San Diego

Local Veterans of Foreign Wars Celebrates Veterans Day in Historic Military Neighborhood

One of San Diego’s biggest veteran communities is in Allied Gardens where a local Veterans of Foreign Wars post gathered Monday to celebrate and honor those who serve.

Spend any amount of time inside the Mission Valley VFW Post 3787 and you'll recognize something familiar--It's comfortable, like reruns of your favorite old comedy.

"Welcome to the USS Minnow and that's my buddy Gilligan," said Post Commander Michael Herman, pointing to his second-in-command. Herman is better known as "Skipper."

VFW Post 3787 has a simple mission: Help its fellow veterans and reject no one.

"We did the Vietnam thing and none of us were treated well," Herman said. "So when everything broke out with Iraq and Afghanistan, no one in the service was going to be treated like we were treated."

The local post, located at 4370 Twain Ave, offers legal services, scholarships and hospital visits. On Monday though, they put out a potluck lunch, eating and hanging out, talking about the past.

U.S. Navy veteran Deborah Williams remembered her first day of boot camp in 1979, "They rolled the garbage cans down the aisle at 4 a.m.," she recalled.

This fellowship is therapeutic and familiar for members where everybody knows your name.

"I can look at any one of these people and know where they've been and know what they've done," Herman said.

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