MEMORIAL CHAPTER 227
 Chapter 227: Len Funk gives a lesson in the Vietnamese language to students at the Thoreau Intermediate School of the Fairfax County Public Schools. Members have been sharing their Tour of Duty with local students through the Speaker's Panel since 1986. |
 Chapter 227: Len Ignatowski (r) presents a $1000 check for the Arlington County High Intensity Language Training Summer School Scholarship Fund to Ms. Francesca Reilly-McDonnell (l). The special summer school program enables newly arrived immigrant children to accelerate their transition into the American way of life. Over three hundred students from twenty plus countries have benefited from the chapter's twelve years of financial support. One early scholarship recipient is now an Arlington County Public School teacher and an army reserve officer with one Tour of Duty in Afghanistan. |
 Joe Celesnik (l) and Len Ignatowski (r) of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 227 and Vietnam veterans kneel beside the new plaque that identifies the Captain Dean K. Phillips Parachute Drop Zone at Ft. Meade, Md. and lists his Vietnam War service and his veteran advocacy. Len designed the plaque's inscription, while Joe installed the new plaque. Photograph by Diane Ignatowski. |
 Dean K. Phillips Parachute Drop Zone Memorial Plaque. |
 Chapter 227: members fulfill an annual tradition of presenting a wreath and memorial service at The Wall on Memorial Day. The wreath is made the night before at a Chapter barbecue. |
 Chapter 227: Paul Stancliff prepares to deliver refreshments for the 2005 Sons and Daughters In-Touch Family Reunion in Washington D.C. Chapter members staffed the hospitality center to answer questions. The Chapter has supported the reunion since the first one. |
 Len Ignatowski(r) Past President of VVA Chapter 227 presents a $1,000.00 check to Fernando O. Rivera, the D.C. Veterans Medical Center Director. Bruce Waxman(l) and Bill Bohuslaw, also Chapter officers participated. |
 Admiral Robert H. Shumaker, USN (Ret), proudly wears his VVA hat, which was presented to him after sharing his eight year POW Tour of Duty in the Hanoi Hilton with chapter members and guests at the April 2008 membership meeting. |
 Admiral Robert H. Shumaker, USN (Ret) swears in the new chapter officers, (l to r), Len Ignatowski, (Director), Charlie Klien, (Director), Bill Bohuslaw, (Director), Paul Stancliff, Len Funk, (Director), Jonathan Olson, Master of Arms, Bruce Waxman, Treasurer, Bill Dumsick (President), and second row, Joe Celesnik (Director). Missing are Chuck Harris, (Treasurer) and Byron Sheldon (Vice President). The ceremony marked the second time in three years that a navy POW swore in the new chapter leaders. Lcdr. Everett Alvarez, Jr., the first naval aviator POW, did the honors in April 2006. |
 Len Ignatowski (l) presents $300 worth of meal coupons to Alice Ford, Vet Center director, while Bill Bohuslaw (r) stands ready to deliver a bag of girl scouts cookies. The bus tokens and cookies represent the chapter's continuous support of the Vet Center needs since the chapter's inception. Recently, a chapter member purchased two new DVD/VCR players for the Vet Center when their last VCR player broke in response to the chapter's email Minuteman Call-To-Arms program.
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