VFW Post 1963 Auxiliary’s 2023 “Adopt-a-Troop” program culminated on April 7, when members of the Auxiliary gathered with many veterans from Post 1963 and local municipal officials to speak via video conference call with Seaman E-3 Hugh Wilson, who is a crew member onboard the USS Emory S. Land (AS-39) stationed in Guam.
During the video conversation, Auxiliary President Patti Lloyd informed Seaman Wilson that the Auxiliary had recently collected nearly $2,600 in donated gift cards and printed dozens of custom-designed T-shirts for the crew of the USS Emory S. Land.
The items will be shipped to Gaum, along with over 200 letters that were handwritten by students attending the Strath Haven School District in Pennsylvania.
For the past five years, the Auxiliary’s Adopt-a-Troop program has showered individual military units with love and gratitude. Past recipients include the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station in Kodiak Alaska, the Air Force’s 78th Air Refueling Squadron at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, the Navy’s Golden Eagles of Patrol Squadron Nine in Washington State, and the Army’s 404th Civil Affairs Battalion in Djibouti, East Africa.
VFW Post 1963 Auxiliary President Patti Lloyd (center) is shown with Henry and Maureen Wilson, who are the parents of sailor Hugh Wilson.
“We host this program because we want to recognize our military members and thank them for the freedom we enjoy here in the United States – and we also want to let everyone know how proud we are of our service men and women,” Lloyd said.
She continued, “The Auxiliary organizes the program, our Post veterans support it, and our surrounding community graciously makes donations – and every year, our Adopt-a-Troop program gets better, thanks to the ever-increasing support it receives.”
This year, because Seaman Wilson’s mother, Maureen, is an active member of Post 1963’s Auxiliary, the group’s members decided to choose the crew of the Emory S. Land as the 2023 Adopt-a-Troop recipients.
In addition to sending the sailors gift cards, shirts and greeting cards, the Auxiliary members also hung a full-color framed image of the USS Emory S. Land inside Post 1963 to commemorate the ship’s crew being this year’s Adopt-a-Troop honorees.
To learn more about the VFW Post 1963 Auxiliary, go to https://vfwauxiliary1963.com/
