Veterans golf outing braves 50 mph winds

Strong winds made the conditions on the golf course less than ideal, but the biggest fundraiser of the year for Veterans Caring for Veterans was a success, nonetheless.

The eighth annual Veterans Day Golf Tournament was held on Saturday, Nov. 5 at Oak Brook Golf Club in Edwardsville.

“We had good weather except for 50-mile-an-hour winds,” Veterans Caring for Veterans chairman Joe Revelle said. “The temperature was in the mid-50s, so otherwise it was bearable. “We had a total of 36 four-person teams with 77 veterans in attendance plus about 20 volunteers.”

The event started at 9 a.m. with a flag-raising ceremony and the national anthem, followed by a bell-ringing ceremony.

“The bell-ringing is for anyone who wants to come forward and pay their respects for a fallen veteran or a family member who has passed away,” Revelle said. “We also had the honor guards from the Edwardsville VFW, the Edwardsville American Legion and the Troy VFW, and we did the firing squad salute and played Taps.

“We then turned our memorial program over to Jan Copeland (the Central Illinois state coordinator for Quilts of Valor) and we had 11 recipients for her quilts. Two of them had to cancel that day due to either illness or attending a funeral, but the other nine deserving veterans were awarded with their Quilts of Valor. That’s going to be part of our memorial portion every year and we’re always looking for more veterans to get on our list to receive their quilts.”

The golf tournament got underway at 10 a.m., preceded by breakfast starting at 8:30 a.m.

“We had food all day along, including chili, bratwurst, hot dogs and finger foods,” Revelle said. “When we got done, we awarded prize money for three places in three flights.

“We had a 50/50 raffle drawing with many nice prizes. It was a great event and we’re fortunate that we have the local support base that we’re able to pay it forward. We are financially supporting five local organizations.”

One of those organizations is Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Chapter 90 in Glen Carbon, which has been part of the tournament since it started in 2015.

“They mentioned to us that they needed a couple of new vans for veterans’ needs and in that very first tournament, we got them enough for their first van,” Revelle said. “They were able to buy another new van since then and we’ve been able to give financial support every year.

“We are also supporting the ladies from the Glen Carbon DAV Chapter 90 Auxiliary. They do a fantastic job for children at Christmas and it’s all local.”

Another organization supported by Veterans Caring for Veterans is the Marine Corps Toys for Tots from Alton Leathernecks Detachment 1160.

“We collect toys for them, and people can also make a cash donation,” Revelle said. “Whatever that comes up to, we add to it and make a check out to them.”

Veterans Caring for Veterans also supports Jan Copeland and Quilts of Valor, based out of Hartford.

The fifth organization supported by Revelle’s group is Land of Lincoln Honor Flight from Springfield.

“We have a lot of local veterans here that have taken flights through Springfield, including myself, and we’ll assist any veteran that wants to get on that Honor Flight,” said Revelle, an Air Force veteran who visited Washington, D.C., on Sept. 30 to see the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. “I had my day, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything in the world. I have 11 brothers on that wall, and I was able to pay my respects to them.

“The welcome home that I received at the Springfield airport at 9:30 that night was something I missed in 1968 when I came back from Vietnam. We couldn’t wear our uniforms and we just walked through the airport like anyone else. You sucked it up and you blended in and that was the end of our military career. You went back into society without any help, so it was very emotional for me this time to have that kind of welcome.”

Revelle was greeted in Springfield by Ron Swaim, former commander of Edwardsville American Legion 199, and Swaim’s wife Joy.

“They would have brought my wife except they didn’t know to get a hold of her. She would have been there, but they didn’t want to call me and ask because it would have let the cat out of the bag,” Revelle said, laughing.

While in Washington, Revelle was also able to visit Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, where he had hoped to visit the tomb of a friend, Gary Arandt. Revelle and Arandt served together in Vietnam, flying over North Vietnam and Laos, and last saw each other in 1967 before they met again in 2014 at a reunion in Las Vegas.

“Gary died during COVID, and he is buried in Arlington,” Revelle said. “He’s from Dayton, Ohio, and when we first started (Veterans Caring for Veterans), he came from Dayton one Sunday morning to deliver about 700 keychains made from parachute ripcords that he had embroidered.

“Most of them were military colors and some were for cancer awareness or other causes. We passed all of them out and Gary didn’t want anything in return. He had coffee with us and got in his truck and went home. Unfortunately, Gary’s wife passed away and about two years later, Gary passed away.”

Revelle was at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and was going to watch the changing of the honor guard. He had located Arandt’s tomb but would have had to miss the ceremony to be able to get there.

“In came a thunderstorm and we couldn’t even get off the bus, and finally it quit five minutes before the honor guard started to change,” Revelle said. “It was a 20-minute program and as soon as it finished, the rain started again. It was like it quit raining so we could watch the honor guard.

“There was no way that I get to Gary’s tomb, and I was disappointed that I could not do that. It’s on my bucket list to go and pay respect to him. Gary served in the Air Force as well as the Army and did two tours (of Vietnam) and was with me in the Air Force. I was there three and a half years, and he was there that long if not longer.”

Revelle encourages any local veteran to take advantage of Land of Lincoln Honor Flight.

“It’s all sponsored, including the meals, the airplane and everything,” Revelle said. “It is a fantastic organization and it’s a trip worth taking for any deserving veteran, and it’s truly an honor to do that.

“I was on Flight No. 62, and we had 97 veterans. We had one World War II veteran and two Korean War veterans and everyone else was a Vietnam veteran. A lady from Alton escorted me along with another veteran from Golden Eagle. I met guys from Bunker Hill, Collinsville and other guys from our area as well as from Decatur and all over Illinois.”

Another part of the mission for Veterans Caring for Veterans is to make throw blanket throws for veterans in local nursing homes.

“That program was pretty well shut down during COVID, but we have a supply of blankets and we’ve asked by asked by Addington Place of Edwardsville to come out and conduct a Veterans Day ceremony this Friday,” Revelle said.

“Dave Sheehan (from Post 199) and I will be there at 10:00 and they have 12 veterans and we’re going to do the ceremony with them. We’re also going to pass out our blankets to them. We’re hoping to get back to a regular schedule of distributing blankets (at nursing homes) to all of the veterans in our area. Over the years, we’ve distributed a little over 300 of them.”

Another issue that the group is tackling is homelessness among veterans.

“We’re getting a lot of calls from VA organizations to help these young veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan,” Revelle said. “Some of them are homeless as well as just totally down on their luck. One gentleman in Alton lost his home and they condemned it and he was put out on the street.

“The VA was assisting him to try to get him back on his feet and his family was paying the bill for him to stay at a hotel in Alton. As long as the family was financially supporting him, the VA couldn’t really do anything for him, and it took financial assistance from an organization like us, and we paid for his lodging so he could qualify through VA to get complete support.”

Another case involved a homeless 23-year-old veteran in Belleville.

“The VA in Belleville paid a week’s lodging for him, and they couldn’t pay anymore,” Revelle said. “His parents were divorced, and he was having a hard time mentally, physically and emotionally.

“They were able to get him a job and they were looking to find an apartment for him, but they needed some more time. We stepped up and paid for his lodging for another week.”

Revelle noted that the different circumstances surrounding each homeless veteran make the problem even more difficult to solve.

“We know that some veterans are homeless because that’s what they want to be and they’re not going to go to a shelter,” Revelle said. “Some of them have money, but they choose to not be part of society because of their situation, whether it’s (drug or alcohol) dependency, PTSD or something else. We’re there for those guys as well, but we’re not going to infringe upon their privacy.

“There are other people that are just totally down on their luck, and we want to be there for them. We work with VA assistance and there’s a network called Chestnut Health Systems that calls us, and because of our funding from the golf tournament, we’re able to help these veterans.”

For more information about Veterans Caring for Veterans, call Oak Brook Golf Club at 618-656-5600 or email Revelle at gwrevelle@yahoo.com .

For next year’s golf tournament, Revelle urges people to sign up early.

“On Sept. 1, we’ll have a signup sheet for teams and this year we filled up in six days,” Revelle said. “We could have two or three tournaments, but we don’t have the volunteer base to do that.

“We appreciate all of the local sponsors, both individuals and corporate sponsors. They step up to support our veterans and we are a local organization. We support Madison, St. Clair, Bond and Macoupin counties, wherever our veterans need help.”