Caravel Chapter NSDAR

05/13/2026

Congratulations to our two members who are celebrating graduation this month! SAIRA HADI with her Baccalaureate degree from USF and Kait Early with her Associates from St. Petersburg College. So proud!!

05/08/2026

8 likes. "DYF ServiceBRollV3 9x16"

04/30/2026

04/30/2026

04/30/2026

An email we received from the USCG JROTC at Pinellas Park High School.

Good morning,

I’m excited to share some great news from PPHS. Our JROTC Raider Team traveled to Fort Knox, Kentucky, last week to compete in the Army JROTC National Raider Challenge in the All-Service Male Division. Our team of 13 cadets competed in six demanding events, including a mountain 5K, a 1-mile ruck and stretcher carry, two separate obstacle courses, and a one-rope bridge event. They not only won one event and placed third in another, but they also earned 1st place overall and captured the National Championship title.

This was the first time our program competed at this national event, and the first time any Coast Guard team has participated—and they brought home the overall trophy. That is an incredible accomplishment for a program in only its fifth year, especially for a team of Coast Guard cadets competing against veteran Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy teams.

Please pass along our sincere thanks to your chapter and members for their continued support over the years. We also look forward to seeing one of your representatives at our award ceremony on May 12 at 4:00 p.m. in the PPHS Auditorium. We hope to capture some great photos with our team, and the trophies.

This weekend, we will travel to Daytona Beach for another national competition, Drill and Fitness. We do not expect to win, but we will proudly represent our school and community. In addition, our cadets have logged more than 1,300 hours of community service this year, participated in 43 color guards, and we have 13 cadets enlisting in the military after graduation, with 15 more enrolling in college.

Thanks again for all your support.

Master Chief Mike Collis
Pinellas Park High School
Coast Guard JROTC
Senior Maritime Science Instructor

04/28/2026

July 4, 1863. Day after the Battle of Gettysburg. 51,000 casualties. 7,000 dead still on the field. Summer heat, rain coming. Union Army had to identify and bury bodies fast or disease would kill the living.

Problem: Most dead had no ID. Pockets looted. Faces gone. But the U.S. Sanitary Commission had 300 women volunteers, led by Dorothea Dix’s nurses. They couldn’t touch bodies — “improper.” So they did paperwork.

They invented the “Casket Code.” Every dead soldier got a pine box. The nurses hammered a code into the lid with nails before burial: One nail = Union, two = Confederate. Nail top left = infantry, top right = cavalry, center = artillery. A strip of cloth under a nail meant “has letter in pocket.” A button meant “has photo.”

They mapped 5,000 graves in 8 days. When families came in 1864 to claim bodies, the nurses could read the lids and dig. 60% of “unknowns” went home because of that code.

The Army never credited them. The National Cemetery was dedicated in November. Lincoln spoke. The women stood in back. One, Cornelia Hancock, 23, wrote: “We gave them names. He gave them words.”
#1863

04/26/2026

As some members were supporting Historic Preservation on Saturday at Lincoln Cemetery, others were displaying our chapter's Patriotism at the VA Bay Pines "Red, White and DUE" Baby Shower for our Lady veterans. Bev Becker , Chairman of the DAR Service for Veterans committee spearheaded this initiative, which collected baby items over two meetings, including a diaper raffle at the March Meeting. The hand-crafted items were a big hit!

04/25/2026

04/25/2026

It was a confluence of volunteers and volunteer groups today at the April 25 Historic Lincoln Cemetery clean up. Thanks in part to the organization of one person, Joyce Mandley, much work was accomplished and it has been since the beginning of 2026. There was much removal of overgrowth in the northeast section of the property accomplished with weedwackers and grit. Restoration of the markers with Endurance restoration products used by national cemeteries was another project along with debris pick up. Caravel Chapter NSDAR Regent, Sara Powell, joined in along with her husband, Chuck, and, Princess Hirrihigua Chapter DAR, chapter member joined along with participation from the City of Gulfport City Council, Gulfport Kiwanis, Leadership St. Pete Alumni, NAACP and many more. Enjoy the photos. For those of you who have followed Lincoln Cemetery over the years, you will be amazed at the look.

04/16/2026

Sound off with your pictures!

Happy Purple Up Day! Today, we celebrate and support military children for their strength, resilience, and the unique challenges they face.