Granite State Detachment 542, Marine Corps League

Greater Hillsborough County Area

Members and Associates of the Granite State Detachment,

It certainly has been an eventful fall culminating in a barrage of events around the Marine Corps’ 250 Birthday celebrations. As money comes in our Donations Review committee is doing a great job making sure that the bulk goes to organizations directly serving veterans, a mission I think we can all agree on. The Bass Pro fundraising weekend was fully staffed for every shift; but mention should be made of Kevin Brown who, above and beyond, did four shifts! --- I think he particularly likes the canine customers over there.

Due to the efforts of our Judge Advocate, Chris Peirce, our flagpole and flag proudly waves over the Daniel Webster Cemetery next to the Easterseals NH Military & Veterans Campus in Franklin where most of Daniel Webster’s family is buried. This was humbly consecrated in not one but two dedications (!) by a priest with three Purple Hearts who felt that, because his health problems shortened the first, it warranted a second ceremony to adequately honor the occasion and those buried there.

We also ceremonially collected the check from a major donor, Revo Casino, in Lebanon NH and were pleasantly surprised to find that Rob the Manager there, was also a Marine. These funds form a kind of endowment that I hope we can use wisely to serve the principles and goals of the Marine Corps League and the needs of local veterans. Marge, our indefatigable Paymaster, has taken charge of the application for Charitable Gaming again next year.

We were asked to be the escort at the cake cutting for the Marine Expeditionary Brigade (a local fellow veterans charity organization) for their USMC 250^th and, with as much military precision as 5 old guys could muster, I think we did a fine job. Gunny Janes in his dress blues and Mameluke sword, did the deed: 5 slices for the Governor, Congresswoman, a General, and the Oldest and Youngest Marines present.  

--- Eric Anthony, Commandant, Granite State Detachment

Marines!

Wow, another month is done, and it was a busy month. As a Detachment, we participated in a few activities for the 250th Marine Corps Birthday.  On November 10, 2025, we started at the State Capitol in Concord, NH, participating in the Flag Raising of the Marine Corps flag, and had breakfast and a cake-cutting ceremony at the State House. Then we went to the Derryfield Country Club and attended the Marine Expeditionary Brigade Luncheon, and again our detachment was the escort for the cake-cutting ceremony. Then, finally, we participated in the Marine Corps Ball in Franklin, NH.

We were also at the Bass Pro Shop in Hookset, NH, and collected over $1600.00 for the detachment, so we can continue providing support for our Veterans.

As a detachment under new leadership, we are planning activities to bring our detachment members together for camaraderie. Please come to our next meeting on the Second Tuesday of the Month, or come to our breakfast on the last Saturday of the Month at the Airport Diner in Manchester, NH.

Sincerely, 

Jesse L. Stufflebeam. SVC

📣 Call for Leadership:

Junior Vice Commandant Needed

Granite State Detachment 542 is seeking a dedicated member to step into the role of Junior Vice Commandant.

This position plays a vital part in strengthening our Detachment by:

• Creating membership incentives and programs that foster growth and enthusiasm
• Supporting leadership continuity by stepping in when needed

If you’re passionate about serving veterans and building community, this is your chance to lead with purpose and make a lasting impact.

Whether you’re a longtime member or newly active, your voice and energy matter. Let’s shape the future of GSD 542 together.

Interested? Reach out to the Commandant to learn more or express your interest.

The Power of Prayer

God calls on us to pray in order to develop a deeper relationship with him.

Prayer can influence our state of mind, which then can have an effect on our body.

Prayer can help with anxiety, sadness, blood pressure & sleep.

Prayer is a mighty weapon at the disposal of everyone.

Prayer can give our service men and women courage and strength to face challenges.

I hope everyone has a Blessed Christmas and a Very Happy/Healthy New Year. 

Amen

Joe Duquette, Chaplain  

Paymaster 2025 Year End Report

As 2025 concludes, I am pleased to present the GSD #542 year-end Paymaster report, which summarizes our financial activities. This report is designed to keep our members informed and involved in GSD #542's ongoing progress and future direction, highlighting our achievements, challenges, and our focus areas for the coming year.

GSD #542 is making a meaningful impact by supporting local Veterans and community initiatives, and most importantly, helping those in need. Through focused fundraiser programs at Market Basket and Bass Pro Shops and the participation of member volunteers, we continue to create positive changes and foster a stronger sense of unity among both Veterans and our community. With the GSD #542's partnership with NH Gaming Charities and the Revo Casino in Lebanon, NH, the Detachment has maintained robust financial health, consistently meeting and exceeding our goals in supporting Veterans and community organizations.

Through the third quarter of 2025, we donated over $18,000 to Veterans' programs, local community organizations, and academic scholarships. In addition, at the October meeting members approved another $9,000 in donations to a number of Veterans organizations with several more anticipated donations to occur before years end. These contributions reflect our ongoing commitment to making a meaningful difference for Veterans and our community, as seen in our recent volunteer projects, annual scholarship awards, and support of Veterans programs that directly benefit local organizations and those who have served.

I am happy to report that GSD #542 has once again been chosen to partner with the Revo Casino in Lebanon, NH for 2026. This collaboration will provide new fundraising opportunities in 2026 for our Detachment.

This year presented several challenges, particularly as we navigated the transition to new Officer positions. These changes required adjustments in leadership roles and responsibilities, which temporarily disrupted our workflow and necessitated additional training for our new leaders. By working collaboratively, the Detachment was able to overcome these obstacles and maintain our commitment to supporting Veterans and the community.

I appreciate the trust our members have placed in me as Paymaster, and I am committed to maintaining integrity and diligence as we look forward to another successful year together.

I wish everyone a wonderful holiday season and a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.

Respectfully submitted,

Marge Romano

Due to the holiday week at the end of December, our monthly December breakfast will be held on January 3, 2026.

Come join us for great food and conversation!

Hope to see you there!

Granite State Detachment 542, Marine Corps League is honored to announce that we received $44,889.67 in charitable gaming funds following our ten‑day event at Revo Casino in Lebanon, NH earlier in 2025.

These funds are vital to our mission. They allow us to continue supporting Marines, Veterans, and community organizations throughout the greater Manchester area, ensuring that our Detachment remains strong, active, and ready to serve.

We are grateful for this opportunity and for the continued support that makes our work possible. Together, we carry forward the values of the Marine Corps and strengthen the bonds within our community.

Below is Margo Romano, Eric Anthony, and Robert Gleason, Casino Manager



#PlayLikeARebel #RebelsWithACause

In October 2025, a new flagpole and light were donated by the GSD 542 Marine Corps League to the Daniel Webster Cemetery in Franklin, NH. The dedication was led by Father Sargent, who offered blessings over the installation.

Representing GSD 542, Commandant Eric Anthony, his wife Pat, and Chris Peirce attended the ceremony alongside community members. About 20 people gathered to witness the occasion, honoring veterans at a cemetery located next to the new Easterseals NH Military and Veterans Campus.

On December 6, 2025 Marge Romano representing GSD 542 and for her family attended the Blue Star Mother's Wreaths for Boscawen event at the Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen, NH and presented a donation from GSD 542 of $1000. The event was well attended with reported miles of cars parked on the streets leading to the cemetery.

Donation made possible by the funds received by the Charitable Gaming at Revo Casino in Lebanon, NH. #PlayLikeARebel #RebelsWithACause

In early December, 2025, Chris Peirce presented a check for $900 to Kim Mackay of the Veterans Home in Tilton, NH. This donation specifically was to cover the Christmas gifts for the 12 Marines living at the Veterans Home.

Donation made possible by the funds received by the Charitable Gaming at Revo Casino in Lebanon, NH. #PlayLikeARebel #RebelsWithACause

In early December, 2025, Chris Peirce presented a check for $500 to Shawn Buck of the NH Veterans Cemetery Association. The association support the maintenance of the New Hampshire Cemetery as a dignified, final resting place which honors all veterans and eligible dependents and reflects the State's pride and gratitude for their service to the State and Nation.

Donation made possible by the funds received by the Charitable Gaming at Revo Casino in Lebanon, NH. #PlayLikeARebel #RebelsWithACause

On November 21, 2025 presented a check for $1000 to the Manchester VA Medical Center, in Manchester, NH. Pictured below are Commandant Eric Anthony, Robyn Romaniak Volunteer Services Specialist at VA, and Joe Duquette.

Donation made possible by the funds received by the Charitable Gaming at Revo Casino in Lebanon, NH. #PlayLikeARebel #RebelsWithACause

At the December 9, 2025 GSD 542 Member meeting, Courtney Stairs joined the meeting for a presentation explaining about who Veterans Count a program of Easterseals is, and what they do for the veteran community.

Veterans Count has four branches in NH, and they offer many services to all who have served in the military, regardless of service era, discharge status, or VA eligibility. They help veterans access the services and support that they need. They offer mental health counseling, care coordination, substance use treatment coordination, housing stabilization, benefits and services connection, aging and senior needs, money management, and emergency financial assistance. Their case managers go to the veteran where they are, and the veteran is not required to come into the Veterans Count office.  

The Veterans Count services are free, but there may be some expense when the counselor passes the veteran over to another service, depending on the program. The only requirement is that the veteran lives or drills in NH.

At the end of her presentation, Commandant Eric Anthony made a motion to donate $1000 to Veterans Count, and the motion passed unanimously. Above is a picture of Eric Anthony presenting the check to Courtney Stairs.

To request support, for yourself or someone else, call 603-315-4354 or email at intake@vetscount.org.

Donation made possible by the funds received by the Charitable Gaming at Revo Casino in Lebanon, NH. #PlayLikeARebel #RebelsWithACause

At our December 9, 2025 member meeting, we were honored to hear from Brian Hanson, founder of the Worker Bees Fund. Inspired by his years of volunteering at New Horizons, Brian recognized the need to support veterans who rely on its services. His vision: help veterans remain in their homes longer by making essential modifications that improve accessibility and quality of life.

As a building contractor and engineer, Brian puts his skills to work by installing ramps, adjusting kitchens for wheelchairs and scooters, and tackling other projects that make daily living easier. Partnering with Veterans Count and other veteran organizations, the Worker Bees Fund secures donated materials from local suppliers and completes the work themselves — eliminating labor costs entirely.

Since its founding in 2017, the Worker Bees Fund has proudly completed 75 projects for veterans, ensuring that those who served our country can continue living safely and comfortably at home.

If you or someone you know is in need of these types of services, please reach out to Brian directly at brianh@workerbeefund.org or call at 603-540-0840. For more information please check out their website at workerbeefund.org.

At the October meeting GSD 542 members had passed a motion to donate $1000 to the Worker Bee Fund. Above is the presentation of the donation with Brian Hanson, Eric Anthony, and Chris Peirce.

Donation made possible by the funds received by the Charitable Gaming at Revo Casino in Lebanon, NH. #PlayLikeARebel #RebelsWithACause

Bingo at the VA Hospital is on the 3rd Sunday of the month.

Each month the GSD 542 MCL members volunteer to help the residence of the VA to play bingo. If you are interested in helping your fellow veterans and have some fun in the process, please contact Joe Duquette.

Our next Marine Corps Bingo will be on Sunday, December. 21, 2025. We meet at the lower level parking lot at 12:30pm.  VA Hospital at 318 Smyth Road, Manchester.

Please call Joe Duquette if you are available to volunteer. 603-540-9807

We were so busy at the fundraising table on November 7th and 8th during Veterans' Day weekend at the Bass Pro Shops in Hooksett, NH that we completely forgot to take any pictures.

It was two days of talking with the patrons of the store, petting the dogs, handing out flags to all the kids, and collecting donations from the generous community, which will be used to support Marines and Veterans in the greater Manchester area.

Thank you to all those that came out to volunteer and covered table.

We are starting a list of businesses in our area that offer discounts to Veterans. If you know others please email us at granitestatemarines542@gmail.com .

Bass Pro Shops - Hooksett

The Home Depot

Lowes

Tucker's Restaurant -Bedford, Hooksett, and Merrimack

T-Bones - Bedford, Derry, and Concord

VIP's Tires and Service - Bedford -offers discounts for veterans and offer free NH state inspections, check their website for other locations for their offerings.

For a list of Veteran Owned Business in NH please visit: www.veteranownedbusiness.com they have a listing of discounts based on location.

9/16/25 The Homeland Heroes Foundation (Limited time offer) www.Homelandheroesfoundation.org - they recently received a call from a local roofing company that would like to donate two new roofs to veterans in need. The company is willing to go from the Mass border to Rochester, NH. If you know of someone with this need please contact the editor of this newsletter Jo Zurwell and she will get the contact information.

Resupply scheduled soon

A few more klicks of humping

Ammo, medical, batteries

And the “beloved” cases of c-rats

No clean clothes though

Another 3-4 days with blood stiffened fatigues

Choppers in the distance thump

Dust, twigs, weeds swirl choking

Drop made, now the rushed sorting

Unit 1 supplies first, more bandages

Then the rations in those special “lightweight” cans

Stuffed in socks, they’ll gain weight

As steps go by the trading starts

Scored two peaches and a fruit cocktail

Wealthy now, serious bartering power mine

Two Ham and Limas for a can of peaches?

Not gonna happen, no way

Throw in two breads- please Doc

Even the VC throw that crap away Cpl.

You do look desperate though

Here’s a deal, if you want it

Two pound cakes and your beer ration

Done! Capitalism, gotta love it

“Saddle up” Charley won’t wait

And young men move to meet others

At our December membership meeting, member George Robinson let the group know about an organization that veterans and military members can go to and enter drawings to receive free tickets to local events. He mentioned that he had received tickets to a few events since he has started using it, and it is easy to use and he thought he would share with the full detachment.

Veteran Tickets Foundation's Tickets for Troops Program is dedicated to giving back to those who gave us so much. We team up with major sports teams, leagues, promoters, organizations, venues and every day event ticket holders to provide free tickets to currently serving and veterans of all branches of the US military.

To find out more about this site, please check out their website by clicking the button below.

Rating: 1 low to 5 high

Chopped Ham and eggs 3

Pork Steak 2.5

Beef w. Sauce 3.5

Chicken, Boned 2.5

Meat balls and Beans 3.5

Ham and Limas 2.0

Beef and Potato 3

Beans and Mystery dogs 2.5

Turkey Loaf 1.5

Beef steak (in disguise) 3

Chicken and noodles 3.0

Dessert

Peaches 5+

Pears 4

Fruit cocktail 4

Pound cake 4

Fruit Cake 3 (Worse than Aunt Hilda’s)

Bread -10

The Department of NH's quarterly meeting on December 6th was hosted by the Granite State Detachment 542 at the meeting location at ACGS 1 Sundial Ave, Suite 317, Manchester, NH. The group enjoyed subs, chips, desserts, and sodas of their choice. The meeting was filled with important topics of discussion, donations motioned and accepted, as well as the swearing in of a new member to MCL, Henry Danis.

At the December 9th membership meeting, Cody Dumont, the Department of NH Commandant, performed the installation of the newly elected and appointed officers of the Granite State Detachment 542.

Top image-left to right: Cody Dumont, Marge Romano (Paymaster) Paul Coutu (Sgt at Arms), Jo Zurwell (Webmaster), Chris Peirce (Judge Advocate), Jesse Stufflebeam (SVC), Eric Anthony (Commandant), Steve White (Quartermaster), and Kevin Brown (Aide de Camp).

Bottom image - Cody Dumont and Eric Anthony

November 10, 2025, the 250th Birthday of the Marine Corps was a busy day and evening for many MCL members and veterans. The day started with the raising of the Marine Corps flag at the NH State House building, followed by the Manchester Expeditionary Brigade Luncheon in Manchester, and capped off at the birthday ball, organized and hosted by the Department of NH MCL, at the new Easterseals NH Military & Veteran Campus in Franklin, NH.

Below are a few pictures from the Marine Corps Ball. To see many more pictures, please visit the Department of NH's website.

Get one year of LinkedIn Premium and LinkedIn Learning for free.

In collaboration with SheerID, LinkedIn offers eligible members of the U.S. military community one year of access to LinkedIn Premium. You’ll also get unlimited access to more than 10,000 courses through our LinkedIn Learning platform as a part of the program.

Click on the button below and it will bring you to a form to fill out to sign up for one year of free usage of LinkedIn.

Some of you may have noticed that back in May our Facebook page was no longer published on the social media site. It seems that someone attacked (hacked) our page and made it so that it was unpublished and no mater what we did to fix it, nothing worked.

Therefore, we have had to recreate our Facebook page with a slightly different page name.

Below is the link for the new page, we ask that you go to the page and click the follow button so that you can see all of our posts.

Our next FUNday Breakfast is scheduled for January 3rd.

Please join us for our next FUNday breakfast at 0800 at the Airport Diner for the FUNday meet-n-greet breakfast @ 2280 Brown Avenue, Manchester to join in on all this fun! We gather the last Saturday of each month, except for December when it will be the first Saturday of January.

Hope to see you there!

The eight-point Veteran’s Creed is:

1.   I am an American Veteran

2.   I proudly served my country

3.   I live the values I learned in the military

4.   I continue to serve my community, my country and my fellow veterans

5.   I maintain my physical and mental discipline

6.   I continue to lead and improve

7.   I make a difference

8.   I honor and remember my fallen comrades

Source:  https://www.vfw.org/media-and-events/latest-releases/archives/2018/6/veterans-organizations-establish-veterans-creed

Granite State Detachment #542 MCL has partnered with Revo Casino and Social House with the NH Charitable Gaming in the last couple of years, and has been selected to participate again this year.

The funds we receive from our assigned days at the Lebanon, NH Revo Casino will be designated to support local NH based Marine and Veteran organizations or individuals in need.

#PlayLikeARebel

Below please find some links for the VA website that may be helpful to you.

Outreach events

VA benefits can help Veterans and their families buy homes, earn degrees, start careers, stay healthy, and more. Join an event for conversation and information.

Outreach Materials

Use our outreach materials to help Veterans manage their journey with VA and learn about their benefits.

State Departments of VA Offices

Select a state or territory below to visit the website for that location’s Department of Veterans Affairs office.

Download or Print out your VA Welcome Kit

Whether you’re just getting out of the service or you’ve been a civilian for years now, the VA Welcome Kit can help guide you to the benefits and services you’ve earned.

Monthly Member Meeting - Every 2^nd Tuesday at 1800 for the detachment meeting at the American-Canadian Genealogical Society at 1 Sundial Ave., Suite 317, Manchester, NH 03103.

Upcoming Meeting Dates

January 13, 2026

February 10, 2026

March 10, 2026

Monthly Breakfast -Every last Saturday of the month at 0800 at the Airport Diner for the FUNday meet-n-greet breakfast @ 2280 Brown Avenue, Manchester.

Upcoming Breakfast Dates

January 3, 2026

January 31, 2026

February 28, 2026

March 28, 2026

Members of the Marine Corps League join together in camaraderie and fellowship for the purpose of preserving the traditions and promoting the interests of the United States Marine Corps. 

Our mission is to voluntarily aid and render assistance to all Marines, FMF Chaplains, FMF Corpsmen and former Marines, FMF Chaplains and FMF Corpsmen and to their widows and orphans. 

Our Membership Coverage Area is the greater Hillsborough County with some towns in Rockingham County. For the full list of towns we encompass, please check out our membership page on our website.

Monthly Meetings

When: Monthly Meetings of the Granite State Detachment are held on the 2nd Tuesday of each month

Where: The American-Canadian Genealogical Society (ACGS), 1 Sundial Ave, Suite 317, Manchester, NH 03103

Time: Meetings begin promptly and 1800



Info: Membership is not a requirement for attendance and guests are always welcome to attend these events.

2025 Officers

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