Membership in Squadrons & Shipmates of the FDR-Midway Inc. is open to all persons who served in a squadron that served aboard one of these two great sister ships and shipmates who brought these squadrons to points on the globe during their commissioned lifetimes. To be very clear, a member of a squadron who served in a squadron aboard either of these two ships but did not serve aboard these two ships is still eligible for membership. A complete list of squadrons is available on the web site under "Squadron Links." If you served in one of these squadrons, you are eligible for membership. The membership is open to all Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force personnel who qualify and were members of squadrons or shipmates who served aboard the FDR or Midway and are defenders of the Constitution of the United States of America.
DUES PLEASE DO NOT COMBINE MEMBERSHIPS ON ONE CHECK OR PAYMENT METHOD. ALL PAYMENTS ARE DEPOSITED SEPARATELY AND WE WOULD LIKE TO KEEP ALL THE DEPOSITS IN BALANCE WITH ALL THE MEMBERSHIPS. THANK YOU.
The association's membership dues will be unique as this is a very unique association. If you are a member associated with the Midway or both ships your annual dues will be $9.10 per year (July 1st until June 30th). If you were associated with the FDR your annual dues will be $10.27. Why the difference? We want our members to always remember the dates their ships were commissioned in 1945. We feel we will have more members of the Midway as she was still commissioned in 1991 and did more Wes-Pac Cruises so let's give them a little break and not complain. We will try to keep the dues to a minimum for as long as possible. Lifetime membership dues will be 10 times the annual rate and it can start this year or any year in the future. Lifetime membership is NOT available to auxiliary members. Lifetime members will be recognized with an "L" on their name badges at all reunions and on their ID cards. Please make all checks payable to "Squadrons & Shipmates of the FDR-Midway Inc." Normally applications and dues would be mailed to the home of the treasurer of the organization as is the case with most reunions. We will also have that policy to keep our overhead as low as possible. Until a treasurer is selected for the initial year please mail all applications and dues to the address at the bottom of the application form. When a new treasurer is elected, the address will be changed on the application form.
CHARTER MEMBERS
Charter Members will be anyone who joins the organization in 2009-2010 and whose membership application is post-marked before July 1, 2010. (See notation below for a change) Charter Membership dues will be $4.10 for the Midway members or both ships and $4.20 for FDR members. We think you all can see the significance here. The bonus for Charter Members will be that their dues will remain the same in future years or be $5.00 less than any future increase to non-charter members. Charter Members will be recognized with a "C" on their name badges at all reunions and on the ID cards. Annual Charter Memberships were extended until August 31, 2010. If you join after June 30, 2010 and on or before August 31 2010, you can still be a Charter MembeR. However, to be fair to the members who joined on or before June 30, 2010 we request that you pay the 2009-2010 dues. It will still be cheaper than paying one year of Regular Membership dues. For example, two years of Charter Membership dues for FDR comrades equal $8.40. One year of Regular Membership dues are $10.27 plus you will only pay $4.20 in all future years unless the dues are increased by the membership. Caution: The annual Charter Membership dues are the most reasonable dues of any known U.S. Naval reunion organization in existence today. In order to maintain the financial obligations of the organization, all reduced rate Charter Memberships are to be paid during the month of July each year and postmarked before August 1st of each year. This is part of the By-Laws and a very fair incentive to encourage payment of dues on time. If annual Charter Members fail to pay their Charter Membership dues in July of each year, they will still be Charter Members but their dues will revert to the Regular Membership dues FOR ALL FUTURE YEARS.
LIFETIME MEMBERS
As explained above, Lifetime Membership dues will always be ten times the amount of the regular dues that are in effect. For example, in 2009 the Lifetime Membership dues will be $41.00 for the Midway membership and $42.00 for the Roosevelt membership. This was extended to AUGUST 31, 2010. Please remember, our By-Laws indicate that we can only have 75% in Lifetime Memberships. If we had 100% in Lifetime Memberships there would not be any income in future years. If you sign up on-line as a Lifetime Member and we have reached the maximum, you will be notified. On September 1, 2010 the Lifetime Memberships will increase to $91.00 for Midway comrades and $102.70 for FDR members.
AUXILIARY MEMBERS
Auxiliary members are spouses and direct descendants of a qualifying member. The By-Laws describe this in detail. In order for auxiliary members to have a membership number and be able to sponsor new members we have to charge the minimum amount for membership which will be $1.00 per year. Auxiliary Members can also earn reunion credits and can also sponsor regular members, Charter Members and other Auxiliary Members if, in the highly unlikely situation, a qualifying member does not join but the spouse and children of the qualifying member want to join. If an Auxiliary Member becomes a regular member in the future with full voting rights then that member's dues will be the amount of dues being paid at the time by all regular members for each ship he or she is associated with. If an Auxiliary Member joined in the Charter Membership period they can become a Charter Member with full voting rights at any time and only pay the Charter Membership dues that are effect at the time. They may also become a Lifetime Charter Member with full voting rights at any time in the future.
SECOND GENERATION AUXILIARY MEMBERS
Second generation auxiliary members would be all the children of the regular member or potential member.
THIRD GENERATION AUXILIARY MEMBERS
Third generation auxiliary members would be all the grandchildren of the regular member or potential member.
WIDOWS AND WIDOWERS
Please review our By-Laws for membership fees and voting rights. All widows and widowers will have full voting rights. They will be obligated to pay the minimum annual dues, which will be $1.00 per year, to maintain the membership of the qualifying member or potential qualifying member. Widows and widowers may become Lifetime Members if they up-grade to Regular Members.
SPOUSES ONLY
If a spouse, and only a spouse, does not want to be an Auxiliary Member or participate in the reunion credits program and have their own membership number they may still come to the reunions and register just like a regular member. They may attend the reunion even if their spouse is not attending for whatever reason. They may also vote for their spouse if they have a signed proxy in hand. We understand that members may not be able to attend the reunion because of work or any number of other reasons. The spouses may also bring their children or grandchildren.
DOCENTS OF THE MIDWAY MUSEUM
If you are presently a member of the Docent Team aboard the Midway Museum and an unpaid volunteer we want to reward you for your unselfish service to the Midway Museum. We want to invite you to become a member too. Being this is a veteran group association under the rules of the IRS, you must be a veteran of the United States military from any branch of the service. Please indicate this on the reverse side of your application and attach your DD214. You will be eligible for regular membership and have full voting rights. All future members of the Docent Team and unpaid volunteers will be eligible to join after one year of uninterrupted service to the Midway Museum. All former members of the Docent Team and unpaid volunteers who completed one year of uninterrupted service may also join if they are a veteran. We believe the docents would be very valuable to our organization because of their knowledge of this great ship and their dedication to preserve it's memory. Please check the Midway on your application form.
MEMBERSHIP NUMBER
Each member will be issued a membership number and that number will be listed on the roster and name badges at all reunions. The first member who joins will be issued membership number 0 0 0 1. Each member in succession will receive the next number and so on. That number will never change. It will also be used to keep track of reunion credits for all members who want to participate in that program. When cut-offs are necessary for banquets and excursion tours, the postmark date will determine which member signed up first. In the event of a tie where more than one envelope is received with the same postmark date, the membership number will determine where the cut-off will be. The lower membership number will prevail. This membership number will also be used to break other ties, including elections. In essence, you want to have the lowest possible membership number.
SPONSORSHIP/CREDITS
It would be our hope that all new members are sponsored by another existing member in good standing with the organization after 2009 unless the office has initially contacted the new member. There are a few good reasons for this procedure, to ensure all potential members are eligible and to give credit to members who encourage others to join. If you happen to learn about this organization on your own and want to find out if a buddy of yours is already a member, we will be happy to inform you and your buddy so he or she can sponsor you. If you just want to join on your own that is fine with us too. For each member who sponsors a new member, not an auxiliary member, the existing member will receive a $5.00 credit toward his or her expenses for the next reunion. This does not include transportation expenses or lodging expenses, only the expenses for the member and spouse for registration fees, excursion and tour fees, and banquet or any meal fees. If a member sponsors 50 members in a year (except for 2009) that member will receive a $250.00 credit toward reunion expenses. The one exception to this rule is that a new member cannot be a Charter Member. As an added bonus, the existing member will also receive a $5.00 credit for each reunion the new member or new auxiliary member attends in all future years. There are no exceptions for this bonus even for Charter Members that are sponsored, the sponsoring member will receive this bonus. This bonus is not earned for the spouses of the regular members even if the spouse is an Auxiliary Member. This can be very rewarding and a way to help pay for your reunion expenses. Over time all the members who sponsor other members will benefit for their hard work. Members who do not have a sponsor will forward their application to the address indicated on the application with a copy of their DD214 to be sponsored by the organization. If you do not have a copy of your DD214 send in your application and we will verify your information. If you do not have a sponsor, please indicate "OFFICE" on the application form where "Member's Last Name" is requested at the very bottom of the application. Please indicate "0 0 0 0" where "Membership Number" is requested.
A search engine will be provided free of charge to the membership to locate lost shipmates. We found over 500 lost shipmates from the FDR with this search engine within 3 months and over 630 in just one week from the Midway this year alone. Because we are a non-profit organization cash cannot be awarded to any member, only credits. We want to reward the member for their efforts in recruiting new members and this is one way of accomplishing that endeavor. The founder will not be eligible for any reunion credits. No one will receive credits for any members who are sponsored by the office. The office will be sending out about 90 letters per day to potential members from USS Midway. After spending a week on the Midway Museum 65,999 names were compiled. The Midway Museum already had all the names in their data base. We will always be grateful for their cooperation in getting this organization off the ground. If you are interested in locating former shipmates who served aboard the Midway, we have all their names. You will also earn reunion credits at the same time. You can be a member of either ship or any squadron and still contact shipmates of the Midway.
OUR GUARANTEE
In other organizations members have dropped out because when they attended reunions there was nobody there that served with them when they were aboard ship or in a squadron. We will do everything we can to correct this problem. If, after the first year, we do not locate at least two additional members in your squadron, department or division and convince them to join this association you will not have to pay any dues until we find two additional members and have them join. The exceptions to this would be if either, or both, of your buddies do not remain members of the association or if there are no living members of your squadron or division to find. When you fill out your application you will be asked to list at least six members that you served with. You may use the reverse side of your application to list more names. Do not list names on a separate sheet of paper as it may get lost. All applications will be kept on file. If all of 5 of the 6 members you listed are deceased we will ask you for more names. You must have served in a unit with at least 10 members. So that everyone is clear on the guarantee, once there are at least 3 members from any particular division or squadron, for any given year or years, then all three members will be obligated to pay their annual dues. Once the obligation is met by the association, all future annual dues will be due from these members.
DIRECT DESCENDANTS
These individuals are very important to our organization as this association can only be carried into the future with their help. It will cease to exist if descendants do not join the organization. With all the modern technology we are fortunate to have at our disposal today it would be a shame if we do not take advantage of it to search for potential members and potential auxiliary members. We are ready to embrace all descendants of our present members and our departed members, especially those men and women who died in the line of duty. Direct descendants will have one vote per generation of any qualifying member or potential qualifying member after the member is deceased and the widow or widower of the member or qualifying member does not want to participate in the organization. If the widow or widower is still exercising his or her voting rights, the descendants will not have voting rights until the widow or widower has relinquished these rights. If issues arise with this policy, the executive board will make the final determination.
MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION 
