HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — Camaraderie and service meet over a mean breakfast inside American Legion Post 242 along JB Finley Road in Sandston.
"Sometimes we have breakfast pizza, fried oysters, salt herring," said Temple Ancarrow, Post 242 commander.
Six days a week, about 80 veterans call this building their second home.
"We just kind of socialize and talk," Ancarrow laughed. "We don't have any rank here."
The 72-year-old veteran joined the military in 1968 when he was just 18 years old.
"I had a low draft number, so I volunteered on the buddy plan with my cousin," said Ancarrow.
Within six months, he was on his way to Vietnam and assigned to a helicopter unit.
“The first time we went up, one of the engines caught on fire," he noted. "When you're 18 years old, and a helicopter engine's on fire, it's scary."
But this retired vet said he was lucky. He never had to fight in active combat, while others he knew lost their lives on Vietnamese soil.
"We were in the area where we used to get rocket attacks, and one of my fellow crew chiefs, their helicopter got shot, and it went down and of course they crashed. He got killed.”
Ancarrow’s time overseas wasn’t easy, but neither was his return home, as the majority of the country no longer supported the war.
"When I came back from Vietnam at O'Hare Airport with two of my buddies, we were confronted," he said. "We were called baby killers. I still think about that.”
And at Post 242, Ancarrow is able to share these memories with other men, like 95-year-old James Patrick Pohnson, who just understand.
"Back in those days, things were entirely different," said Johnson.
This World War II veteran spent time in Japan right after the war ended.
“I was never in any action, and I'm thankful for that," Johnson noted. "I may not be here today, if I had been.”
He remembers a time where Americans lined up side-by-side willing to serve and sacrifice everything for our freedom and each other.
"We don't know how blessed we are to live in this country," he explained. "And it bothers me today that there's so much hate. That really bothers me”
But on this Veteran’s Day, Johnson and Ancarrow will recall the reason for their time in uniform.
"I was proud to do it," said Johnson.
And they’ll celebrate over a meal with friends at this post that has brought them all together.
They hope you too will take some time to remember those who served and honor the ones who didn’t make it home.
"At the end of the day, go out and thank a veteran," said Ancarrow.
