First of all, I want to thank you all for the wonderful articles recently about our veterans. Both the Arlington Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post and Aux 1561 and American Legion Post and Aux. 76 really appreciate the words of encouragement for all they do in the community. This is a lovely expression of the communitys gratitude and respect to our veterans. I also want to express how grateful we are to everyone who came to watch the parade, many of whom came up to the veterans and thanked them for their service, to the parents who explained to their children what being a veteran really means, to all that fly the flag, and to the schools that put on such awesome programs.
I also want to stress that, while they have the same purpose and focus on veterans, these two organizations are truly two separate groups, and both deserve full recognition. The parade picture on page two shows the VFW 1561 color guard, followed by American Legion 76 and their banner, but the VFW was not mentioned in the caption.
VFW Post members are all military veterans who have served our county on foreign soil during specified periods of conflict. Legion members have served our country just as honorably, but maybe not on foreign soils. For example, a veteran who served in Iraq is eligible for both organizations, but a veteran who served at the same time in the U.S. may be eligible only for the Legion. (Most VFW members are also Legion members.) These distinctions are regulated by the U.S. Congress, not by the organizations themselves.
This is certainly not meant to detract on anything that Legion Post/Aux 76 does for the community. This is just to stress the point that we have two Veterans organizations in Arlington that work extremely hard together to honor and serve all of our veterans.
Again, thank you for supporting our veterans. Freedom is not free Thank a Vet today.
Carol Williams
President, VFW Aux 1561 Arlington