January 2008 thru April 2008
January was a fairly quite month, a telephone conference call was held. Final touches were made to the proposed bylaws that will be submitted for approval at the July 2008 meeting.
It was decided to appoint a design committee for the challenge coin. (Denny Hull & Jim Anderburg)
February;
Jim Winstead entered our reunion information in several magazines. This has been done in the past but this year Jim added “DUKW” except he spelt it “DUWK” Within days two former 458th DUKW guys called both confirmed they were the re McCoy by asking “Don’t you guys know how to spell”
The design committee used a photo from George Pavollia’s Vietnam era cigarette liter to Come up with a outstanding face for the challenge coin. Using input from other members the coin design rapidly advanced from the beta stage where by the end of the month we had submitted two designs to the firm that ended up making the coin.
March
The progress of the coin really snowballed and rather than wait until the 2008 meeting to receive approval to use treasury funds, the decision was made to use private funds. Resulting in the 1st week we placed a order for 150 coins. Coins were sold with a built in profit margin $1.20. This profit per coin to be returned to the 458th treasury.
The coins arrived in the middle of the month however they had not been properly finished by the manufacture. (rough burrs were left on the rims from where the rope edge had been cut) The coins were replaced by the dealer, when asked What to do with the old coins, the dealer said that was our problem.
It takes about 2-3 minutes to remove the rough burrs from the coin edges. Results we ended up with 300 coins for the price of 150. The decision was made to give a free coin to those members who had paid in advance for the coins, it was also decided that widows and those on limited incomes would receive a free coin.
April
145 of the challenge coins have now been sold, over sixty have been gave to widows, and members on low income.
We have a total of nine new DUKW members and I’m not the oldest in our group anymore
Our newest member #160 Kenneth Davis has brought with him a 1966 unit roster, which I hope to have on the web site in the near future.
This April has been the coldest April on record for my part of the world.
Health and Welfare
Mrs. Lowe has had a successful recovery from her operation in February and her physical therapy is going great.
Pete McGuirk is making a slow but steady recovery from his accident, rumor has it that Pete is working on a statewide ban on the sale of stepladders to anyone over the age of 50.
Obituaries
I received word in January that member # 137 Don Miller had passed away last October after a long illness..
Wanted
Someone to do a 458th quarterly news letter, the pay is good (a big thankyou)and the hours are short
