VFW Post 2667

Patriotic Cowetans will be gathering at the entrance to Forest Lawn Memorial Park this morning to show honor to fallen soldier Robert W. Collins. Local veterans, led by Dick Stender, have organized the 11 a.m. gathering of people with flags at the Roscoe Road cemetery. The funeral for Collins, who was killed in Iraq on April 7, will be held at 10 a.m. at New Hope Baptist Church -- North Campus on New Hope Road in Fayetteville. After the funeral, the procession will move south on Georgia Highway 85 through Fayetteville, then west on Georgia Highway 54 through Peachtree City. In Coweta County, the cortege will move along Highway 34 to the bypass and then to Roscoe Road and Forest Lawn. Collins, who is from Tyrone, was killed in Mosul when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. The first lieutenant was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team from Ft. Stewart, near Savanna

KANSAS CITY, March 31, 2010 - The national commander of the nation’s largest organization of combat veterans is furious about the recent Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Court decision ordering Albert Snyder, the father of a slain Marine to pay legal costs to the Westboro Baptist Church. Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., led by Fred Phelps, has for years been taunting grieving mourners at military funerals nationwide. During the funeral of Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder’s funeral in 2006, the anti-gay group praised the loss of the young Marine as well as other of the nation’s young servicemen and women, calling their deaths a by-product of a nation that tolerates homosexuality. "This is a travesty at best and borders on the obscene," said VFW National Commander Thomas J. Tradewell Sr., of Sussex, Wis. "The irony in this whole situation is that the blood and sacrifice of our nation’s heroes have enabled this group to spread their message of hate. Y