Thursday, October 1, 2026
It’s 2025 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars - John F. O’Grady Post 1384 on Park Avenue is celebrating its 100th anniversary. One hundred years of helping Veterans and their families right here in Long Beach. Our Post has been a part of the fabric of this great city for a long, long time!
In fact, Post 1384 was chartered on August 5, 1925, and just as all other posts throughout the world, founded on the purpose of providing fraternity, patriotism, history, charity and education. In other words: to provide a place where veterans and active military can join together bonded by their common experience of war; to help their brothers and sisters in need, to perpetuate the memory and history of our dead; to assist their surviving spouses and orphans; to maintain allegiance to the U.S. and fidelity to its constitution and laws; to foster true patriotism; to maintain and extend institutions of American Freedom and to preserve and defend the U.S. from all enemies. Our pledge is to Honor the Dead by Helping the Living. What a hefty but worthwhile agenda! Don’t you wish more of us had at least some of those items on our agenda?
As President of the VFW Auxiliary 1384, I am proud to say that our members take this pledge seriously and pursue the VFW goals in all that we do as an organization. Anniversary year celebrations include: March 29 - National Vietnam Veterans Day commemoration; May - distribution of the iconic red Veteran poppy and Veteran Poppy Power field; 26 - Memorial Day Parade and Commemoration Service; September - 9/11 Patriot’s Day; 13 - Veteran Suicide Awareness and Prevention Walk on the boardwalk; 14 -Gala anniversary celebration; November 11 - Veterans Day; December 7 - Pearl Harbor Day.
As Memorial Day approaches, I invite you to join the VFW in celebrating our 100th anniversary by participating in these events. For example, “plant” a poppy in honor of your military person. (see flyer). As American citizens, we have an obligation to remember and never forget the sacrifice and bravery of our military men and women who have and continue to serve and defend our country. We have a duty to remember those who are missing in action and those who died in battle. As adult citizens, we have a responsibility to teach our young what it means to be a good citizen. Long Beach is a very patriotic and generous but busy city. It’s easy to forget a one-hundred-year-old institution that still works hard on that “hefty but worthwhile agenda.” But, don’t worry, I’ll remind you.
