More on local veterans' organizations
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Today, I would like to back up a little and return to a previous subject. I have obtained more data on two of the organizations previously mentioned. The new information is about the two emeritus members of the Victoria County Veterans Council.
The first organization was the World War Veterans Association, Rosebud Barracks No. 1767. I found several articles from 1919 about this group when it was organized on April 15, 1919. Lafayette Mitchell was elected president. There were 44 charter members. A week later, some of the members attended a state organizational meeting in San Antonio. A convention is mentioned to have been held in St. Louis on May 8 and 9. Bland Proctor was elected to attend this convention, which was being held to organize a national association.
I'm not sure what happened, but I suspect it folded. The next mention of the group wasn't until Feb. 8, 1959, when the group organized again. Tom L. Davis was elected as commander by the membership of 88. Their purpose was to propose and support legislation to help the WW I soldier. They met again on Feb. 6, 1968, in the VFW Hall. About 70 members attended. M.C. Munlin was serving as junior state commander at that time. The last mention of the group was on Oct. 10, 1975, when they met in the VFW Hall. W.C. (Bill) Erwin was serving as commander.
They are represented by Gladys Brandl on Memorial Day and Veterans Day. She advances the wreath in honor of the organization and its members. She also does it to honor her grandfather who fought in WW I. All the local members are now deceased.
I have received more information about the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association from Larry Chilcoat, a hereditary member. His father was serving at Pearl on that day. A master national organization had been started in 1958, and the association received a charter from Congress on Oct. 7, 1985, in PL 99-119. The first local organizational meeting was held on Sept. 14, 1966, with 17 survivors in attendance. A charter for the local chapter is dated Nov. 10, 1966 and bears the names of 13 members. That charter for the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, Texas Chapter No. 1 is in the VC/UHV Library in the Victoria Regional History Center.
Membership in the organization is now limited by age. There is only one local survivor, Bill Lockey. D.D. Hill from El Campo also attends the meetings, which are held yearly on a date close to Dec. 7. In the mid 1990s, Larry Chilcoat took over keeping the organization together. His father, Joe Chilcoat, had been a faithful member, but he passed away in 1988. The organization was about to fold until Larry stepped in. He does so to honor his father and the rest of the group. They were smart and formed a hereditary or legacy organization called the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors in 1997. Mrs. Sue Lindsay attends the meeting in honor of her deceased husband, Gary Lindsay. Wilbur Weeks of Refugio was a survivor, but he passed on Jan. 21, 2004. Survivor Bill Summers passed in Port Lavaca on June 29, 1997. Louis Grunder of Cuero is also a deceased survivor.
Even after all survivors have passed on, Larry says the hereditary group will continue to carry on so that that "the day that will live in infamy" and the survivors of that day will never be forgotten.
This column is a research project of Dr. Peter B. Riesz and the Victoria County Veterans Council. Contact Riesz at pbriesz@suddenlink.net or 361-575-4600.
