Seeking a VFW post of their own

From Buffalo News.com: Seeking a VFW post of their own
African-American military veterans could use a place of their own, a place where they feel honored, a place where they are not forgotten.

That sentiment—and the fact that most veterans posts are located in the suburbs—has prompted Army veteran Sandi Williams to spearhead an effort to start a Veterans of Foreign Wars post on the East Side of Buffalo “particularly for minorities.”

“When they return home from war, there’s really nowhere for them to go. I’m trying to make one accessible to them in the inner city,” said Williams, who served in South Korea for one year, Germany for three and then at Fort Hood, Texas.

The new post will be open to all eligible war veterans regardless of race or gender, but it will focus predominantly on the needs of African- Americans.

Only two African-American-focused veterans posts exist in Buffalo, both on the East Side. Both are American Legion posts—Bennett- Wells Post 1780 and Jesse Clipper Post 430.

The city’s only black VFW post —Private Fleming Post 8747— turned in its charter in the late 1980s.

“It used to be on Jefferson and Riley, but they died out,” said Williams, who is a member of four veterans organizations: Dorothy Kubik/ Katherine Galloway Post 12097, the state’s first predominantly female VFW post; Korean War Veterans Association Chapter 63; Bennett-Wells Post 1780 on East Delavan Avenue, where she is first vice commander; and the Disabled American Veterans Roll of Honor 120.

Helping Williams get the ball rolling on an East Side VFW post is Bing C. Reaves Sr.,a member of Pennington-Moye Post 9251, Buffalo Soldiers in Rochester. A certified national recruiter, Reaves will attend an informational meeting here Jan. 21 on the planned East Side VFW post.

“Sometimes you have to have someone from your own community to say I’m just like you, someone who knows about you and your needs,” Reaves said.

The post will be named in honor of two African-American veterans from Buffalo: Evelyn W. Jones and Nathaniel Clifford Jones Jr., who are not related, Williams said.

Evelyn Jones, who died in 2010, was a retired registered nurse and lieutenant colonel who served in Operation Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia from 1990 to 1991. She was a life member of VFW Post 463 in Depew, where she served as commander for two years.

Nathaniel Jones was a seaman apprentice in the Navy who was killed in the turret explosion on board the USS Iowa on April 19, 1989. He had just turned 22. His uniform, a picture of him and other items are on display in a memo-rial to him at the Buffalo&Erie County Naval and Military Park museum. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

His mother, Georgian Davis, a member of American Gold Star Mothers, has served as a past chapter president, a past president for New York State and a past national officer.

“He was very proud of the battleship he was on,” Davis said of her son. “I’m very honored that my son will be remembered.”

The Jan. 21 informational meeting will be at noon in Pvt. Leonard Post Jr. Post 6251, VFW, 2450 Walden Ave., Cheektowaga.