Memorial Day Message From TWU President Harry Lombardo

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today we honor and pay tribute to the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our country, as members of America’s armed forces. In Washington, DC — the location of the TWU International union hall — as around our nation, we place wreaths and flags on the graves of the many who gave their lives to protect the American people, our democracy, and our freedom.

Since the TWU’s founding, our union has counted among its members a great number of proud servicemen across all branches of the military. Throughout the year, we recognize their bravery through the extraordinary work of our TWU Veterans Committee, which has played a key role in numerous service projects to aid fellow veterans and active duty servicemen and their families. 

In December, our Veterans Committee raised $8,000 to provide food, clothing, and children’s toys to wounded soldiers at San Antonio’s Brooke Army Medical Center, in conjunction with Operation Military Embrace and the Wounded Warriors Project. Our TWU Veterans had worked previously with the Wounded Warriors Project as part of the Building Homes for Heroes initiative, in which TWU members donated over $6,000 to house severely wounded Iraq War veterans and their families.

Recently, TWU donated new top-of-the-line rucksacks to an Oklahoma National Guard unit before their year-and-a-half deployment to Afghanistan, after the unit’s Sergeant told a friend of his — a TWU member — that new rucksacks would mean a better chance of survival for his troops. 

On March 20, 2014, at a meeting of the TWU ATD Veterans Committee in Hurst, TX, committee leadership voted unanimously to expand the committee to accept as members TWU servicemen from all four of our union’s Divisions — Transit, Rail, Air and Gaming — in order to reflect the TWU’s renewed commitment to unity, to strengthen and grow the committee, and to better adhere to its mission: to serve and support all veterans and their families. 

The motto of the newly minted TWU Veterans Committee remains the same as that of its predecessor, the ATD Veterans Committee: “Veterans Helping Veterans.” 

This Memorial Day, TWU International leadership asks that all of our veterans connect with the TWU Veterans Committee and encourages all locals to communicate with members about the important work that our committee does and the need for all of our TWU vets to get involved.

The next quarterly meeting of the TWU Veterans Committee will be from June 4-6th in Hurst, TX.

To all veterans and active duty military: TWU will never forget your service to our nation — and we will continue to do everything in our power to support you and your families at home and overseas.

In Unity,

Harry Lombardo

TWU International President

ARE YOU A VETERAN? Click here to register with our TWU Veterans Committee and sign up for news/action alerts.