At 11 a.m. on Tuesday, August 6, twelve residents and staff members from the Vineland Veterans Memorial Home arrived at American Legion Post 331’s historic building in Stone Harbor. This was the home’s second visit to the 1895 former lifesaving station and its American Legion Post.
As the bus arrived and the visitors disembarked, the residents were warmly welcomed by Post Trustee Jon Ready and other members of Post 331. Once settled inside the building’s meeting room, they received a welcoming speech by the Post commander, Tom McCullough, and a briefing of the day’s events by Trustee Ready.
After the visitors and attending legionnaires introduced themselves, Trustee Bill Lehman described the building’s history as a lifesaving and US Coast Guard station and showed them various artifacts related to that history. Next, they were given a visual tour of the military museum and artifacts contained on the second floor of the building. This enabled those who were unable to climb the stairs to gain an appreciation of the historical items contained in the museum.
After lunch served by Post members, Trustee Lehman gave the more mobile visitors a tour of the building’s second floor and its military museum. While the tour was taking place upstairs, Post members engaged the remaining visitors in conversation about their service.
When the group reconvened, Commander McCullough told them about the improvements that had been made to the building through a Home Depot Foundation grant and a Post 331 flag pole project for the home being coordinated with the home’s administration.
The Memorial Home’s project coordinator, Denise Galloway, was very appreciative of the Post’s effort to make the home’s residents welcome and engaged. Upon their departure, several of the residents thanked various legion members for the visit and presentations.
