Fellow and lady members, and friends -
Jake Feaster tells me that there is a rumor racing through the organization that “Lou has a tumor,” meaning
Lou Dechert. So I told him that I would reassure everyone, to the extent that I could do so. The man with
the pending diagnosis right now is Director Lee Dauster. The results of the pathology report on the
tumor removed from Lee’s throat and vocal cords last week has not been available to Lee and his family,
yet. So there is the anxiety of waiting. Military parachutists among our members will tell you that waiting
to jump is the worse part. So it is right now with Lee, waiting on a report. God bless you, friend and comrade.
I mentioned to someone else—and I believe that mention might have become the rumor of my own tumor operation—that
I know the anxiety that Lee is going through and tried to reassure him that he had been in tougher places.
I mentioned my own thyroid surgery in 1989 which was to remove two parathyroid glands, but which discovered
a tumor—which in the operating room was diagnosed benign—so they only took out half the thyroid. Two days
later pathology revealed the tumor to be malignant. The tumor board at the Oregon Health Services, U of
O, met with me and decided it was too dangerous to again cut, so I have been on some suppressive medication
ever since—designed to kill the thyroid so that the cancer will not spread. So far so good.
As Lee’s brother (I believe that it was he) indicated, in spite of anything else that you have ever confronted,
hearing that “C” word increases anxiety. He is right and I certainly sympathize with any of you that are
going through that experience. May God’s grace be especially evident to you.
Our other infirm VIP at the moment is Don Finch. I talked with Don today and he sounds much better. He
will be in rehab for some time yet. Please keep on encouraging and praying for him. The cards to him are
beginning to come in and he appreciates them.
These are really great times for the KWVA, my friends, and greater times are ahead. I am personally disappointed
that a few of are taking unmerited shots at Art Sharp and The Graybeards, and the best issue of the magazine
that any of you have received in the last six years, so far as I am concerned.
There is no absolute freedom of speech in the world. Right now, this instant, I cannot speak
freely because I have an accountability to my Country, my family, and most of the 16,000+ members of
the KWVA. Each decision contrary to the one that we would have made, if we had the responsibility
for making it, is not censorship. We believe in, and try to practice, responsible and accountable
freedom of speech in our leadership actions. That may not please all, but it will gratify most. That
is as good as it gets in the present world, Art, and brother and sister members. Keep up the good work!
Thank you all for your faithfulness in membership. Remember our troops, and God bless America.
