As the country celebrates Military Appreciation Month and prepares to mark America\u2019s 250th birthday, members of VFW Post 9133 in Jacksonville are continuing their mission of supporting veterans and active-duty service members year-round.<\/p>\n
The Jacksonville post recently hosted a fundraiser event bringing together veterans, military families and service members from across the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cNever forgotten. Our military will never be forgotten,\u201d VFW Post 9133 Commander Michael Foye said.<\/p>\n
Located near Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Jacksonville is home to one of the nation\u2019s largest military communities, and post members say the organization serves as a gathering place for veterans of all generations.<\/p>\n
\u201cSafe place to come, enjoy yourself and enjoy your friends,\u201d Foye said.<\/p>\n
Foye, an Army veteran, joined the post nearly 20 years ago and now serves as commander.<\/p>\n
Among the longtime members is 93-year-old Fred Fletcher, a wounded Korean War veteran who also served during the Vietnam War. Fletcher regularly visits the post with his son, Ed Fletcher, who is also a Marine veteran.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a privilege that very few have,\u201d Ed Fletcher said. \u201cAnd being a part of this post we also have the opportunity to serve others and take care of our own.\u201d<\/p>\n
Post leaders said the fundraiser and other events held during Military Appreciation Month are meant to recognize the sacrifices made by military members and their families.<\/p>\n
As the nation approaches the 250th anniversary of American independence, Foye said the military remains central to preserving the country\u2019s freedoms.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the background of who we are and keeps us who we are,\u201d Foye said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the country celebrates Military Appreciation Month and prepares to mark America\u2019s 250th birthday, members of VFW Post…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-281699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}