Help Needed to Support Local Vietnam Veterans, Urges Post 67
Published 9:30 am Thursday, August 3, 2023
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VALLEY — Post 67 of the American Legion will be meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, August 8th at Sunny’s Restaurant in Valley. All members are urged to be present, and all local veterans are invited to be there.
Post 67 was formed by local members of the Greatest Generation in 1946. At the time it was composed almost entirely of veterans of World Wars I and II. All of them have passed on as have many local veterans of the Korean War.
Post Commander Lanny Bledsoe and Post Adjutant Sammy Newton wants to keep the organization active, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to attract new, younger members.
“Our main focus right now is to get the word out that we want to get help for our local Vietnam veterans,” Bledsoe said. “At our meetings we talk about what we can do to get help for all of our veterans, especially those who served in Vietnam. It wasn’t right what they went through, being exposed to agent orange and what all. Also, many of them weren’t treated right on their return home.”
Bledsoe commends Chambers County Veterans Service Office Yvonne Triplett on the great job she does in helping local veterans receive all the benefits they have earned due to their service to our country. He wants to make sure all local veterans out there are treated right and are receiving the benefits they are entitled to.
Post 67 has provided a place of honor for those local veterans who died in our nation’s wars over the past 80 years. There are monuments in Veterans Park in Valley listing the names of local soldiers who died during service in World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam and the Iraq-Afghanistan wars. There are 73 names on the World War II memorial and 92 altogether.
Bledsoe is appreciative of the job done by the City of Valley in maintaining Veterans Park. “It should be a place that’s frequently visited,” he said. “It would be good for school groups to take field trips to the site, look at the names on the memorials and think about what those men did for us to have the freedoms we have today.”
