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NEWS BRIEFS
Swamp Foxes Return After 206 Days at Sea
Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 74 (HSM-74)— the “World Famous Swamp Foxes”—returned home from a seven-month deployment on Aug. 7. The Naval Air Station Jacksonville-based helicopter squadron was part of a Carrier Strike Group that spent a record-breaking 206 days at sea without a port call due to the coronavirus pandemic. HSM-74 U.S. Navy photo by Kaylee LaRocque/Released was deployed for seven-months aboard the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower (CVN-69) to the 5th Fleet, whose area of responsibility includes the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and parts of the Indian Ocean.
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Veterans Memorial Wall Recognition of Invisible Wounds
A group of Duval County Florida Veterans wants to ensure that Veterans who succumbed to the “invisible” or “hidden” wounds of war after they left the battlefield are remembered. The “Westside of the Wall” committee wants those Veterans names engraved on the west side of the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Wall. The east side is where the names of those who fell serving during combat operations are traditionally placed. The invisible wounds include those from Post Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury, Agent Orange and Mustard Gas exposure. The group hopes to ensure that those who have had to live with and die from the wounds of war after they left the front lines are honored. ArmedForcesMedia.mil For more information contact Steve Spickelmier at 904.705.4849.
Jax Navy Federal Credit Union Founding Member was 99
Cecil Wesley Acree, a WWII U.S. Navy Veteran and Robert E. Lee High School graduate, departed this life peacefully on August 9, 2020, 29 days shy of his 100th birthday. Acree attended the University of Florida, later serving in the U.S. Navy during WWII. After the war, he began his 38-year career with the Federal Government at NAS JAX.
Acree was very proud of being one of the founding members of Jax Navy Federal Credit Union, now Vystar Credit union. In 1952, Acree and 11 others pooled $60 and chartered the credit union. The mission of the founding members was to provide civil service and military personnel and their families a safe place to save and borrow money. Vystar now has over 500,000 members and is headquartered in a prominent 23-story building in Downtown Jacksonville’s riverfront skyline.
