These talks have been well vetted
Bay City VFW presents Veterans Spotlight series
By Chelsea Yarnell
For the TODAY
In 1942, two wooden hangars began construction at the Naval Air Station in Tillamook. The hangars were commissioned to house K-class airships, commonly known as blimps, to do anti-submarine patrol in the Oregon, Washington and California coastal areas. Squadron ZP-33 was stationed in Tillamook with eight K-Class airships. After Japan’s surrender in 1945, the station was reduced to a functional status and, by 1948, was decommissioned for good.
With such unique and rich military history, Bay City Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #2848 Commander Donavan Goff thought Hangar “B,” now home to the Tillamook Air Museum, would be the perfect venue to host the group’s monthly Veterans Spotlight speaker series. The next event in the series is slated for Sunday, March 17.
“The Air Museum needs visibility and it makes sense to do it out there as it’s a former military structure,” he said. “It’s good to get the community out there and see the hangar, keep it standing. We want to highlight some of the guys in the community and draw more veterans to what we have to offer as a post.”
The series began in February with a presentation from US Army veteran Greg Moore, who gave an account of his military career, from basic training to deployment in Iraq.
Thirty guests attended the presentation, which was followed by a Q&A session.
“A lot of people were engaging and asking questions,” Moore said. “If you’re interested or like history, come out [to a speaker presentation]. Or if you’re younger and thinking about joining the military after high school, come get the unbiased [view] of the branch you’re wanting to be in.”
As a partner for the event, the museum offers free admission for Tillamook County residents on the days of the presentations. Residents can show their ID or Tillamook County library card to gain entrance.
“Our hope is to not only gain a stronger relationship with the county residents, but also get more people out to meet and greet with the veterans of our area,” Museum Director Rita Welch said.
The next event will feature Vietnam veteran Paul Ferris, who served as a Vietnamese linguist in the Air Force.
“I’m going to tell my story about the camaraderie of shared experiences,” he said. “The experiences of being enlisted, going to language school and deployments. Fifty years later I still enjoy the conversations and the people I knew.”
As a nod to St. Patrick’s Day, pistachio ice cream will be served.
In February, the VFW Post #2848 voted to reinstate their Auxiliary membership. The post was out of commission from 2019 to 2023 due to lack of participation.
“A couple years have gone by and it felt right to bring it back,” Goff said. “We’re trying to spread the word and recruit a lot of new faces.”
To join the post, members can be either eligible individuals due to honorable service in a war, campaign or expedition on foreign soil or in hostile waters, or a direct relative of a VFW eligible member, including spouse, sibling, parent, child, grandparent or grandchild. Members do not need to be residents of Bay City as the service area of the post is quite large; the next closest posts are in Seaside and Siletz.
“I would like to see the [membership of the] VFW balloon,” Goff said. “A lot of [veterans] are missing camaraderie. We don’t have that same type of brotherhood as when we were in the military.”
VFW Post #2848 meets for monthly lunch meetings. Agenda items include discussions on donating back to the community.
“We try to reach out to who we can when we can,” Goff said. “We’re a non-profit, so donations are always helpful.”
Recently the post donated $1,000 to the Tillamook Junior High School Food Pantry.
“The pantry uses donations to purchase supplemental items for the students and their families such as fresh produce, meats and dairy products,” said Carol Abrogoua, family resource coordinator for Tillamook School District #9. “When the VFW approached me with an intent to donate, I was honored. They are an outstanding group of veterans who came together to fundraise…to help provide healthy food to children in their community.”
In addition to agenda items, meetings are also a time for veterans and family members to gather for support.
“We get together and hang out,” Goff said. “Some of us struggle with our PTSD. It tends to be similar; we all wore the same boots, but stomped different mud.”
Sunday’s talk begins at 1 pm at the Tillamook Air Museum, located at 6030 Hangar Road. For more information, go to tillamookair.com. For more information about the Bay City Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #2848, go to the VFW Post 2848 page on Facebook.