Previous Story
3 vets to attend convention in Thailand
Three veterans from the CNMI will be attending the Veterans of Foreign Wars Department of Asia Pacific Convention from June 3 to 10 in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
VFW Post 3457 commander Mac Chargualaf, quartermaster Pete Callaghan, and district commander Dr. Ed Tudor will be attending the weeklong convention that will have various activities and seminars for war veterans in the Asia Pacific.
Chargualaf, who works as the safety officer of the Saipan Mayor’s Office, said there would also be a one-hour meeting to recognize the outstanding post and at the same time give out district awards.
Veterans in posts in Cambodia, Chinese-Taipei, Guam, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand will be joining the CNMI in the convention.
Chargualaf, who is also the logistics committee chair of the 2015 Liberation Day, has also called several meetings with his fellow Vietnam War veterans as there are plans to recognize them for the July 4 celebration.
There are plans that Vietnam War veterans would join the Liberation Day parade and they would stay in a tent reserved for them during the festivities. The tent will be just across the grandstand where the VIPs will be sitting.
There will also be a brief ceremony of giving the Vietnam War veterans commemorative pins to honor the service they gave. Vietnam War veterans are those who served or have been deployed from Nov. 1, 1955 to May 15, 1975.
Chargualaf said you still qualify as a veteran even though you were not deployed and just worked in a military base or in the office.
Former Senate president Pete Reyes and Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang are also Vietnam War veterans, joining about 30 more in the CNMI.
