News

DCSAR held its annual Holiday Dinner at The Capitol Hill Club located at 300 First Street SE, Washington, DC on December 9, 2021, welcoming more than 75 guests at the black-tie event. During the cocktail reception guests were treated to a range of musical selections by Compatriot Donald Francisco, the Resident Fifer at Mount Vernon, who also performed our national anthem as the audience accompanied.  

After DCSAR President Joel Hinzman gave the welcoming followed by the invocation by Rev. Dr. John Stonesifer, DCSAR Chaplain, guests dined on Roast Pear Salad, Herb Chicken – Pork duo, Noel log, and table wine.  

The dinner host, past DCSAR President Brock Bierman, introduced the guest speaker for the evening Col. Robert J. Dalessandro (Ret. US Army), Acting Secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission and Director of the United States Army Center of Military History at Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C. Secretary Dalessandro is an American historian and author who has written and presented extensively on the American Expeditionary Forces contributions to the First World War.

Secretary Dalessandro frequently leads battlefield tours to sites in the United States, France, and Italy. He is widely published on the lifeways and material culture of the American Soldier in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. He is co-author of the Organization and Insignia of the American Expeditionary Forces, 1917–1923, he serves as editor of the Army Officer’s Guide, co-author of Willing Patriots: Men of Color in the First World War, and Contributions of African American Soldiers and the American Lions: the 332nd Infantry Regiment in Italy in World War I.

His book, Organization and Insignia of the American Expeditionary Forces, received the Army Historical Foundation award for excellence in writing.

Col. Alessandro discussed the work of the American Battle Monuments Commission (“ABMC”). The Commission was established by Congress in 1923 and is an agency of the executive branch of the federal government. ABMC is the guardian of America’s overseas commemorative cemeteries and memorials that honors the service, achievements, and sacrifice of U.S. Armed Forces. Their purpose is to commemorate the U.S. armed forces by maintaining the national legacy of their service in the world's consciousness.

ABMC’s vision is to increase the public's awareness of their commemorative sites and services, increasing ABMC's commemorative coverage, and more effectively preserving the commemorative sites to ABMC's exceptional standard. The ABMC honors the service of the armed forces by creating and maintaining memorial sites, offering commemorative services, and facilitating the education of their legacy to future generations.

 DCSAR Secretary Paul Hays administered the oath to new compatriots Thomas Redrick Miller Maddux and Patrick Thomas O’Malley. Thomas lives in Alexandria, VA.  He was born  in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is a 6th great grandson of Thomas Price, who served as a Captain of the North Carolina Militia under Colonels John Sevier and Moses Shelby, fought at the Battle of King’s Mountain and died at the Siege of Augusta in 1781. 

Patrick is a native of and practicing attorney in Washington, DC who lives in Baltimore.  He’s a 5th great grandson of Benjamin Dix, who served as a Private and Corporal in the Connecticut Line. 

 

The Roof Top Reception celebrating the 240^th anniversary of the American Victory at Yorktown and the major contributions to its success by France and French Heroes of the Revolution was held at the prestigious University Club of Washington, DC on October 21, 2021.

The University Club is one of the nation’s truly historic membership organizations. While the founders include President William Howard Taft and Chief Justice of the United States Melville Fuller, they were part of a larger group of political, business, and civic leaders who shared a common bond. Today’s members are an impressive Who’s Who of leaders sharing a sense of family. They are bonded by their intellectual, athletic, and cultural pursuits, evident in the restaurants, on the courts and in the wide range of cultural and social events taking place throughout the Club each and every day.

During the reception attended by more than 60 guests, Scott William de Vecchio received the oath of membership into SAR. Scott is a 6th great grandson of Timothy Haskell, who served as a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Massachusetts Militia under Captain Samuel Briggs in Col. Sprout’s Regiment. His sponsors were DCSAR President Joel Hinzman and DCSAR Secretary Paul Hays.

Our next event will be the DCSAR Holiday Dinner on December 9, 2021 at the Capitol Hill Club.

Douglas Brooks, chair of the DCSAR JROTC committee, was recently contacted by  Lt. Col. Neal Daniels, commanding officer of the Dunbar High School JROTC to request the assistance of DCSAR with a winter clothing project by the cadets. Compatriot Brooks assisted the cadets as the event was similar to the DCSAR “Gently Used Clothing” project that has been successful and benefits several schools within the District of Columbia Public School System.

The JROTC Cadets recognized that a significant number of their fellow students did not have access to appropriate cold weather winter garments and the cadets developed and implemented the project. Students at Dunbar High School will have a first opportunity to the garments, and the remaining clothing will be donated to a local community charity.

Dunbar High School has a sterling reputation, and its roots started in the late 1870’s. It has graduated many highly accomplished and successful graduates, including a Tuskegee pilot credited with shooting down the first German jet fighter during World War II, the first African Americans to achieve the rank of General and Admiral and many leaders in politics, science, and literature, to cite a few. Compatriot Brooks will be pursuing a potential guest lecture program with the cadets regarding revolutionary war history.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/annual-fourth-of-july-ceremony-takes-on-modern-significance/2720061/

Organizers paid tribute to the heroic efforts of D.C. and Capitol police officers for their work during the Jan. 6 violence. News4’s Derrick Ward takes viewers to Congressional Cemetery for the story.

Memorial Day Message

We, descendants of the heroes of the American Revolution, who by their sacrifices, established the United States of America, reaffirm our faith in the principles of liberty and our Constitutional Republic, and solemnly pledge ourselves to defend them against every foe.

Compatriots,

As members of the Sons of the American Revolution, Memorial Day provides us an opportunity each year to reflect on the tremendous sacrifice that our ancestors made in the establishment of our nation, and in securing the freedoms we enjoy today.  We owe a tremendous debt to all of those who paid the ultimate price to establish this country.

An estimated 6,800 Americans were killed in action during the Revolutionary war, but historians believe that at least an additional 17,000 deaths were the result of disease, including about 8,000 – 12,000 who died while prisoners of war^[1].  While unreliable, the estimate for the casualties among British regular forces fighting in the Revolutionary was is around 24,000^[2] men.  This includes deaths on the battlefield, from injuries or disease, taken prisoner, or who remained missing.

Approximately 1,200 Hessian soldiers were also killed, 6,354 of disease, and another 5,500 deserted and settled in America afterwards (including my direct ancestor, Henry Hinzman, who after learning more about the great cause the Americans were engaged in, joined the Pennsylvania Artillery and fought with the continental forces until the end of the war).

When we joined the SAR, we made a conscious choice to become part of an organization committed to honoring the brave legacy of our forefathers in their quest for American independence.  I ask that you take time today to not only think about what a tremendous sacrifice these soldiers made while fighting for their independence, but you also share this with someone and talk about what this day, and the sacrifices so many have made during and since the revolution, mean to you and our nation.

“Until we meet again, let us remember our obligations to our forefathers, who gave us our Constitution, the Bill of Rights, an independent Supreme Court and a nation of free men.”

Joel Hinzman

President

^[1] Figures according to American Battlefields Trust - https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/american-revolution-faqs

^[2] Ibid

Our Newsletter can be found here.

131^st Annual Awards and Installation of Officers

By William O. Ritchie

DCSAR virtually held is 2021 Awards and Installation Banquet on Thursday, April 29, 2021 at 6:30 pm. The black-tie optional event was held via zoom. The first award presented was the 2021 NSSAR Emergency Medical Services Commendation Medal. 

DC Fire and EMS Lt. Keishea Jackson – Courtesy DCFEMS

Lt. Keishea Jackson was the recipient in recognition of her dedication to the preservation of life and health under emergency conditions and performing beyond the duties normally called for within the Emergency Medical Services profession. 

DCSAR S VP Bill Ritchie and Lt. Keishea Jackson

Assigned to the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Management Service (“DCFEMS”) Homeland Security Division, Lieutenant Jackson has been on the front lines of all the major events to take place and impact Washington, DC., during the last 12 months. She has been one of the officers from DCFEMS to help coordinate and schedule the several logistical parts and pieces connected to COVID-19 testing that has occurred at several firehouses across the city over the last year. Lt Jackson has also been instrumental in taking a public stance on taking the vaccine; opening up and sharing her personal journey and decision-making process on why she felt the need to protect herself, her co-workers and the community in which she serves.

During a press briefing on December 13, 2020 Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser recognized The First Five — the first five members of DC’s Bravest who would take the coronavirus vaccine that week. As frontline health care providers, the District of Columbia’s COVID-19 Vaccination Plan designates members of the DC Fire and EMS Department (FEMS) among the first to receive the vaccine in Washington, DC. Lt. Jackson was one of the First Five. 

“I’m getting vaccinated for my city,” Lt. Jackson said in a statement. “In the last nine months, I’ve seen COVID devastate my department. I’ve seen my brothers and sisters go into the hospital. I’ve seen them with severe symptoms — things we never thought we would see. My father is everything to me; he is my world. And if I don’t get it for any other reason, I have to get it for my daddy. I have to make sure he’s safe,” Her comments were featured in a story by NBC4 during December 2020. https://mayor.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-recognizes-first-five-responders-take-coronavirus-vaccine

DCSAR President Joel P. Hinzman, Sr VP Bill Ritchie and Secretary Paul M. Hays presented a host of awards and citations to DCSAR compatriots and our guest from DCDAR and D.C.C.A.R. Among the recipients were:

D.C. Society Honor in Service Medal Recipients:

  David Weston White 

  Andrew Martin Johnson 

  Sean P. Redmond 

             James Alan Richardson, Jr.

D.C. Society Patriotic Service Medal Recipients

 

  James Bowles Pender III

  John D. Stonesifer

             Frederick Chandler Humphreys

NSSAR Lydia Darragh Medal Recipient: Jennifer Anne Cetta-Hinzman

Martha Washington Medal Recipient: Rachel Norman, Regent, Emily Nelson Chapter, DCDAR 

NSSAR Medal of Appreciation: Rachel Hicks

NSSAR CAR Bronze Medal of Appreciation Recipients:

  Mia & Miah Malur

  Rachel Hicks

  Dylan Zimmer

  Hillary Fisk

  Maddie McAnulty

 Carol Leon

Silver SAR / CAR Silver Medal of Appreciation Recipients:

 Chip Nordlinger

 Sarah Nordlinger

 Lorraine Nordlinger

 Kathryn Orta

NSSAR Silver Good Citizenship Medal: Charles Hart Nalls

Silver Roger Sherman Medal: Geoffrey L. Newman, 3^rd VP DCSAR

State Medal of Distinguished Service: William O. Ritchie Jr., Sr. VP DCSAR

Patriot Medal: Lane Douglas Brooks, Immediate Past President DCSAR

Daughters of Liberty Medal: Cindy Shelton Hays, DCDAR State Regent (oak leaf cluster)

The Honorable Mark S. Norris, Judge, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee and Immediate Past President, Tennessee Sons of the American Revolution, gave the oath of office during the installation of the 2021-2022 DC Society Officers. Principal officers included President Joel P. Hinzman, Senior Vice President William O. Ritchie Jr., 2^nd Vice President Thomas A. Readmond, 3^rd Vice President Geoffrey L. Newman, Secretary Paul M. Hays, Treasurer James B. Pender III and Registrar William L. Miller. 

After leading a toast to the newly elected officers, President Hinzman presented the DC Society Honor in Service Medal to Judge Norris. 

The invocation and benediction were offered by Rev. John Stonesifer, Chaplain. 

The 278th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson was celebrated on Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at his Memorial in the Nation Capital. In every year but two since the dedication of the Jefferson Memorial in 1943 on the 200th anniversary of his birth, the District of Columbia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (“DCSAR”), in cooperation with the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Military District of Washington, has sponsored a commemorative ceremony at the Jefferson Memorial. It was cancelled in 1945 because of Franklin Roosevelt’s death, and during 2020 because of the pandemic.

This year DCSAR resumed the tradition but - because of continuing limits on in-person participation - with none of the normal pomp and circumstance. Wreaths were presented without ceremony on behalf of: the Secretary of the Interior by Park Ranger Samuel Yancho; the University of Virginia by alumnus Mark Tonacci (class of ’79); the Sons of the American Revolution by D.C. Society President Joel Hinzman; the Daughters of the American Revolution by D.C. State Regent Cindy Hays; the Children of the American Revolution by D.C. Senior State President Lorraine Nordlinger; and the Society of Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence by President General Lucy Duke Tonacci. Videographer: Rachel Hicks.

Video of the event can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/DCSSAR/

The 2021 Annual Membership Meeting was held virtually on February 21, 2021. DCSAR President Joel P. Hinzman called the meeting to order and welcomed all including the SAR Atlantic Middle States Association (“AMSA”) Vice President General Ernest L. Sutton. The invocation was offered by Rev. John D. Stonesifer who also provided the benediction when the meeting concluded. The slate of SAR Officers for the 2021-2022 period was presented by the nominating committee. The list was approved by the membership and the election meeting is scheduled for March 18, 2021.  

Upon concluding the discussion of normal business reports, VPG Sutton offered words of appreciation to DCSAR on the virtual presentation of the AMSA conference last August. He also advised that the 2021 conference is tentatively scheduled to be held in Annapolis during August. It will be determined later if this conference will be live or virtual.

VPG Sutton administered the oath during the induction of two new compatriots. Rev. Dr. Alyn Errick Waller, a resident of Penn Valley, PA is Senior Pastor, Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Philadelphia, PA. Compatriot Waller’s patriot is his 6^th great grandfather, William Parks, who was shot, killed and scalped by the Indians working for the British during May 1776 while defending the frontier. His sponsor is William Ritchie.

Compatriot Gregory Ronald Switzer lives in Arlington, VA. He’s a 6th great grandson of Abraham Kendrick, who served as a Private 1^st Class, 4^th Battalion, Lancaster County Pennsylvania Militia. His sponsor is Fred Humphreys. Both were virtually welcomed to DCSAR.

Today, while COVID may have kept us from holding our annual George Washington Birthday luncheon, we could not allow the 289th birthday of George Washington to pass by without marking the occasion. Joel P. Hinzman, President, DCSAR, accompanied by Cindy Hays, Regent, DCDAR and Chip Nordlinger, President DC C.A.R. laid a wreath at the Washington Monument that was erected in his honor. The video of the brief ceremony held in near freezing temperature, can be found on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DCSSAR/. Videographer DCDAR Rachel Hicks.