It’s a New Beginning – Our Second Hundred Years
Yesterday, Post Commander Bill Munsee, Adjutant Lee Heavlin, and 2nd Vice Commander Robert Medred joined the Chapel Hill Town Manager Roger Stancil and Town Attorney Ralph Karpinos for the formal closing of the sale of Post 6 to the Town of Chapel Hill.
It was a very special day that culminated over six years of study, debate, formal review of needs, and decision to sell. It was a matter not taken lightly. It was a gamble, a bold move, and a challenge. But, like our early post members realized, “with change comes opportunity.”
We received $7.9 million for our current home and property. We think we are well situated now to locate a site, build a new home, and equip it to serve our veterans.
We are just two years shy of our one hundredth anniversary. Chartered on October 28, 1919. Our first members built their post home from logs cut from nearby trees by Rosemary Street. Axes flew, trees came down, and they were linked together to form a modest log cabin “hut.” It served them well and in 1955–35 years later–they made the bold decision to move into the “country” and build a new home on then dairy farm land.
Our post had just 61 members in 1955. They had a vision of the future, a future that served not only the now settled World War II veterans, but our Korean War Veterans. They needed a new home to provide for the huge local veteran population.
Our membership is growing again and is now at about 175 and we add four or more a month. There are many, many veterans in and around Chapel Hill that are not now members of Post 6. We hope they will respond as did the earlier returning veterans. Maybe you are one of them. If you are, we want to hear from you.
We want to hear from you now as we are now searching for a new post home site for our new home. It will be designed to meet the needs of current conflict members and their families. It will be equally welcoming to older conflict veterans and their families. And, we expect the site to be as attractive as our current home. We have a vision and want to share it with you.
We’ll stay right where we are now through a special lease with the Town of Chapel Hill for the next three years. Now is not the time to sit back and observe. You can get involved in one of the many phases of developing the post home. It’s your future home we are constructing.
We invite all eligible veterans to join us for dinner before our monthly meeting the second Tuesday of each month. Just contact our Post Adjutant for details. For membership info, click here.
