The Department of Georgia and Post 70 presented World War II Army veteran with life membership, certificate of appreciation.
When a local church reached out to Rabun-Dodson-Pope Post 70 in Villa Rica, Ga., to see if the Legion post would want to take part in an upcoming birthday celebration for a 100-year-old U.S. Army veteran, the post didn’t just say yes. Its members made sure that the World War II veteran’s military service was honored as well.
American Legion Department of Georgia Commander Jim Fultz and Post 70 Commander Dwight Bell attended the birthday party at Concord Missionary Baptist Church for Grady Jackson “Jack” Cole. The pair made him a life member of Post 70, presenting him with a Legion cover and membership card, and a special plaque from the Department of Georgia honoring Cole for his military service and birthday.
“He was ecstatic,” said Fultz, a past commander of Post 70. “He was wearing his cover proudly. You could see how happy he was.”
Fultz said he had learned that Cole had been very active in his community, including assisting the homeless. “I asked him why he never got involved in The American Legion,” Fultz said. “He said, ‘I never thought about it, and no one ever approached me about it.’ I said, ‘That’s bad on us’ that nobody approached him. We wanted to change that.”
Knowing how the ranks of World War II veterans are thinning daily, Fultz said honoring Cole has inspired department leadership to reach out to other veterans of that war. “The incoming (department) commander and I had a conversation about this,” he said. “We said, ‘Let’s go around to all the posts. Let’s get a roster and find out how many World War II veterans we’ve got. And let’s honor them on birthdays. Let’s put out some kind of feelers in the community, whether on Facebook, through the media, wherever we can do it. Let’s find out how many World War II veterans we’ve got out there, and let’s find out if we’ve got any out there who are not American Legion members.
“Let’s talk to them. Let’s tell them what we do.’ I do know we do have a lot of World War II veterans who are American Legion members, and one of the things we’re going to do this year is get to them and honor them for their service.”
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