Veteran’s Corner

Jason Hicks | Commander United Patriotic bodies
Fargo Memorial Honor Guard

Fall is in the air and winter right behind it. Every year we say where did summer go? I say good! Being of Norse descent I fair far better in fall and winter. And nature is so beautiful of what it offers, fall colors and of course fall festivals, apples, hot cider and of course Oktoberfest. Our tempo at the Fargo National Cemetery also slows down. There were days where we did five ceremonies in one day.
As many know September was suicide prevention month, currently we are losing twenty two veterans a day to suicide. This is been a war fought since the beginning of war. Kudos to the Veterans Administration for hitting it head on, there are so many resources available that were not there twenty years ago. A nonprofit group called Heros Compass conducted a march recently from the VFW to the VA hospital. They had over one hundred walkers for their annual 2.2 mile walk to draw attention to Veteran suicide. Find them at www.heroscompass.com
Updates for the National Cemetery building project. We will be meeting with the Mayors of Fargo, West Fargo and Moorhead to continue forward with this project. Also we are looking forward to having a new director at Ft. Snelling (they oversee Fargo) the previous director has resigned, Dr. Karl Huth has moved on. In the interim Marshal Murphy will be running the show, Mr. Murphy came to Ft. Snelling in April of 2023 and has been an absolute pleasure to work with, he actually answers phone calls and emails. He understands the frustration that comes with bureaucracy and will actually take the time to explain things in common sense understandable language, rather than the typical “ that’s the way its done” he takes the time to try to make sense of things. A potential director like this does not come around very often in the vast bureaucracy of the VA and I hope the powers that be see the logic in having a well grounded common sense type in a leadership position such as this.