The SAR MAGAZINE is the official quarterly publication of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution published quarterly.
Issue link: http://sar.epubxp.com/i/374815
34 SAR MAGAZINE By Rick Kincaid, NSSAR Program Director, Operation Ancestor Search O peration Ancestor Search (OAS) now is truly operating from coast to coast! With the most recent additions of the Naval Medical Center San Diego (Balboa Naval Hospital) and the nearby Camp Pendleton Marine Base hospital, as well as the James A. Haley VA Medical Center's Polytrauma Center in Tampa, Fla., the program has expanded from the East Coast to the West Coast and points in between. OAS is a free NSSAR genealogy training program for wounded warriors and their families and caregivers in military hospitals and VA Medical Centers across the country. It helps participants learn to conduct their own family history research as they recover from their injuries. It is an exclusive program of the NSSAR, made possible through a grant from Ancestry.com. The OAS National Committee evolved from a local program developed at the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center (now the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center) by the DCSSAR. The program proved so successful that Ancestry.com became the major national sponsor, contributing a grant to fund the program director's position, free subscriptions to the participants and support materials. We also have a collaborative partnership with Family Search through its LDS Family History Centers and consul- tants across the country. The Federation of Genealogical Societies is a national collaborative partner and has encour- aged its member societies and libraries to assist our SAR chapters in any way possible with the OAS program. The OAS program is conducted through SAR state societies and local chapters and their volunteer members. Program founder Carl B. Bedell of Arlington, Va., presides over the OAS National Committee. Each state society is asked to name its own OAS chairman to spearhead these efforts and coordinate each state's programs. State chairmen serve as ex-officio members of the national committee. State and local OAS committee members are dedicated volunteers who desire to share the genealogy expertise within the SAR to give something back to our wounded warriors who were injured in their service to our nation. They provide injured service members with the knowledge and tools they need to conduct their own genealogy research in training classes, work sessions, individual hands-on assistance, and most notably, access to Ancestry. com databases. The San Diego Chapter, through the efforts of President Ray Raser, Chaplain Stan DeLong (former chaplain at Balboa) and others, formed a unique coalition with members of the Southern California Genealogical Council to provide one-on-one training consultations with the OAS program participants. Raser also has been named CASSAR OAS chairman. The program already has expanded to Camp Pendleton, and Raser is looking forward to even greater expansion throughout the state. The FLSSAR has experienced similar success at the Haley VA Polytrauma Center in Tampa through the efforts of Parks Honeywell, genealogist/registrar and past president of the Clearwater Chapter, and fellow Compatriot Patrick Niemann. Honeywell responded to an email from State OAS Chairman Steve Brook of West Palm Beach and immediately took the lead in cultivating the center's leaders and the director of the recreational rehabilitation therapy teams who work directly with the wounded warriors. The recently renovated and expanded Haley Center in Tampa is the largest of the five VA Polytrauma Centers in the country. Our compatriots also are in the process of expanding the program across Tampa Bay to the Bay Pines VA Medical Center, which serves a somewhat similar patient population but on a much smaller scale. Compatriot Honeywell is a dual member of the Empire State Society's Saratoga Battle chapter and was at his vacation home in upstate New York this summer. As further demonstration of his commitment to the OAS program, before he left Florida, he contacted some of his OAS counterparts with the ESSAR and helped them develop the program while he was "vacationing." • • • • • • If you are interested in helping with Operation Ancestor Search at the state or local level, please contact your state OAS chairman. If your state society does not yet have an OAS chairman, or if you do not know, please contact your state president if you are interested in serving in that capacity. For additional information on how you may get involved with the OAS program, please contact Rick Kincaid, National Program Director, at rkincaid@sar.org or (502) 588-6147. P resident General Judge Ed Butler (2009-10), right, represented President General Joseph W. Dooley at the Thomas Jefferson birthday celebration at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., on April 13. PG Butler placed an NSSAR wreath at the memorial. Compatriot David Hoover, MDSSAR, accompanied PG Butler with his flag. This is PG Butler's third consecutive year of participating in this ceremony. PG Dooley was representing the NSSAR at the state meeting in California. Celebrating Thomas Jefferson's Birthday O AS in Expansion Mode