Tampa Chapter

Sons of the American Revolution

April 2014

Contents

Meeting announcement

Revolution History note

Announcements from the President

Program Schedule

Misc. reminders and information

The April meeting of the Tampa Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution will be on Saturday, April 19 at the Piccadilly Cafeteria, located at 11810 Dale Mabry Highway North, Tampa, Florida (813-963-1660). The meeting starts at noon but many members arrive early for a time of conversation and fellowship. The April meeting will be our annual luncheon for the JROTC cadets that received our award this year as well as their instructors and families. Due to the South Shore Chapter taking over several schools we expect fewer cadets and so our meeting room will be set up cafeteria style and not class room style as it was last year. Please spread out and sit with our guests when possible. There will not be a formal program this year. We will simply recognize our guests and present the awards. Colonel Guy Walsh of Brandon High School is retiring this year and we will honor him as well at the luncheon. Guy has been a strong supporter of our JROTC program for many years. We need as many members there as possible to properly recognize and honor these young men and women who have been selected to receive the SAR JROTC Bronze Medal.

We are again asking our members to sit with a cadet and/or instructor during lunch and pay their lunch check, if possible. This only applies to the cadets and instructors, not their family members. If you end up with multiple checks, see if another SAR member will take one. If all else fails, give the extra bills to our Treasurer and he can pay the restaurant. This will help our Chapter keep expenses down. Let’s be sure to make our guests feel welcome.

American Revolution Notes

April—what else—Lexington and Concord. However, we’re going to concentrate on the warning system developed by the Son’s of Liberty and carried out by Revere, Dawes and Prescott.

In my classes I tell my students that an important question to answer about any historical event is “why did it happen the way it did, instead of some other way?” Most people know that the three men did not literally go up and down the streets and roads shouting “The British are coming”. The system was designed much the same as a modern phone tree where one person calls three people, who then each call three more people and so on. The houses of key supporters were identified and the riders would go to those houses and awaken the residents who would then go to a few other houses and so on until the community was alerted. This had several advantages that are usually not thought about. First, they could by-pass houses of known loyalists, thus preventing any problems while the local militia was organizing. Second, it was indeed quicker and more efficient for people who knew the area to do the door knocking rather than the three riders who were unfamiliar with short cuts and who needed to be awakened. So, while most people focus on the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, it is probable that without a well thought out warning system, those skirmishes would not have happened the way they did.

Announcements from the President

(ed. Note: most of these were sent to the membership in a separate email, but for those who missed it, they are updated, edited and reprinted here.)

News

SAR Regional VP Danny Hooper tells me that AMC is premiering a new Revolutionary War series on Sunday evenings at 9:00.  The title is TURN and is about the development of General Washington's spy ring in New York.  That ring seems to be getting a lot of publicity lately.

Updates

Gray Reese is out of the hospital and back home.  He has been home for two weeks and starts another round of Chemo soon. I am sure he would love to hear from you.  greese1@tampabay.rr.com

John Skillman is back home from the hospital and expects to join us for the April meeting.

There is still nothing new on Mike Frayn.  Let’s leave him alone.  He will contact us when he is ready.

The Honor Flight scheduled for April 22 has been rescheduled for May 6 also a Tuesday.  Those of you planning to welcome our veterans back home need to change your calendars. 

Robbins Denham and his sons have postponed their flight to May 27.

Reminder

I was very serious about having an SAR Day at the USO at Tampa International.  They are having another Volunteer Orientation on Thursday evening, May 1, at 6:00 PM at the Airport.  Those of you interested in volunteering should contact Carrie Harper at charper@usocentralflorida.org,

Now that the Chapter has met Moe Morley and know more about the TIA USO, you are reminded that the can use books, CDs, DVDs, recent magazines and such to entertain our traveling military men and women and their families.  We will continue to collect whatever you can bring in at the April and May meetings. 

Questions

It is time to complete the American Patriotism form for NSSAR.  We can get another ribbon for our flag, but more importantly, we can brag a little about all that we do here in the Tampa area.   It is easy to recall what has been done at the chapter level.  What is needed is for anyone who did anything on an individual basis to report that to the President,

PROGRAM SCHEDULE

Below is the tentative program schedule for spring 2014. As always send along any suggestions for speakers.

April 19            ROTC Recognition

May 17             Victory Ship and Museum

Park and Museum

Misc. Reminders and notes

Chapter Website—Remember you can find information about the chapter and programs on the chapter website. http://www.patriot-web.com/

Other Events

FLSSAR BOM and Annual Meeting in Orlando May 2-4

Registration forms are available on the FLSSAR website www.flssar.org,

NSSAR Annual Congress in Greenville, South Carolina July 18-24

Additional information and the Registration form are available at a link on the home page of the NSSAR website www.sar.org

USO Volunteer Orientation at Tampa International Airport on May 1 at 6:00 PM

Contact Carrie Harper at charper@usocentralflorida.org for details

Honor Flight will return to the St Petersburg/Clearwater airport at approximately 9:00 PM www.honorflightwcf.org

May 6

May 27 (Robbins Denham and sons Bob and Tad will be on this flight)

June 24

One of the duties of the Chapter Chaplain is to send cards to our members that are sick. If you know of anyone that I need to send a card to, please mention it at our next meeting. Another duty is to send a sympathy card to the family of a member who has passed away.

Jack C. Bolen

Chaplain

Chapter officers and committee chairman are encouraged to send to the editor any pertinent information they wish included in the newsletter.