Barbara Benard New Dept of PA President

Barbara Benard of Columbia PA and National Banner Guard, has been elected President of the Dept of Pennsylvania, AGSM at the 2009 Department Convention.

Front row L to R Carol Fahnestock, Theda Gleixner,
Barbara Benard, Anna Dahr, Joan Reid.
Back row L to R Pat Geiger, Alzrio Mc Donald, Helen Seifert,
Irene Gertzen, Cher Kondor, Peggy Morrison.

Top row: Tom Leisher from Honor and Remember, Inc. presenting Peggy Morrison, from the Greater Harrisburg Chapter, with a personalized flag for her son Nicholas Morrison and Barb Benard reading the Honor and Remember certificate.

Bottom row: Tom Leisher from Honor and Remember, Inc. presenting Irene Gertzen, from the Greater Harrisburg Chapter, with a personalized flag for her son Barry Gertzen and Barb Benard reading the Honor and Remember certificate.

PennDOT Introduces Branch of Service Veteran License Plates

HARRISBURG, Pa., Nov. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ - Honorably discharged veterans of the United States Armed Forces have a new way to proudly display their service as PennDOT today announced the availability of a new series of military license plates honoring veterans of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. "On any given day, members of our armed forces are serving around the globe protecting our freedom," said PennDOT Secretary Allen D. Biehler, P.E. "PennDOT is pleased to announce this new series of military plates recognizing their sacrifices in service to our nation." The new plates feature the standard Pennsylvania license plate colors of blue, white and yellow along with the applicable branch of service emblem or logo on the left side of the plate. Pennsylvania is printed at the top of the plate, with the name of the applicable branch of service at the bottom. To obtain one of these plates, honorably discharged veterans must complete and mail Form MV-150, Application for U.S. Military Veteran Registration Plate, to PennDOT and include a certified copy of their DD-214, along with a $20 fee. Form MV-150 is available on PennDOT's Driver and Vehicle Services Web site, www.dmv.state.pa.us, via the Military License Plates link under the Military Personnel/Veterans Information Center. Additional information and images of the new license plates are also available on this Web page.

Pennsylvania adopts Honor and Remember Flag as an official symbol commemorating fallen servicepersons.

June 2, 2009

The American Gold Star Mothers have endorsed the Honor and Remember Flag as an official symbol commemorating fallen servicepersons. We attended a session of the PA House of Representatives when they took a vote to adopt resolution HR 275 for the Honor and Remember Flag. The resolution was passed unanimously and a copy was sent to Congress to adopt the Honor and Remember Flag as a national symbol of gratitude and respect for all those brave men and women who have died while in service to our country. This encompasses all those from the revolutionary war to the present.

Representative Rob Kauffman (lower left) introduced the bill. Attending the session were: back row  left to right, Gold Star Mothers Cher Kondor, Ruth Stonesifer, and Peggy Morrison. Front row left to right is Tom Leisher from Honor and Remember, Inc, Gold Star Mother Barb Benard, and George Lutz the founder of Honor and Remember, Inc.

Pennsylvania is the first state to recognize the Honor and Remember Flag by passing a resolution. Several cities in PA have also adopted this flag; Chambersburg, Lancaster, York, and Orrstown. There are several other cities or townships that are working on resolutions for the flag.