An installation meeting will be held at 9 a.m. Oct. 1 at the Magnolia Event Center, located at 11659 FM 1488, Magnolia, said Matthew "Doc" Dantzer, a Magnolia City Council member and the upcoming post commander for the Magnolia VFW. The installation meeting includes the swearing in of the 41 charter members and an oath of office by the officers of the VFW post, said Stephen Biehl, state inspector for the Texas VFW and member of the Tomball VFW Post 2427.
The meeting will be chaired by State Senior Vice Commander Larry Sanders and State Junior Vice Commander Robert Martinez, Biehl said.
"This is what will make the post official," he said. "Up until 9 a.m. Saturday, it's a dream, it's an idea, it's a lot of hard work and sweat. But as of 9 a.m. on Saturday, it is a VFW post."
The new post will be known as VFW Post 12213, Dantzer said.
Without a post in Magnolia previously, veterans had to travel to Tomball or Conroe to get involved in a VFW there and find support, Community Impact previously reported.
While the installation meeting is open to the public Oct. 1, Dantzer said meetings going forward are slated for veterans only the third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. Until the post finds a permanent post home, the group of veterans has been meeting at Las Fuentes in Magnolia.
"A VFW is not a building; a VFW is a group of combat veterans that have gotten together and put together the organization," Biehl said.
VFW membership is open to those who have served honorably on foreign soil or in hostile waters, Community Impact previously reported.
Dantzer said the charter members in Magnolia range from 26 years old to a veteran of the Korean War, and he said he hopes for the Magnolia VFW to continue to attract veterans of all ages and provide family events.
"It's exciting because a lot of posts are actually aging out and that's what happened to the VFW post back in the early 90s. Magnolia had a post, and [the members] aged out, and then there was no place for the veterans to go," Dantzer said. "We have so many veterans that are in this area, moving to this area that we're finally ready for it, and so that's the exciting thing is that it's back."
Learn more about VFW Post 12213 by reaching out to the post's Facebook page here.
