Once again Buddy Farina

Once again Buddy Farina, Watchfire Chairman for Chapter 685 has outdone himself. Our 15th annual watchfire was the largest yet. If you take these pictures and view them as a slide show you will see the building of a watchfire from day one to the finish. What you will not see, because of our duties during the ceremonies, is the Korean War Veterans hanging dog tags on a field cross for their era to honor their dead from Galveston County, or The hanging of dog tags from the Vietnam Era on a field cross by our honor guard to honor the 75 killed from Galveston County and the Vietnam Veterans who have died of Agent orange related illnesses in Galveston County. Or the Gold Star Families that placed their loved ones dog tags on a special field cross set up for them. The boots, helmet, and goggles for that field cross was actually being worn by PFC Nathaniel A. Given when he was killed in Iraq. Or the Marine ROTC setting our POW/MIA table. Some of the pictures are of our Flag retirement of over 1000 torn and tattered flags. Our keynote speaker was Ron Ridgeway, A POW in Vietnam for 5 years and current Texas Veterans Commission Service Officer at the Houston VA. We also recived a proclamation from Texas City Texas making May 25th POW/MIA watchfire Day and also a Congressional Proclamation from Congressman Nick Lampson along with an American Flag flown over the Nation's Capital on behalf of Chapter 685. I would like to extend an invitation to everyone to attend our 16th Annual Watchfire next Memorial Day Weekend. It is going to be even larger. This year we had a Member of the Kerrville VVA chapter and Members of the San Marcos AVVA come to Visit and attend the watchfire. We Thank them for their support.