Two writing contests were created during our Centennial Celebration to feature ROA members and their families.
One was developed in honor of ROA’s most prolific International Defense and Security author, retired Col. Alex Gerry, and the other for the children of ROA’s distinguished members.
At next month’s ROA Centennial National Convention, the winners of these two Writing Contests will receive appropriate recognition.
As we posthumously honor our founder, General of the Armies, John J. Pershing, with our Minuteman Hall of Fame Award, we will also posthumously award Colonel Rick Nelson, III, USAF (Ret), who recently opened the door of the Truman Library for our Centennial Recognition, wrote eloquently about what ROA meant to him. You can read his article here:
Col. Nelson’s article (pdf).
Winning submissions were published in ROA’s Reserve Voice
magazine and publicized on ROA’s website and social media.
Selections were based on overall excellence; knowledge and support of the topic; significant and effective original thought; accuracy and completeness; adherence to high writing standards; and clarity, insight and respect for the audience.
We will posthumously award the winner of ROA’s Alex A.C. Gerry Writing Contest,
to retired Colonel Rick Nelson, III, USAF, who wrote eloquently about what ROA meant to him. You can read his article here: Col. Nelson’s article (pdf).
Looking forward to the next generation of ROA members, we will also recognize two young ladies who will share one of the prizes, Isabella and Olivia Fishman .
Each wrote about the impact of their father’s deployments. You can read Isabella and Olivia Fishman’s article (pdf)
here.
The second winner, Joseph P. Hettich, a youngster who was motivated by his father and his extended family’s military service, wrote about his engagement in Scouting and research of a WWII Nurse, buried in his local cemetery. You can read Joseph P. Hettich’s article (pdf) here.