There was a busy slate at Friday’s Puc Puggy Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution luncheon at Saddlebrook Recreation Center.
The group honored the Vietnam Veterans Club #1036 of The Villages, by awarding a certificate to the club’s founder and president for almost five years, Harry Lumpkin, who retired as a colonel from the U.S. Army.
During Lumpkin’s 26 years of military service, he served in Vietnam, and as an assistant professor of psychology at West Point Military Academy — where he counseled the first females admitted to the academy who were adjusting to their difficult challenges — not only a rigorous basic training and academic study curriculum, but of adapting to a transitioning environment where not everyone welcomed women.
“It is an honor to be here on behalf of all veterans — not just Vietnam veterans,” Lumpkin said. “Thank you for inviting me. There was a lot of anxiety in our nation when I joined the Army in 1969 — there were so many campus demonstrations against the Vietnam war; issues with race relations and gender equality. As a young 2nd Lieutenant I attended both Airborne and Ranger schooling — which prepared us for what we were expected to do. My wife, Connie, tried to keep a proud face as we went off to war.
“The first thing that greeted us when our plane landed was the sight of 50 flag-draped American caskets just before our helicopter picked us up,” Lumpkin continued. “That was not a good beginning. As a ranger, you are trained to drop behind enemy lines to identify targets — and the troops felt confident, with my ranger training, they had an officer who was qualified to lead them. I felt my church, my family and my community had us in their prayers.
“We were extremely fortunate in that we brought back all our soldiers alive to their mothers, wives and sweethearts. But when we returned home, we were not welcomed. We were spit upon by a nation who blamed the soldiers for the policies of our government. This made soldiers feel embarrassed. They didn’t want to be part of what our nation hated. Most soldiers took off their uniforms.”
In the four years Lumpkin passed by the Vietnam Wall in Washington D.C., when he worked as Gen. Colin Powell’s briefer at the Pentagon, he reflected on the 137 officers killed or wounded from his class of 201 men.
“The veterans were going through major trauma, and we were pouring all kinds of money into many things. Agent Orange, a herbicide used to strip away foliage so they could find the enemy, resulted in impacting the gene pool, which meant the children and grandchildren of the soldiers would be affected. This caused tremendous anxiety.
“Here in The Villages, we have learned to be proud of what we did. Our chapter #1036 of the American Vietnam Veterans Clubs was selected out of 550 chapters in the nation and given their ‘outstanding’ rating. I have never seen a place more patriotic than The Villages. Even with my bad old knees, I told Connie I was going to shuffle out and be in their parades. Here, 20-deep, people were cheering and thanking us for our service. That was amazing! The crowd made me wind up forgetting my pain and strutting my stuff. Villagers make all our veterans feel proud for putting their service above self.”
According to Lumpkin, Vietnam veterans have a new mission.
“We were used to looking up to World War II veterans as our heroes — but 98 percent of them have now passed on. The new nation of heroes include the Vietnam veterans — we walk with a different sense of pride and confidence now as new role models for our young people who are fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq and around the world. And I promise you, we will not let them go through what we went through. We will join with all the other veterans in partnership — what they did was for you, your family and for our nation. Freedom isn’t free — and we notice them, we appreciate them and we are thankful.”
Sandy Hecht and Martha Frain were sworn into The Villages Puc Puggy Chapter of the DAR by chaplain Barbara Bateman. Two additional new members, Deborah Belleveau and Marion Skowronsky, who were not in attendance, will also be added to the club’s roster.
For the upcoming year, Joan Hutter will be the new regent, moving up from vice regent. Brenda Weaver will be vice regent and Lucy Dowling will be the new second vice regent. Cindy Evans will fill the role of chaplain. Karen Carbonneau will serve as corresponding secretary, Margie Steele as recording secretary and Eloise Noble as treasurer. Sallie Kautz will continue as the group’s registrar; Sue Ade will be the new historian and Gayle Erskin will be the new parliamentarian.
The Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890. The Puc Puggy Chapter was organized in 1994 at Orange Blossom Country Club in The Villages by Carolyn Foster, with fourteen members. Present membership totals more than 135. The Chapter was named after research botanist, William Bartram, who lived with the Seminole Indians in the 1770s. They called him “Puc Puggy,” Seminole words meaning “flower hunter.” He discovered a native Florida flowering tree, which he named Franklinia, in honor of Benjamin Franklin.
At each monthly meeting, Puc Puggy Chapter members read William Tyler Page’s American’s Creed, written in 1917 and accepted by the U.S. House of Representatives on April 3, 1918. “I believe in the United States of America, as a government of the people, by the people and for the people, whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed — a democracy in a republic — a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable, established on the principles of freedom, equality, justice and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes. I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect it flag, and to defend it against all enemies.”