SPRINGFIELD — Even though they didn’t complete the mission with military precision, it was clear that the gray-haired men knew what they were doing.
Eight VFW Post 12149 members installed a flag pole at the Stillwell Fire Station on Saturday. They completed the project in less than an hour, capping it by raising a crisp, new edition of Old Glory to the top.
“We try to do things like this but, really, this is the first project we’ve done in Effingham County that you can actually see,” Kelly Dickey said. “It shows that we’re doing something with the donations that we got.”
Post 12149, based in Rincon, started six years ago. It provides financial support to several entities, including The Tiny House Project in Savannah, which combats veteran homelessness.
“But that’s in Chatham County,” Dickey said. “I want the people in Effingham County to know what we do.”
Commander Cleveland Williams said the flagpole project was special to his post.
“There’s some extra meaning to it because this fire station is dedicated to a veteran,” he said.
The facility sports a plaque on the front that honors U.S. Army 1st Lt. Henry Gnann, who was killed in Vietnam on Oct. 14, 1969, at the age of 23.
“He was the first guy from Effingham County killed in the Vietnam War,” Williams said.
Gnann was a decorated soldier. His honors included a National Defense Service Medal, Purple Heart, Vietnam Campaign Medal, Vietnam Service Medal and a Bronze Star.
Dickey, 71, remembers Gnann fondly.
“He was four or five years older than me and he came up three the ranks and became a Boy Scout leader,” Dickey said. “We went on a camping trip to Hilton Head Island and that song ‘I’m Henry the VIII, I Am’ was popular. He couldn’t stand that song and we were all in a van, riding over there and coming back, singing that song over and over again.”
Dickey was at home on leave from his military obligations when he learned about Gnann’s death.
“It ruined everything because we were so close,” Dickey said.
Quartermaster Leonard Danielewicz was unquestionably in charge of the pole project. He didn’t wait for the arrival of a promised hydraulic hole digger. He went to work at precisely 8 a.m., burrowing a hole for the pole the old-fashioned way.
Danielewicz had a hand in every step, including the pouring of concrete and making sure the pole was mounted perfectly straight.
“I’d done this a few times,” he said.
With 1.6 million-plus VFW and Auxiliary members in more than 6,000 posts around the world, the VFW provides vital assistance and support for America’s service members, veterans and their families. The organization has been instrumental in virtually every significant piece of veterans’ legislation passed in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Since 2004, the VFW has awarded $11.9 million in assistance to military families to cover basic needs. It has also awarded $7.2 million in scholarships to veterans since 2014 and recovered $9 billion is disability compensation in fiscal year 2019.
Post 12149 meets the first Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at the United Way Service Center, 711 Zitterour Drive, Rincon.
