and trying to take more action and build a better community."

Blanchard has gotten the Carpentersville VFW involved with the National Association of Systems Administrators Education Corporation, which provide clothing, food and help obtaining driver's licenses and removing other obstacles keeping veterans from homes and jobs. Like most VFW posts, it also makes contributions to youth programs such as the VFW National Home for Children and the Patriot's Pen and Voice of Democracy scholarship programs.

He wants to see the Carpentersville VFW organize a Fourth of July parade in Carpentersville. He wants to see it spruce up Keith Andres Park with more plantings and fresh woodchips on the park's hiking trails.

Blanchard is an eight-year Navy operations specialist who was on the ground in Beirut when U.S. Marine Corps barracks were bombed there during the Lebanese Civil War in 1983. But these are the things sees as the current mission for himself and fellow veterans at the Carpentersville VFW.

"The purpose of the VFW is honoring the dead by serving the living," he said.

"It's not just veterans. We are honoring the people who sacrificed for the freedom of this country by helping the people who enjoy that freedom. This is now the fight we are fighting -- the fight to make this a better place, and we're having such a great time of it."

Monday's event is just one way Carpentersville residents can honor those veterans and learn about the VFW's involvement in their community.

The ceremony will begin with a prelude by Fair Winds, Naval Station Great Lakes' woodwind quintet. Blanchard, Village President Bill Sarto, VFW Illinois Department Cmdr. Vince Long and Navy Capt. Vivian Melidosian, who has spent 30 years on active duty, will speak.

Dinner and "a big, huge Navy birthday cake" will follow at the VFW Post, 301 Lake Marian Rd.

Next up will be the Marines' birthday on Nov. 10.

"We'd really like people to come out," Blanchard said. "Come to the post and find out about what we're doing in the community."

Ellie