officer candidate, and with

a 3.64 GPA in Engineer-

ing, he was the best quali-

fied Navy option Senior

student to receive the

sword!

The Greater Kansas

City Council of the United

States Navy League

awarded its annual scholar-

ship to Midshipman 2/C

Marley Fisher at the April

15, 2015 KU-ROTC,

awards ceremony at the Uni-

versity of Kansas.

Midshipman Fisher is a

Pre-Med student from Con-

way Springs, KS majoring in

Human Biology. She is a

Junior who hopes to pursue a

Navy career in medicine as a

physician.

The Admiral Miller

Sword was presented to Of-

ficer Candidate Jeremiah

Karczewski, an active duty

sailor who was selected to

participate in the STA-21

program.

He was commissioned an

Ensign on April 18th and

will train as a Surface Nu-

clear Warfare Officer. As

the KUROTC Battalion Ex-

ecutive Officer, a STA-21

June 1, 2015

Membership Info:

Jack Rush

jackrush7376@gmail.com

913.219.7460

Meeting Info:

Ward Cook

816-210-3276

ward@cozadcompany.com

Where did you grow up?

I grew up on a family farm in

Knoxville, Iowa. My family

operated a dairy and I was out

of bed at 4 AM every morning

caring for the cows.

Where did you go to school?

I went to the University Of

Iowa for one year and then

joined the Navy Cadet pro-

gram in 1943 during World

War II. After the war, I com-

pleted my education at the Uni-

versity Of Oklahoma. I have a

masters degree in business ad-

ministration and am a Certifi-

cated Public Accountant.

How long have you been mar-

ried?

I have been married for 67

years. I met Betty when she

(Continued on page 2)

Member Profile

Joe Dwigans - Aviator Extraordinaire

MDSN 2/C Marley Fisher receiv-ing $1,000 scholarship from Ron Brooks

Officer Candidate Jeremiah Karczewski receiving Admiral Miller Sword from Ron Brooks

Navy League Recognition for

University of Kansas ROTC Students

Lt. Joe Dwigans, USN

Volume 3

P a g e 2

Joe Dwigans Profile (continued)

Presidents Message Spring is the time for cele-

brating the winter’s work. Na-

ture does that with buds, blos-

soms, and flowers. People do it

with graduations, awards and

commissionings. It’s all to cele-

brate successful achievement.

We do it to reward and encour-

age. We take time to honor the

efforts of those who are taking

their place around us. We do it

with pride and happiness. Our

Sea Cadets were featured in the

last issue. In this issue we fea-

ture the NJROTC programs and

MCJROTC Programs our

Greater Kansas City Council

sponsors. There are several arti-

cles about them in this issue. We

are pleased to have presented six

medals and five plaques this year

to the units we sponsor. Some of

their achievements are in the sto-

ries you will read here. One of

them was written by Mark

Rakestraw, the Instructor of Na-

val Science at Shawnee Heights

High School in Tecumseh, Kan-

sas. There is also a profile to

honor the achievement of Joe

Dwigans who served our country

well in uniform earlier in life and

continues to serve as a member

of our Board of Directors. It is

another premier issue describ-

ing the work our Council does

locally. We are not only fo-

cused on national and world

issues, but the community in

which we live and serve. We

care about the lives of our chil-

dren and youth. We need your

help to be involved in formation

of sea service values in the lives

of generations to come. If you

have not donated this year,

write a check to Navy League

Kansas City and mail it to our

address in this newsletter.

Ron Brooks, President

Did you fly combat missions?

No. The war ended before I could fly

missions for the invasion of Japan.

What kind of airplanes did you fly?

I was trained in the SB2C Helldiver

for the invasion of Japan. After the

war and active in the reserves, I flew

a number of airplanes including the

F4U Corsair and the F9F Cougar.

SB2C Helldiver

What was your favorite airplane to

fly?

My favorite was the F4U Corsair. It

had a 2,000 horsepower engine, gull

shaped wings, and a top speed of 450

miles per hour. There were six fifty

caliber machine guns--a lot of fire-

power. I did most of my U.S. Navy

flying at the Dallas Naval Air Sta-

tion.

F4U Corsair

What was it like to land on an air-

craft carrier?

We were trained well and it was not a

problem.

Did you ever have frightening mo-

ments flying the Corsair? Yes. Once while night flying near

San Francisco, the cowling broke,

and the Corsair became a "bucking

bronco". I nursed the airplane back,

missed the Oakland bridge, and

landed safely.

When I was flying the F9F Cougar, I

took off from the Dallas Naval Air

Station, and the hydraulic system

failed. I guided the aircraft using the

rudder and adjusting engine power.

The ground crew placed arresting

cables across the runway, I dropped

was a school teacher in Knoxville,

Iowa.

What about your family?

I have three daughters and one son

and seven grandchildren and five

great grandchildren. My son Dean is

a retired U.S. Navy Captain and was

a JAG officer.

Joe and betty Dwigans with their

granddaughter

Dwigans Profile (cont.)

P a g e 3 J u n e 1 , 2 0 1 5

the tail hook, caught a cable, and

landed safely.

How long did you serve in the U.S.

Navy?

I retired after 26 years as a Lieutenant

Commander. I was working in Iowa

for the Panhandle Pipeline Company

and was transferred to Kansas City

in 1960. A few years later, I was

hired by Kansas City Power and

Light Company and worked as a

CPA until 1989.

As I write my first reflection in our

newsletter, I pay tribute to a former

Navy priest-chaplain, Archbishop

Joseph T. Dimino, 7 January to 25

November 2014.

The setting was one of those idyllic

beaches in Vietnam. The war seemed

far away. Father Dimino and his

chaplain's assistants had organized a

picnic for the Marines of their

unit. The meat was on the grill and

the Marines were swimming and

horsing around in the surf when they

came under attack from small arms

fire. Marines being Marines, they

quickly took the situation in hand,

but not before several of them were

wounded, one of them very seriously.

With the Marine in his arms, Father

Dimino gave absolution and assured

him that the corpsmen were on the

way. The young man smiled at him

and said: "You know, Father, I was

an altar boy." The future Archbishop

responded with those Latin words

from Psalm 43 so familiar to any

Catholic boy who grew up serving

the tradit ional form of the

Mass: "Introibo ad altare Dei (I will

go the altar of God.)" The Marine

replied: "Ad Deum qui laetificat ju-

ventutem mean (To God who gives

joy to my youth)." And with those

words on his lips he died.

This vignette from a war fought half

a century ago goes to the heart of

what it means to be a priest serving

with our Armed Forces.

Fr. Jerry Spenser

Another tier of Navy League Pro-

grams for the youth of our communi-

ties are found in our high schools.

There are three of them, NJROTC,

Navy Junior Reserve Officer Train-

ing Corps; NNDCC, Navy National

Defense Cade t Corps ; and

MCJROTC for the Marine Corps

program which is sometimes known

as Young Marines. All requirements

are set up nationally in conjunction

with Naval Service Training Com-

mand or Marine Corps Training and

Education Command, but are admin-

istered locally by either a Naval Sci-

ence Instructor or a Marine Corps

Military Science Instructor.

These programs are all designed to

instill our Core Values in the students

they serve and to create respect for

the Sea Services to which they be-

long. We find these young people in

our local communities and work with

them through local educational insti-

tutions. We want to encourage the

development of personal integrity

and a spirit of patriotism.

There are two national competitions

in April. One is held in Pensacola

currently and includes Academics,

Athletics and Drill Championships.

This is a three day examination of

their training and performance. At

least one of the units we sponsor,

Shawnee Mission North NJROTC

went to Pensacola with about a hun-

dred cadets and performed with hon-

ors. The night of their Awards Pro-

gram held at home in their high

school, they provided a 45 minute

demonstration of close order preci-

sion drills with weapons and flags as

they marched in formation in the

gymnasium. It was an awesome sight

and conducted as well as any drill

team exhibition. The second national

competition for units is completed by

the Managers of the Eleven Regions

where they are located. There are two

winning units in this competition:

Most Outstanding in the Nation and

Most Improved in the Nation. There

are trophies, plaques and medals for

all.

The local awards we present at their

events include a Cadet of the Year

Plaque and the Theodore Roosevelt

Youth Medal which includes a rib-

bon, certificate and a pamphlet ex-

plaining the medal and the require-

ments they met which qualifies them

to wear it. It is usually awarded in

the cadets junior year so they may

wear it the final year of enrollment in

the program.

These cadets start their day early,

usually at the high school by 0600

hours. It takes a lot of dedication to

excel by both the cadets and their

parents. They are by no means aver-

age students. We will arrange to

have some of them attend one of our

Council meetings while they are out

of school this summer. You can be

proud of this program and of their

achievements.

Chaplains Corner

Junior Reserve

Officer Training

Programs

the “JUMS” JROTC computer sys-

tem which is the master database

used by the Navy to record supply

and administrative actions. I antici-

pate that Hunter will be an out-

s t a n d i n g e x e c u t i ve a s s i s -

tant.” (LCDR Mark Rakestraw)

Hunter intends to complete his sen-

ior year at Shawnee Heights and is

interested in pursuing a business

degree in accounting.

Cadet Ensign

Hunter Rieman

Receives Navy League

Youth Award Shawnee Heights High School’s

Navy National Defense Cadet

Corps held their annual, end-of-

year, awards banquet on the eve-

ning of April 17, 2015. A family-

style, buffet dinner was provided

and we were pleased to host Mr.

Ron Brooks of the Navy League of

Kansas City who presented a Youth

Award to Cadet Ensign Hunter Rie-

man.

Hunter, a Junior, has been active in

the Shawnee Heights High School

NNDCC for 3 years. He has been a

cornerstone of the community color

guard unit and participates actively

on the unit drill teams. During staff

announcements during the cere-

mony, Hunter was selected to be the

unit’s Administration Officer.

“In the short time that Hunter has

been assigned as the ADMIN O, he

has been very proactive in learning

Your Sea Cadets

NAVY LEAGUE OF THE UNITED STATES Post Office Box 411361 Kansas City, Missouri 64141

For up-to-date information on our monthly

meeting and programs, visit our website

http://www.navyleaguekansascity.org/

Ron Brooks, Navy League Presi-

dent presents Youth Award to Cadet

Ensign Hunter Rieman.

Last weekend our Harry S. Truman

Sea Cadet Squadron won first

place among five other units.

There were six areas of competi-

tion at Camp Clark in a Regional

Event called Flagship. The six

areas included: Physical Readi-

ness, Regular Drill Marching,

Color Guard, Land Navigation,

First Aid, and Knot Tying.

Good performance shows good

leadership from both Adults and

Cadets. If you know a Cadet or

Leader pass along our pride! Nice

Work Everybody!!

Ron Brooks, President