Friends Birthday Celebration

We wee invited to The Flores Home for Rose’s celebration with Family & Friends.  We used to live right by them and have kept close contact with them.  We had a great time and the party was great!

Rose and Art with all of their family!  Awesome family!

My Little Soldier Girl!

Lari began the 2nd semester of 6th Grade in ROTC.  She looks so cute! Very proud of you, Lari.

  

Grandpa is so proud of these girls. 

Driscoll, Texas

We try to make this annual event every year but last year, Manuel was pretty sick and we could not make it.  So glad we were able to make it this year.

This event is to honor PFC Leonel Aleman, Korean War, Killed in Action 9/11/1950 and SFC Richard M. Garcia, Vietnam War, Missing in Action March 19, 1971.

All Hometown Veterans are also honored during this event.  Here are some pictures of the event.

The Veterans Band directed by Mr. Ram Chavez prepare to perform.  The band is made up of Veterans from all branches of the Military. 

Jesse Aleman, Host of this very special event.

The Gold Star Families:  Gilbert & Debbie Garcia, Brother of SFC Garcia.

Frances Hernandez, Sister of SFC Garcia.

Esperanza Aleman, Sister of PFC Aleman.

Homer & Tina Aleman, Brother of PFC Aleman.

The Mayor of Driscoll, John Aguilar.  I missed taking his picture as he welcomed everyone to Driscoll.

 

My Brother, Jesse and My Niece, Elissa Molina who is the Driscoll Commissioner.  She gave an update on the renaming of two streets which is in the works.  Streets will  be renamed Aleman and Garcia. 

The Keynote Speaker, Amado Gonzales, Retired, Military Order of The Purple Heart.

He was a great speaker and had a lot of information on Aleman and Garcia’s backgrounds while in the Military.

The Gold Star Families receive the Laying of the Wreaths.

The Special Tribute to the MIA/POW is such a touching presentation.  It brings tears to many.

Then they called each of the military branches…  I missed the Army picture.

This was the US Marine Corp

The US Navy.

The US Air Force.

The Coast Guard/Merchant Marine.

All Military Veterans present….   Thank you Veterans!

There was a good attendance. 

The Patriot Riders are always present…  My Brother Jesse is a member of this group.

Cristian Aleman recording the program….

Mr. Ram Chavez has been a great mentor to my Brother, Jesse.  Thank you both for all you do.

The Nueces County Sherriff is always present at this function. 

Esperanza is such an inspiration to all of Driscoll.

Gabriela and Cristian Aleman, My Brother’s grandchildren.

My Sister in Law, Berta, Me, my Brother in law, Raul and my Sister, Alma.

Year after year, this event continues to touch many lives.  We truly enjoyed all aspects of the program.  Thank you, Jesse for all your efforts and for recognizing our Fallen Heroes and our Veterans.  Love you, Brother.

A Big Thank You too to all those that helped cook the delicious meal that was served, along with wonderful home made desserts!  All was delicious.

Trip to Kingsville & Driscoll

On Friday morning, we drove to Driscoll to attend the 5th Annual Remembrance Ceremony Honoring Driscoll’s Fallen Heroes, hosted by my Brother, Jesse Aleman.  This event was on Saturday so more to come on this. 

We arrived in Driscoll by noon and visited with Manuel’s oldest brother, Israel and his wife, Ida.  Israel Jr. was also there and it was good spending a couple of hours there. 

After our visit, we headed to Kingsville Naval Air Station where we had made reservations for the night.  We checked in and found they have a brand new hotel, state of the art facility. 

The main reason for staying at the base this time was because Manuel wanted to visit with his childhood friend, Homer Aleman, who is also my 1st cousin.  We had seen Homer off and on at functions but Manuel wanted to spend quality time with him.  Of course, it is always a pleasure seeing Homer and spending time with him.  The Guys had made plans for us to go to Homer & Tina’s house and then to go to dinner.

Took pictures of a couple of jets on base.  The Blue Angel….

The Retired Fighters….

At 5 pm, we headed to the Aleman Residence there in Kingsville.  It was great visiting.

Tina, Me and Manuel….

Tina, Homer and Manuel…

My Cousin, Homer and Manuel.,,

We had an awesome visit and headed back to the hotel for some R&R.  We will see them in Driscoll tomorrow.

Started New Year with Great Friends

On Jan. 4, 1015, we started our day at 8 am with Dave and Sandy from Minnesota.  Today we made a day trip to Fredericksburg, TX.  We toured the National Museum of the Pacific War.  Fredericksburg is home of Admiral Nimitz Foundation and they have a great museum.  We enjoyed 4 hours at this museum.  We found a lot of war history here. 

After four hours there, we were all hungry so we headed to the first restaurant to have some lunch.  We enjoyed our time together here.

We headed home and we visited some more before they headed home to Blazing Star.  It was so awesome seeing these friends.  Always, great!  They are headed to California and Arizona for the rest of the winter.  We wish them a very safe trip.  Take care.

New Year’s Eve 2014

We got an email a couple of days ago from Dave and Sandy Hasselberg, Friends from Minnesota whom we met about 7 years ago in Quartzite, AZ.  We have always remained in touch and when we were in Minneapolis about 4 years ago, we gave them a call and visited with them there.  There email said that they were in Waco, TX and on their way to San Antonio.  We were so happy to hear from them.  When they got to San Antonio, we made plans to have them over to our house.  They came on New Year’s Eve and we had a great time visiting and catching up on things. 

It is always so nice to see friends we have met during our travels.  Of course, before they left the house, we took a group picture. 

We made plans to meet again on Sunday and take a day trip to Fredericksburg, TX.  More to come on that.

We had received a call from Norma, Manuel’s youngest sister, earlier in the day and she had asked us to come over to her house if we had a chance, to ring in the new year. 

Since Dave and Sandy left early, we decided we would go over to Norma and Frank’s house.  Alicia and Teresa, Manuel’s two other sisters were also there so we had a very nice visit. 

Terry, from Corpus Christi, was so happy to see Manuel.

Frank and Norma, hosting this gathering.

Alice and others waiting for 2015!

The guys are deep in conversation….

It is always so nice to get together with Family.   Very good visit! 

Happy New Year to all!   The very best to all in 2015!