The Siloam Springs Veterans of Foreign Wars post welcomed the national VFW Commander-in-Chief on Wednesday, Feb. 3.
John A. Biedrzycki Jr., along with some other state and national officers, visited VFW post 1674 as part of a national tour that has spanned seven states since the beginning of the year.
Biedrzycki said he wanted to show the Siloam Springs veterans that the national organization cares about what they are doing here and that the national staff was involved in local posts.
The event included a lunch and a speech from Biedrzycki.
The Commander-in-Chief, who served in the U.S. Army from 1967 to 1970, had high praise for veterans who continued to be involved in their communities.
"They're the salt of the Earth," he said.
Biedrzycki said he was proud of veterans who never stopped serving when they left the armed forces, but instead kept working in the communities around them.
"They take off their uniforms and put on their hats," he said. "It's an extension of their service."
Biedrzycki spoke about the events the VFW is hosting in the area, including some youth events over the weekend. He said that the VFW is involved in different ways from serving in hospitals to lobbying on Capitol Hill.
He thanked the Siloam Springs post for their involvement, and said that even though many veterans in Northwest Arkansas never make it to the Capitol, their local work has made everything the VFW does possible.
After the speech, Biedrzycki made the first flag retirement in the new flag retirement box that post Commander Frank Lee presented to the post on its 75 year anniversary late last year.
"I was very pleased that he chose Siloam Springs to visit," Lee said.
"Our post is very active and continues to grow," he said. "He wanted to know some of the things we were doing to stay active."
One of the problems facing the VFW is getting younger veterans involved as veterans from the Vietnam war, the Korean war and World War II age and pass away, Lee said.
The Siloam Springs VFW post was brought back from the brink of forced closure from inactivity in 2009. Since then, Lee said, the post has been growing.
Lee pointed to community involvement and financial support from the community and business as some of the reasons for the success of the post.
General News on 02/07/2016