It’s been 40 years since a group of Pickerington Veterans started meeting together at a local high school. Those informal meetings quickly led to formation of American Legion Post 283 in 1982 and since then the organization has served Veterans, active-duty military members and the community at large.
“We consider ourselves a community service,” says Dave England, the post’s commander for the 2020-2021 term and now its chaplain.
Post members participate in community parades, donate to the Mid-Ohio Food Collective, perform the color guard at high school football games, visit Veterans at nursing and older adult homes and, its proudest contribution, honor Veterans at their burials, he says.
“We honor our fallen brothers,” says England, “no matter what branch. We all fight for our country, our flag and families.”
Since its inception, the post established its own home at a two-plus-acre site at the corner of Pickerington and Refugee roads in the 1980s with post members involved in the construction. Over the years, the post has added amenities such as a rental hall for private events.
The post opens its doors to the community for the Memorial Day ceremony which features guest speakers and steak nights with live entertainment and food cooked by the honor guard on the fourth Friday of each month from April to October.
The organization is also known as the David Johnston Memorial Post to honor Pickerington High School’s only casualty of the Vietnam War, David Johnston. The post entertains the late Johnston’s Marine unit each year.
The organization continues to memorialize the area’s local military with the Veterans Memorial Park in 2007 and a shelter house named in honor of Marines Cpl. Dustin Derga, who died in the Iraq War in 2005.
In addition, the post donates to charity each year, averaging about $30,000 to $40,000, England says.
“When an organization needs help, they just need to reach out to us and we take it into consideration,” England says.
In 2020, the pandemic slowed the post’s charitable giving, but it was still able to donate $15,000, England says, and it is expected the organization will donate about $30,000 this year.
With a Veteran membership base in Pickerington and across the country, an auxiliary unit for Veteran spouses and a unit for young men, the post has nearly 1,000 members.
Brandon Klein is an editor. Feedback welcome at bklein@cityscenemediagroup.com.