Veterans Corner: August activities for veterans

On Saturday, Aug. 11, The Home Depot in Sequim will hold a Veterans Appreciation Day from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Many service organizations will have booths in the parking lot to answer questions about what programs they have.

Members of the Marine Corps League Honor Guard will hold demonstrations of how they perform full military honors for funerals and memorials. These demonstrations will be held at 11 a.m. and 1 pm. The intent is to inform the public as to the honors that are available to all honorably discharged veterans.

There will also be a raffle with gift cards from Home Depot of $150, $100 and $50 as prizes. Any money raised will go to Sarge’s Place, The Outpost and Captain Joseph House. There will be free food and cake! Please come out and join the veterans.

Take aim

The American Legion Turkey Shoot will be held Saturday, Aug. 25, at the Peninsula Long Rifles Shooting Range on Slab Camp Road, starting at 10 a.m. This event is open to all veterans.

Prizes go to the top three places. Bring your own .22 rifle with open or peep sights. Ammo will be provided. You will be shooting at paper targets at 25 yards. For more information, contact Commander Carl at thbkdragon@yahoo.com.

Giving thanks

To show their appreciation for veterans, the Sequim Valley Lions will be serving a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, salad, bread and cake from 3:30-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 22, at the VFW Post 169 E. Washington St. Veterans eat free while guests are $5 and children 5 and younger eat free. There will be live music. Come out and have a great time!

Tax help

If you are a veteran who was medically separated as a result of injuries sustained in combat, and received a disability severance, you may be entitled to a tax refund.

From 1991-2016, the automated payment system maintained by Department of Defense failed to properly identify those payments as being tax-exempt, resulting in an over-payment of federal income tax.

You should receive a notification letter if you are owed a refund, but if you don’t and feel that you may be entitled to a refund, find more information at the IRS.gov website, contact the Defense Finance and Accounting Service and Google “Veterans Tax Refund.”

Contributors: American Legion, Carl Bradshaw, thbkdragon@yahoo.com; MOAA & DAR, Lorri Gilchrist, cdrlgilchrist@gmail.com; Marine Corps League, Mark Schildknecht, markisin2day@gmail.com; Korean War Veterans, Jerry Rettela, eletteor@msn.com; Fleet Reserve Association, Marty Arnold, martinarnold2001@yahoo.com; Voices For Veterans, John Brasch, voicesforveterans@yahoo.com; VFW, Art Thomas, sequimvfwpost4760@gmail.com.