In keeping with the spirit of St Patrick’s Day throughout the month of March, I greet everyone with a hearty “Mora duit! (Hello).” We have officially entered the month of our 100th anniversary of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in the Wenatchee Valley. We have a lot going on in the next couple of months as we creep out from under Winter’s icy hold and I dare say that our first 70-degree day should be in about 3 weeks according to long range forecasts. We made it!

WENATCHEE VALLEY VFW POST 3617 CELEBRATES 100 YEARS   As you recall from our last newsletter, our post will be celebrating the 100th Anniversary of VFW Post 3617 on March 29, 2022. We’ve included an extra section in this centennial issue to look back at the military and veteran history in our valley.

100th ANNIVERSARY (FREE) DINNER AT OLIVE GARDEN   You’re invited to the Olive Garden on March 29th at 6pm to help celebrate our first century of service to veterans and citizens of the Wenatchee Valley. This is a RSVP dinner and you must register to attend. You will be able to select any item off the menu as long as it doesn’t exceed $14 due to our budget constraints for this event. I’m also asking for a $5 RSVP fee when you register, but with that fee I cover the cost of fountain drinks or coffee and pay the tip to the staff. If you want beer, wine, or cocktails, that will be on a separate tab and your responsibility to pay. Quite the deal! Please drop by the post to register (Signup is on the dry erase board) and pay your RSVP fee. As of today there’s around 15 seats left. Deadline for registering is 6pm on Saturday, March 26 (Call me at [509] 630-1754 if you can’t make it in to the post). Hope to see you there!

APPLE BLOSSOM & CLASSY CHASSIS PARADES    We’re back on to sponsor the Washington State Fallen Heroes Memorial for Apple Blossom. After a 2-year break due to COVID, the Memorial Float and 300-plus banners will back in Wenatchee. The Classy Chassis Parade in East Wenatchee starts at 5:30pm on Friday, May 6, and the Stemilt Apple Blossom Grand Parade starts at 11am Saturday, May 7, from Triangle Park in Wenatchee.

Notifications to our community for banner walkers are going out this week. There will also be a signup list at the post for individuals to carry a banner. We usually get several community sport teams, churches, civic clubs, and student groups. 2019 was the first year that every banner made it on to the parade route and we’re looking to do the same this year.

BUDDY POPPIES   On Saturday, May 28 we’ll be holding our Spring Buddy Poppy Drive in East Wenatchee, Cashmere, and Leavenworth. First shift will be from 9am to 12 noon. Second shift will be 12 noon to 3pm. Hopefully we’ll receive our white colored poppies (denoting our 100th anniversary) in time for this event. The signup list for stores will be posted right after Apple Blossom.

MEMORIAL DAY SCHEDULE    The Patriotic Council has set the schedule for this year’s Celebrations as follows:

          9am    Evergreen Cemetery
         10am    Black Pedestrian Bridge over the Columbia
         11am    Wenatchee City Cemetery
      12 noon    Pybus Public Market
      12:30pm    Free Veterans Lunch at American Legion Post 10

We’re really striving to fill all 8 Color Guard positions from the VFW. The American Legion will provide the Firing Party. If you can help out, the Color Guard signup sheets for these events are posted on the board. Thank you.

VETERAN’S FOOD PANTRY    We finally opened our Veteran’s Food Pantry this past week and we’ve already helped one veteran out. The Pantry is located in the short hallway cupboard leading into the Kitchen. Once the weather warms a bit, we’ll construct a small pantry outside the building stocked with quick ready-to-go items like soups, crackers, bottled water, etc. that will be available 24 hours a day. Once we gauge the need, we’ll adjust the pantry accordingly.

POST SPRING CLEANUP   Steve and Dee Johnson are excited to return from their snowbird retreat in Apache Junction, Arizona during the first week of April. They’re so excited in fact, they’ve been planning a major landscaping project all winter and just had the budget approved. I can’t wait!

The Annual Post Cleanup Day will be Friday, April 15 right after coffee. Bring your gloves and favorite tool. I’ll be providing pizza and drinks for the volunteers at around 12:30pm. Spring is here!

FINAL THOUGHTS   We continue to learn every couple weeks or so about a comrade or sister that has passed away in previous months or in some cases over a year. We’ve lost more than 30 members in the last year. This isn’t only happening to the VFW. All veteran organizations and even civic clubs are experiencing this same cosmic shift of aging membership. Most organizations like ours have been led by Korea and Vietnam vets over the last 25 years. Even the youngest Vietnam vet will turn 65 this year. If our VFW Post is to survive another 10 years, it’s absolutely critical to ensure we have the younger membership to lead our Post into the future.

Our younger vets of Desert Storm, Iraq, and Afghanistan are vastly different from previous generations of GIs because of one special trait they all have in common – 100% of them volunteered for their military service.

Quoting General David Petraeus, US Army (ret.) who in 2011 said…

      “With them in mind, I should begin by noting that the post-9/11 generation of veterans has deservedly come to be known as America’s new greatest generation.  Like their grandparents who endured a Depression and won a world war, the members of the post-9/11 cohort have responded with valor, purpose, skill, and courage to the defining conflicts of their day.  In so doing, they have earned their place in the long line of patriot soldiers on whom our country has always depended.

      We should also note that America has never had a group of men and women who, on average, have served so long in combat or have spent so many tours down range.  This is, of course, the result of our country’s shift from the drafted forces that fought our past wars to the professional force that has prosecuted our post-Vietnam and, in particular, our lengthy post-9/11 engagements.  That’s a policy with which I strongly agree, but one that obviously means that the burdens of military service are borne disproportionately by those who volunteer.”

Even after their discharge, I believe this newest generation of veterans still have that drive in their hearts to be a part of something bigger in their community. These professional soldiers, marines, sailors, airmen, and coastguardsmen have a skill set and core values instilled during their service that would help immensely in guiding this organization forward. While they may not have time to sit in meetings or hang out drinking coffee, I believe they will respond if asked to help with leadership positions, veteran relief projects, Honor Guard details, and patriotic education in our schools. We just have to ask.

During the next decade, it will be up to us to reinvent ourselves and our veteran organization that will capitalize on this spirit of volunteerism in our most recent veterans.  It’s time to share the torch of leadership in the VFW and I’m asking for your help.

** We have an opening for a Quartermaster for 2022-2023 **

– Brad Pieratt, Commander