DAR pays tribute to essay winners
The Alexander Macomb Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution recently recognized participants in the society’s annual American History Essay Contest.
Janet Calabrese is the regent of the Alexander Macomb Chapter NSDAR that conducts an annual American History Essay Contest open to students in public, private and parochial schools, and to homeschoolers in grades five through eight.
The subject this year was the Boston Massacre.
“The Boston Massacre is considered to be a pivotal event that paved the way to the American Revolution,” Calabrese said. “Students were asked to imagine that they were living in Boston at that time and to describe their family’s discussion about the Boston Massacre and what role it played in organizing the colonists against the British King and Parliament.
“Despite COVID-19 restrictions and the students attending school electronically from home, Alexander Macomb Chapter was extremely pleased to have the participation of four students for this year’s contest.”
Participants this year were Jude Thomas and McKenzie Johnson of teacher Susan Tempio’s eighth-grade class at Heritage Junior High in Sterling Heights, and Malachi Friedlund and Levi Friedlund of the United Friedlund Homeschool Academy with teacher Katie Friedlund.
McKenzie Johnson was the chapter’s eighth-grade winner; Malachi Friedlund was the chapter’s seventhgrade winner; and Levi Friedlund was the chapter’s fifth-grade winner.
“All three chapter winners received a certificate, DAR bronze medal, and monetary gift from Alexander Macomb Chapter. All other participants received a certificate of participation. Due to COVID restrictions and the inability to meet in person, certificates and pins were mailed to the students and they were invited to join our chapter’s monthly Zoom meeting,” she said.
Students who participated in the contest adhered to strict guidelines concerning length, form and bibliographies. Alexander Macomb Chapter NSDAR American History Essay Contest winners also compete in the Michigan DAR state competition.
The NSDAR was founded in 1890 to promote historic preservation, education and patriotism. Its members are descended from the patriots who won American independence during the Revolutionary War.
It has more than 185,000 members in approximately 3,000 chapters worldwide, and is an active service organization. More than one million women have joined the DAR since it was founded.
For more information about the Alexander Macomb Chapter NSDAR, visit macomb.michdar.net and the chapter’s Facebook page, or see DAR.org.
VFW patriotic art contest set
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary sponsors an annual Young American Creative Patriotic
Art scholarship contest. The program recognizes high school-aged students whose art expresses patriotism. Every year, about 4,000 entries are submitted. More than 225 young artists have earned nearly $500,000 since the contest began about 40 years ago.
Applicants must be students in grades nine to 12 who are enrolled in a public, private, or parochial high school or home study program within the United States, its territories and possessions. Art must be on canvas or paper and can be watercolor, pencil, pastel, charcoal, tempera, crayon, acrylic, pen, ink, oil or marker; or, art can be of paper, papiermâché, pottery, clay, metal work, fabric or wood.
There are 10 national awards of $31,500. The national first-place winner receives a $15,000 scholarship. Scholarships are paid to the recipient’s American university, college or vocational or technical school. Other scholarships amounts are $500 to $7,500.
POW/MIA flag atop White House
The POW/MIA Flag has been flying over The White House since April 9, former POW/MIA Day.
“This flag symbolizes our nation’s commitment to resolving the fates of those still listed as prisoner, missing, and unaccounted for from all conflicts,” Vietnam Veterans of America national president John Rowan said.
The POW/MIA flag had flown over The White House under the American flag since the 1990s. It was moved on June 14, 2020, Flag Day, to a location on the South Lawn. The National POW/MIA Flag Act of Nov. 7, 2019, ensured the flag would forever be visible from all federal buildings. There are more than 80,000 still missing in action from conflicts around the world.
The flag was created for the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia and is officially recognized by the U.S. Congress.
“Visibly displayed under our U.S. flag, this step clearly signals the importance America attaches to accounting for those captured or missing from our nation’s past wars and conflicts, just as it signals those serving today that we are with them,” League chairwoman Ann Mills-Griffiths said.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency hosted remembrance ceremonies to mark the 20th anniversary of the April 7, 2001 helicopter accident that killed seven U.S. service members and nine Vietnamese service members while on a DPAA recovery mission in Vietnam. Ceremonies were held in Vietnam, in the POW/MIA Corridor at the Pentagon, and on the Heroes’ Green at the DPAA facility in Hawaii.
The DPAA recently announced a burial update and a new identification for service members missing and previously unaccounted-for from World
War II.
Returning home for burial with full military honors are Navy Seaman 2nd Class Howard S. Magers, 18, of Kentucky, and Navy Mess Attendant 1st Class Octavius Mabine, 21, of Virginia. They were assigned to the battleship
USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Pearl Harbor when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft on Dec. 7, 1941.