NEWS FROM THE HUT by John Hamilton

A long, long time ago, in the far-off land of I-Cannot and I-Don’t-Know, there was a young boy who had convinced himself that he could not read, could not write, and could not spell. He had convinced himself that it was anyone else’s fault but his. He was more than willing to blame his stepfather who loved to praise the boy by calling him “Dummy” because he could not even read the simple grammar used in the Sunday funnies. He could have used the excuse that he felt apprehensive because of his mother’s embarrassment and not understanding why he could not read since she was such an excellent reader. This story/scenario prompts this writer this column to amazingly wonder how he could have ever been so blessed to be appointed to write this article for Post 142.

The reason I am drawing this analogy is because there are so many other members of Post 142 that could do a much better job of finding unending things to write about other than this writer. The previous writer of this article, Gary Lanham, has a wealth of subjects to write about from his many years of experience in the Air Force, Air National Guard and as Hominy city manager. In addition, Gary is a particularly good writer and highly grammatically correct. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the articles that Gary wrote for “News from The Hut.”

There are many other Veterans who are members of the Hominy Post 142 that have a military history full of exciting experiences in multiple branches of the service as well as multiple places in the world. One of the candidates for writing this article is Don Rainwater who was in the Air Force for over 20 years and retired as a Senior Master Sergeant in charge of the maintenance and repair of numerous aircraft used in the defense of our country. Don has been stationed in multiple bases in the United States and in multiple countries around the world. Don has millions of stories about remarkably interesting things that he experienced personally and/or observed that are both informative and funny. Don shares these stories with the other Post member at the “Shootout” at Bucks Eats and Treats on Wednesday mornings at 7:30 AM as do all the other Hominy Veterans and Citizens that show up for the “Shootout.”

Another extremely capable and knowledgeable member is our famous Doc O’Leary who was in the Army, Army Special Forces as an SF Medic, Army Airborne, Green Beret A-Team, 45th Infantry Brigade of the Oklahoma Army National Guard, Warrant Officer-1 Physician Assistant, serving 29 years as an Army PA, BN and BDE Surgeon, and finally retiring in 2007 at age 60 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Charlie had several medical mission overseas assignments in Honduras, Equator and Bolivia, was deployed to the Sinai as part of peacekeeping force and two assignments with OEF in Afghanistan. Charlie is a member of Post 142 in Hominy since 1976, serving as Post Commander 1979-80 and again from 2010 to 2019. He was also the District 1B Commander for Department of Oklahoma during the 2010-2019-time frame. In 2019, Charlie stepped down as Post 142 and District 1B Commander to pursue and secure Vice Commander East of the Department of Oklahoma. Currently, Charlie is the Senior Vice Commander of The American Legion Department of Oklahoma. Charlie is anticipating running for and being elected to the office of the Department Commander of Oklahoma for the American Legion. I can only imagine the stories that Charlie could write with all his life experience.

Then there is Jimmy Himes who had over 20 years in the Army with experiences in the military that far exceed this writers knowledge. Jimmy has been a member of our Post for only a couple of years but has involved himself, to everyone’s joy, in helping with a large amount of the maintenance and upkeep of the Hut from mowing the lawn to repairing windows and painting the interior trim. Jimmy offers a wealth of stories and experiences from his time in the Army. Everyone at the Hut has so many experiences in the service of our country that they could fill the paper up every week with hilarious anecdotes that would keep the entire town in stiches as they do for all of us during the Wednesday morning “shootout” at Bucks Eats and Treats. Any of the American Legion members at the Hut could do a great job at writing this weekly article. The bottom line is that just because the writer of this article was selected to fill in for Gary Lanham while he is recuperating, the articles would not get written without the help and information the writer receives from all the members at the Hut.

Until further notice, our regular Legion meeting will be the third Thursday of each month. Due to current weather issues, our next meeting will be on Thursday, March 18th. at 7:00 PM. The Sons of the American Legion meetings have been suspended until further notice, depending on the future COVID-19 situation. All dinners have been cancelled until further notice. The Monday morning Koffee Klatch meetings have been postponed as well for the same reason. If you are a veteran, come by for our monthly meeting, and if you have a good story, it may end up in print. Also keep up with us at the Post 142 website “americanlegion142.org” and Hominy Legion on Facebook.