The Veterans Day holiday is about more than an extended weekend. Saturday morning had perfect weather for the number of activities happening in Mesa. Across the country communities were honoring U.S. Military Veterans and to thank them for their service. This day VFW Post 1760 was involved in a number of activities to celebrate one of our organization’s favorite days of the year. This included a parade with a couple parade entries that Post 1760 was involved with, a Rifle Raffle drawing, and a free open house BBQ with live music for the public.
To start the morning, thousands of people made their way to the East Valley Veterans Day Parade on Saturday. One Veterans Day parade entry was by the Rocks & Shoals Squadron, a small unit of volunteers and members from both VFW Post 1760 and American Legion Post 26. Together they put together a parade float of the USS Phoenix (SSN 702).
Another entry was Post 1760’s Veteran Warriors Rider group who led an invited group of riders. These riders are from the American Legion Post 2, American Legion Post 26, American Legion Post 39, and American Legion Post 138 which made for a large gathering of riders for the parade. And with much delight, both parade entries won an award that day. For the Rocks & Shoals Squadron they won the 2017 McHale’s Navy award (EVVP Members’ Choice Award). And the Veterans Warriors Riders group won the 2017 High Speed, Low Drag award (Best Veteran Organization Entry). Congratulations to both winners!
Next at the Post 1760 Hall we had the Rifle Raffle drawing at 3pm. This was a raffle that started two months prior with a total of 300 tickets available, for which all were sold. Mesa City Councilman Kevin Thompson accepted our invitation to draw the winning ticket who drew ticket number 285. Big Congratulations to Ernie Granillo for winning the Rifle Raffle drawing!
For the rest of the day at the Post establishment an Open House BBQ was put together. This was located at the corner area of McDonald and 1st Avenue for the hundreds of people that came to visit. On display was the submarine parade float, along with the Veteran Warriors Riders contributing with the grilling duties. With the fantastic donation from Sam’s Club #4927 (1375 S Arizona Ave., Chandler AZ) we were able to give out 160 hamburgers, 90+ hot dogs. This along with side dishes from our wonderful Auxiliary, along with free sodas, waters and chips. For entertainment we had a couple live bands performing for the public’s entertainment.
Epilogue
Much appreciation for everyone’s part in this great event to the Post Membership, Post Auxiliary, Veterans Warriors Riders group and the canteen staff. Also another big thank you to Sam’s Club for their generous donation allowing our Post to provide for the public. And another thank you to the representative from Crescent Crown Peter Gallus for making an appearance who aided in the event promotions on Coors Light/Miller Lite’s behalf. It was a great day that day.
Photo contributions by Dan Fox, Suzanne “Suzee” Deistler, Mesa City Councilman Kevin Thompson, Barbara Wilson and Dan Wilson.
