Good
Morning Fellow Americans.
I bring you
greetings from Voiture Nationale.
Nationale
Officers, Grand Officers, Voyageurs, Dames and Guest.
It is an honor
to stand before you today as we together start yet another
year in La Societe.
Who would have
thought a farm kid in the sewer cleaning business would have
the opportunity to serve in this honored capacity.
It is only
possible because of the leadership, the training and the
caring of those who make up the membership of Voiture 594
and Grand du Illinois and I thank them very much for that.
I want to thank
Verlin Funkhouser for appointing me as one of his Aide de
Camps, when he was grand Chef de Gare in the year 2000, for
it was in that position, that placed me in the catapult,
that has landed me on this platform today.
I would like to
thank everyone in this assembly today for your service to La
Societe and the contributions you have given to me the past
8 years. I have gained more than I can ever repay from your
leadership. Thank you.
I would like to
thank my friends Dan Puckett and Jerry Brady for their
friendship this past year and wish them the best of luck in
the future.
On behalf of
Dan and Jerry, I would like to thank our friends Bernie and
Terry Sampson for training each of us this past year. It was
certainly a big help.
Thanks for the
nomination and your vote of confidence. I will do my best as
not to disappoint you.
Yesterday a
vote was taken concerning our membership requirements,
whether you agree or disagree, that vote is now history.
Now we must
work together, united as one group for the good of La
Societe.
Because divided
we will fail and our organization will fall to its death in
a short period of time. In 2002 we had over 51,000
members…and today we have 37,000 members.
In the 1920,s
the American Legion was going down hill in membership.
It was the 40
et 8 who signed members by the tens of thousands and saved
the American legion organization.
Voyageur
William Mundt of V-24, Bloomington, IL signed 509 new Legion
members in one year.
One year they
signed over 111,000 new members and 5 years later brought in
over 211,000 new members.
Today we need
to help ourselves and we need to do it quickly.
We must all
realize the importance of doubling our membership, if we
intend to stay alive.
Each district
needs to have a least one wreck per year, as does Grand du
FL.
We need to
bring back the fun to our organization.
We need to
promote all of our programs to our youth and the general
public.
We need to
STAND UP FOR AMERICA while we still have the chance.
We must keep IN
GOD WE TRUST in our everyday lives.
It surely must
be right, as it’s on the money.
The Preamble to
their Constitution of every state in the Union states “In
God we trust”.
Lack of prayer
and the Pledge of Allegiance were not intended by our
founding fathers.
We must fight
hard for one Flag, one country, one culture, and one
language.
We must rebuild
America, by standing up for America, and therefore unifying
America.
No other
country could defeat us in a hot war, but they have taken
advantage of the cold war by introducing hate and discontent
among the American people and are making great strides in
disrupting our morals and values started by our founding
fathers.
Aristotle once
said; tolerance is the last virtue of a dying country.
We must work
with all veteran organizations and promote our Americanism
programs, our Flags for first graders and respect for our
Flag, our elders, and our leaders as it was intended many
years ago.
May we never
forget our POW/MIA programs and continue to honor those who
have, and are giving their lives, so that you and I may
continue to live in peace and freedom.
Our foods are
destroying our bodies, per the wishes of our enemies,
requiring even more so the need for nurses and our nursing
scholarship programs.
Our youth of
today will replace us in the future and it is our obligation
to make sure they are properly trained to do so.
We must
continue to protect life, smaller governments, lower taxes,
family values, control our borders, and support democracies.
Remember can’t
never did anything, but “can do” can accomplish any and all
missions.
I can only ask
that each of you return the favor and sponsor a new member,
just as someone sponsored you, when you joined. Perhaps
everyone can this for one reason or another. In that case,
sponsor two or three and help us achieve our goal. If we
will double up, we can do double the programs, provide
double the service for our communities and at the same time
have double the fun in doing so.
I can only ask
that you simply try, before saying no. All it takes is “just
ask’.
Working
together for a common goal, we can achieve.
In fact, we
could probably move the world, if we had a place to put it.
I look forward
to serving with you.
In closing, I
would like to ask each of you to do 4 things for me:
I would like to
ask you to drink, steal, swear and lie…
I ask you to
drink of the opportunities you had to serve your country.
To steal the
time to make your dreams come true.
To swear that
each day is the beginning of the best part of your life.
And lie down
and thank God that you live in the freest nation in the
world.
May God bless
our men and women in our Armed Forces?
And may God
bless the United States of America?
Thank you
