The Santa Anita A's of Arcadia, California honored the veterans in their club a few years ago by first identifying each veteran and making a list, Then each month, starting with the earlier service dates we published a one page bio of each that appeared every month in the club newsletter. The series ran for 25 months. Each article was written in the first person as if the veteran was telling his story.
We were honored to have several veterans who served in WWII. One was in the army and was in the Battle of the Bulge and later crossed the Rhine under fire, another was a Marine and was in the invasion of Iwo Jima, and a third was in the Merchant Marines and had his ship sunk. He was one of four survivors and was in a life boat for over 30 days in the Atlantic. We celebrated his 100th birthday shortly before he passed away.
Of the three only the Army vet who was in the Battle of the Bulge is living today, He is 95 and still drives his Model A and still comes to club functions.
We took it a step further and created a section on our web site with all the bios posted. You can view them by going to
www.santaanitaas.org. Click on the veterans window on the home page.
This was a worthwhile effort that I would encourage other Model A clubs to do. Put someone in charge who can do the ghost writing each month and interview the veteran. Have the veteran provide a photo of himself while in uniform to be included in the article.
Tom Endy