For Your Information
The Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs does not endorse the organizations sponsoring these events, and we do not endorse the views they express or the products/services they offer. The views and opinions expressed in any referenced document do not necessarily state or reflect those of MDVA. The information provided is intended for your general knowledge only, and serves solely as a MDVA community outreach effort.
 Niki Falzone, who served in the Marine Corps is the Executive Director of the Platoon 22 Veteran Service Center in Frederick. She was recently honored by Governor Moore in a citation which reads:
"Greetings, be it known, because of your demonstration of high integrity and ability, meriting our great trust and respect, we are more than pleased to award you the Governors Citation in appreciation of your outstanding services to the citizens of this state."
Community Calendar
January 16, 2024
JobZone Job Fair, Patuxent River, both in-person and virtual
January 17, 2024
VA Wellness Wednesday Financial Education
January 18, 2024
Maryland's Commitment to Veterans Monthly Workshop: Innovations in Suicide Risk Screening, Assessment and Treatment, Registration
JobZone Job Fair, Upper Marlboro, both in-person and virtual
January 19-21, 2024
Small Business Administration Baltimore Metro Women's Business Center Accelerate to Success; Barbara A Robinson Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program January 19 -21, 2024. More Information.
January 27, 2024
Women Veterans Meet & Greet, North East
The Mission Continues Baltimore Platoon MLK Day of Service, Baltimore
February 14, 2024
Show Your Love Veterans Valentine's Day event, Washington, DC
February 17, 2024
24th Annual Buffalo Soldiers Memorial Banquet, Baltimore
Community News
The Mission Continues Baltimore Platoon is seeking volunteers for a MLK Day of Service on January 27th at the Filbert Street Garden in Curtis Bay. Read More Here
Mission Beelieve's Intro Beekeeping Course is opening for Spring 2024. The course is offered virtually through Zoom.
Learn More about the Baltimore Veterans Treatment Court and volunteer to be a Mentor
Harford County offers Rental Assistance for Veterans & Veteran Households
The Maryland Center for Veterans Employment & Training (MCVET) offers services to Homeless Veterans and Workforce Development programs , More Information
TALMAR is offering farming internships to Veterans
JTCC Adaptive Tennis Program offers tennis opportunities for Veterans, active duty service members and their families
The Montgomery County Commission on Veterans Affairs is celebrating Black History Month by honoring Montgomery County Residents who served in the U. S. Armed and Uniformed Services. Learn More Here and Submit a Tribute
News from Project Opportunity
Project Opportunity, which provides FREE entrepreneur training for Veterans has opened enrollment for the Spring session:
Veteran Training in Montgomery County, Takoma Park
Veteran Training in Prince Georges County, Largo
Veteran Training in the Eastern Shore Region, Snow Hill and Salisbury
Spouses of Veterans, Active Duty and Guard/Reserve Personnel Training, Havre de Grace
News from Community Building Art Works
Brain Doodles: Neuroart to Calm the Mind - Wednesday, January 24th at 7pm EST (Virtual)
Join Artist, Angie Ebba to learn about a free-form way of doodling to calm the mind. In this workshop we will learn about this form of art and create our own mindful doodles.This workshop is a creative exploration; no prior artistic experience needed! Bring any materials you have available to you. Register HERE.
Military Spouses, Caregivers & Veterans Writing Workshop - 1st & 3rd Thursdays at 3:30pm EST (Virtual)
Join author Laura Van Prooyen on the first and third Thursdays at 3:30pm EST to learn how to use writing as a tool to communicate, self-discover, and reflect in our series in partnership with Blue Star Families. Register at https://bsfcbaw_writing.eventbrite.com.
Poetry as Intimacy with the World with Brandon Wint - January 18th at 7pm EST (Virtual)
In this workshop with Canadian poet and spoken word artist Brandon Wint, we will explore the varied ways that the acts of thinking, feeling and writing poetically create opportunities to experience the world more attentively and intimately. We will use the possibilities of language as a means of prompting new intimacies within the scope of our daily lives. Register HERE.
More Than One Story - Next Virtual Orientation January 9th
Our monthly program for Women and Non-Binary Military has begun, but if you are still interested in participating, it's not too late. Interested individuals must attend an upcoming orientation to participate. Visit www.cbaw.org/mtos for more details.
Visit www.cbaw.org to learn more about Community Building Art Works.
At ServingTogether we provide local veteran resources, information and services to Active Duty service members, Veterans, Family members and Caregiver in the DMV region. We do this through Coordinated care, Community education and our Collaborative. Below you will find some information on all three approaches of care and outreach
Community Resources
ServingTogether, a program of EveryMind, was launched in 2011 to coordinate community-based resources for service members, veterans and their families in the MD/NoVa/DC region. Our mission is to make it easier for all those who have served in the Armed Forces, National Guard or Reserves, and their families to access the local services they need.
We are affiliated with a larger network of coordinated care, with the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) initiative called AmericaServes. We are one of 18 communities throughout the United States serving as a hub of health and human service related providers. The goal is to help reduce down the number of times a veteran or military-connected individual has to get bounced around to different providers or lost in seeking to find the right resource. This also allows us to be connected to a broader community of providers throughout the United States, and refer veterans to the closest provider to their community.
ServingTogether’s Peer Navigators connect service members, veterans, their family members and caregivers, regardless of rank, service era or discharge status, to specific resources to best fit their needs. From benefits and education assistance to financial, health care, legal and employment resources, ServingTogether’s staff connects military and veterans with opportunities and resources they may not even be aware of in the area.
To contact the Peer Navigators, please visit www.servingtogetherproject.org and complete the Get Assistance form on the website, or call 1-855-738-7176.
Community Education
ServingTogether works to educate the entire DMV community on the needs of military and veterans in the National Capital Region. Since 2012, ServingTogether staff has been trained to provide Mental Health First Aid workshops focusing on Military, Veterans and their Families. Mental Health First Aid teaches the warning signs of mental illness and addiction, as well as how to help someone experiencing a mental health related crisis. By attending a Military/Veteran Mental Health First Aid, our military and veterans become more aware of the support available in their community and help to break down the stigma associated with mental illness. To date, ServingTogether has trained over 650 Mental Health First Aiders in how to better understand military culture and the unique needs of our military and veteran populations, especially to support improved mental wellness. ServingTogether is funded to provide 4 Military/Veteran Mental Health First Aid workshops per year.
We are also connected to various experts in the region and can work to coordinate a workshop or training to meet the needs of providers and community stakeholders in the National Capital Area.
Visit www.ServingTogetherProject.org for upcoming events, information, helpful guides & checklists, and more. Sign up for our weekly newsletter that highlights events and information pertinent to the veteran population in the National Capital Region.
Community Collaboration
ServingTogether helps to coordinate or is members of various Collaboratives, Committees and Councils related to our military and veteran community. We chair 5 community collaboratives which provide an opportunity to network, share, learn and interconnect to other area community providers. To learn more about them, visit: https://servingtogetherproject.org/collaboratives/
Pilot, Prisoner, Soldier, Spy
Here is the fourth installment of the story of Colonel Arthur Shreve, written by his granddaughter, Heather Shreve.
Part IV: Soldier to Survivor:
Arthur, now 98 pounds, prepares to abandon ship and peers down to the waters of Subic Bay from the deck of the Oryoku Maru. With shoes draped around his neck and his few belongings, he contemplates the 55-foot drop, four stories, holds his nose and jumps. In his diaries he writes he plunged fifteen feet below the surface and… ‘my impact with the water was so great that my pistol belt became unhooked and I lost my canteen and mess kit…”
Once surfaced, he considers escape but quickly realizes swimming for shore (a third of a mile away) is the only option. Near the beach in shallow waters, the Japanese on shore open up machine gun fire on the POWs they think haven’t come directly from the ship. Stunned, Arthur urges everyone to shore…
Arthur looks back at the burning ship. POWs are still on board, so he grabs a piece of floating hatch cover and paddles “Hawaiian” style back to the ship where Japanese are herding, pushing, and shooting POWs unwilling to jump. Arthur urges the men who can’t swim to jump. Four men do, and Arthur pushes them back to shore clinging to the hatch cover.
While he’s out there, he grabs another canteen and mess kit. From shore, they watch the ship go down…
After a brief respite and water from one spigot, the Japanese herd the remaining prisoners onto the Subic Bay Naval Station’s tennis court where they languish in the broiling sun. Arthur rations water from his canteen to men with fevers first. Things are so dire that COL Schwartz, another senior medic/surgeon, is amputating a young marine’s arm with a razor blade.
After five days, they are only issued three level mess spoons of uncooked rice each day. With Engelhart as interpreter, Arthur insists Japanese Command give the men more food, water, and clothes, as many are nearly naked.
On Christmas Eve, (1944 ) after a brief stay in San Fernando prison, the POWS are moved to the train station―190 men crammed into train cars meant for 80. The Japanese strap the sickest POWs to the train roof. Riddled with bullet holes from the US Navy, it’s the only way the POWs receive oxygen.
Arthur and the survivors are placed on the Enoura Maru in the Lingayen Gulf and finally receive food of some substance. On January 9, Arthur reports in his diary that David Babcock sits on his right and LT Roberts on his left when the attack comes…bombed again by the US Navy.
The ship’s hull crumples like paper and shatters into chards of steel, shearing men in half. Babcock has a serious chest wound and Roberts is decapitated. The top deck falls to the second deck killing 300 dead and wounding 250 more. Arthur, unscathed, helps Babcock and others to safety as sea water rushes in.
The last 800 POWs are put on a third ship―the Brazil Maru. Out at sea, it's snowing and below deck, POWs are freezing on cold steel huddled together under one grass mat issued for every four men. Arthur and Johnny maintain order and parse out their meager rations. Arthur writes checks to acquire medicine for Babcock, Marshall Hurt, and others.
Babcock is deteriorating so Johnny trades his West Point ring with a Japanese guard for one more grass mat. Regardless, Arthur wakes to find Babcock thing. – He gathers his personal effects as well as all the effects of all his friends and puts them in a Red Cross box.
For the next seven months my grandfather is imprisoned at Camp Fukuoka (Japan) and then Jinsen, Korea doing menial work for a worker's ration. He uses glasses from the deceased to sew buttons on cheap Japanese clothing and scrubs floors. At one point, COL North tells Arthur there is no medical reason he should still be alive.
In May 1945, Bill uses their secret communications to unearth the diaries in Cabanatuan. Back in San Francisco, he transcribes them for the War Department.
After the bombs at Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the Japanese commander at Jinsen surrenders to Arthur. Family legend adds that he handed over his samurai sword as well. On September 7, 1945 Arthur and less than 350 men are evacuated from Korea along with the effects of his fallen brothers―Ganahl, Babcock, Hurt, Lightfoot, Lindsay, and so many more.
Before Arthur arrives on the West Coast, he sends flowers to Julia with a simple note: ‘From the boy whose only joy is loving you..,” a line from a favorite song Remember Me. After a medical evaluation, he calls Julia from San Francisco. They decide to meet in the middle at their favorite hotel, the Palmer House in Chicago. What a reunion that must have been!
Arthur walks across the threshold at Our Decision farm October 25, 1945―four years to the day. After a brief rest, Arthur goes back to work for the army…
To be Continued…
For more photos and information
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