PRESIDENT	1st VICE PRESIDENT	2nd VICE PRESIDENT	SECRETARY - TREASURER
Francis Oliff	Ben Self	Edward Flynn	George Kenney
410-798-5011	301-577-4201	301-253-0729	301-567-3321
foliff@verizon.net	yourselfs@aol.com	fwii885@aol.com	irish508@aol.com

rfanews@comcast.net

"READY THEN - READY NOW"

 This is here for your use.

Please send anything you would like to add to rfanews@comcast.net

Wally has done it again!

He has painstakingly search the Florida coast line to find us the perfect place to have our reunion. He has chosen the a location that he hopes will draw all Floridians.  So lets show Wally how much we appreciate all the word he does by showing up.

Rooms features micro-fridge, iron, coffee makers, hair dryer,  and private balconies.

Free internet, 27" TV's with cable and HBO

The Florida Reunion this year will be held on November 4, 5, and 6^th, 2011 at the Plaza Ocean Club in Daytona Beach, Florida. 

All rooms have Ocean Views from the balconies and are priced at $79.00 per night.  If you want an Oceanfront room the cost goes up to $119.00 per night.  These rates are good until September 29^th, 2011, after this date neither rate or availability can be assured.  These rates are good for three days before and three days after the reunion.  The number to call for reservations is: 1-800-874-7420.  When  you call tell them you are with the RETIRED DC FIREFIGHTERS REUNION to receive this rate.  Check-in time if 4:00 PM and Check-out time is 11:00 AM.  There is an optional charge of $2.00 per person or $4.00 per room per night, this is for the housekeepers.  Normally there is a $5.00 per day parking fee but this has been waived for our group.  Golf outing will be planned depending on how many wish to play on Saturday Nov. 5^th. 

The hospitality room will be open from 4:00PM until 6:00PM on Friday and 1:00PM until 5:00PM on Saturday.  I have enclosed a copy of the menu for Saturday’s dinner and Sunday’s Breakfast.  I need a count of how many meals will be needed by Sept. 30, 2011.  If we tell them we need so many meals and then some don’t show, I will be responsible to pay for the no-shows.

For those of you who have enjoyed the Best Western at Punta Gorda for the last few years, I changed the location for two reasons: 

One:  To give the guys on the East Coast more incentive to attend.   Second and most important there was an item in the financial section of our local paper that said that the Best Western had missed mortgage payments to the tune of Six Million Dollars and I didn’t want to take the chance that we would pay for reservations and show up to find the doors locked.

I sincerely hope that we have a good turn-out so we can establish a good relationship with this hotel.  Daytona Beach is beautiful with good restaurants and activities.

Hope to see you there.

Fraternally

Wally

Name__________________________________________________________

Number attending ____________________

Stay at Hotel? ________________________

Golf? _______________________________

Please send $75.00 per person to:

Wally Adkinson

1424 SE  4^th St.

Cape Coral FL  33990

Any questions call Wally at 239-284-9153

(For a printable copy of the application click here)

The Kenneth M. Cox Building.

Plus, details of a legendary fire in the Nation's Capital in 1971.

SPECIAL OFFER – Open a BB&T Checking account today with a special package of health, security, travel and entertainment benefits, specifically for the Retired Firefighters Association of DC.  Call Brenda Holdridge, 301-829-5625 for more information.

BB&T, Member FDIC. Only Deposit products are FDIC insured.

Call Box Dedicated In Memory of Tommy Turner

June 26, 2011: Photos by Elliot J Goodman, Story by: Sunlen Miller-WJLA

When ten-year-old Patricia Anne Wyne kissed her father goodbye forty years ago today, as she did each morning before he left for work, she didn’t know then it would be for the last time.
Her father, Tommy Turner, was among the 100 firefighters who responded to a four-alarm warehouse fire on June 26, 1971.
Turner was the only man to lose his life that day.

Today in Northwest, Washington, DC Turner’s life was celebrated and commemorated at his old firehouse – on 13th street – Engine 16, to mark the anniversary of his Line of Duty death..

The firehouse dedicated an old-fashioned emergency call box in his honor, displayed prominently on the side of the fire station in bright red, and gold. The station hopes that as people walk by they will read his name on the plaque, ask about his story, and be reminded of the daily contribution that firefighters make each time they risk their life in the line of duty.

Twenty-nine year firefighting veteran Michael Tippet was with Turner when he died, a fellow firefighter from the same company. They had fought many fires together over the years, but that fateful day would be Turner’s very last one.

“There hasn’t been a day that goes by since that happened that I haven’t thought about,” Michael Tippett said today, still emotional even years later.

A brick wall collapsed on Turner while he was fighting what seemed like a losing battle against an unwieldy curtain of flames, overpowering the majority of a multi-floor warehouse. 
 

“its total grief, absolute grief and why. Why wasn’t this building demolished, why did this have to happen?” Tippett still wonders out loud today, noting that just weeks after Turner’s death the same empty warehouse that he had tried to save was demolished.

At the Engine 16 Firehouse today, Turner’s life was celebrated with family, friends, and his old firehouse buddies, now retired, coming out to pay tribute to his contribution to the city and to the history of their fire station.

“This story could have ended 40 years ago, Tommy could have sacrificed the way he did, been killed, they could have had a funeral and that would have been the end of it,” David Goldsmith Jr, a current firefighter in the firehouse said today, “ But it’s important to me that people remember our past. Not just the history of this Engine House, and the fire department in general but the people who were integral in making this fire house was it was.”

Friends and family described Turner as a “family man,” the firehouse cook and a practical jokester.

His daughter hopes that today’s ceremony will serve as a reminder for all who risk and serve.

“I would hope that they would think that there are heroes out there who risk their lives every day for us, and I would hope they would have more respect for the institution,” Wyne said, “I’m very honored and very proud.”

Thanks to  DCFD.com

To order, click on the badge and print the form, fill it out and send to the address on the form.

Reunion Pictures

Taken by the renowned

Mexican Photographer

Marion Sanchez

Click here