rapid fire

Visit a Prairie Novel

Author O.E. Rolvaag, an emigrant from Norway, powerfully describes in Giants in the Earth (1927) the adversity of 1870s pioneer life. He based the novel in part on his experiences in the Dakota Territory (now South Dakota), casting the radiant and terrible prairie as a major character.

Rolvaag’s settlers, living in sod huts, must battle hunger, loneliness, snowed-in winters, wild summer storms, and locusts ravaging painstakingly grown crops. The lives of Per Hansa and his wife, Beret, and their four children reveal the human cost of claiming a quarter acre. Per Hansa is a man of great determination, but Beret Hansa simply cannot set roots in this foreign soil and slowly loses her reason.

Most sod structures have morphed back into prairielands, but a surviving sod house (above) stands at South Dakota’s Prairie Homestead, 3 miles from I-90 at Exit 131. By peculiar coincidence (probably beyond Per Hansa’s wildest fantasies), the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site (right), also at Exit 131, was established in 1999 by the National Park Service.

The Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre provides insight into settlers’ lives and is free to active duty and retired servicemembers and their families this summer.
— Col. Glenn Pribus, USAF (Ret), and Marilyn Pribus

MOAA AND PENFED CELEBRATE SHARED VALUES AND APPRECIATION

MOAA celebrated in May its lasting partnership with Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed) and its PenFed Foundation at three events that recognized both organizations’ commitments to servicemembers and their families.

On May 14, Gen. John Tilelli Jr., USA (Ret), chair of MOAA’s board of directors, and MOAA President Vice Adm. Norbert R. Ryan Jr., USN (Ret), presented a MOAA Scholarship Fund Senior Grant in the name of Frank Pollack, former president and CEO of PenFed.

“It’s a real privilege to ... present him with this MOAA Scholarship Fund Senior Grant named in his honor,” Ryan said. “The credit union has been our valued partner since 2007 when it signed on as our new financial affinity partner. Since then, Frank has opened all doors at PenFed to welcome and serve our members.”

Ryan received the Military Hero Award at the PenFed Foundation’s 10th annual Night of Heroes Gala May 15.

In recognition of the PenFed Foundation and MOAA’s joint emphasis on servant leadership, PenFed presented May 16 a $180,000 check that will support MOAA’s new veteran and survivor services program, which develops veteran and survivor claims for disability benefits and related issues.

Known as a consumer champion and an advocate of providing the best rates and products, PenFed has offered financial services to thousands of MOAA members. The PenFed Foundation is a nationally recognized nonprofit meeting the needs of military personnel and their families in the areas of financial literacy, housing, and support for the wounded.

ANNUAL MEETING

MOAA’s 2014 annual meeting will be held Oct. 27-28 in the Washington, D.C., area. Mark your calendar for six great events including the Chapter Levels of Excellence Award ceremony, a military- and spouse-friendly career fair, informational workshops, the Community Heroes Award Night, and the association’s annual meeting. For more information, visit www.moaa.org/2014annualmeeting or see page 71.

*online: Learn more about the Young Marines of the Marine Corps League at www.youngmarines.com.