WILBURN — Verlon Abram of Wilburn looks like a commander — and he is. Effective at the end of June, he became the new commander of the Department of Arkansas American Legion.
According to the website www.legion.org, the American Legion is the nation’s largest veterans service organization, formed in 1919. Heber Springs Post No. 64, from where Abram hails, has the largest membership in the state with the latest count at 1,042, Abram said, then added that there are 16,000 American Legion members in Arkansas, and a quarter-million are eligible to belong to the organization.
During his year-long term, Abram, 64, said he will travel about 50,000 miles over the state, meeting fellow Legionnaires at 200 posts and attending district meetings, too.
“I am looking forward to meeting lots and lots of good people in the state,” he said. “I want to do all I can to change the persona of all veterans organizations. Too many think we all are a bunch of old men sitting around smoking and drinking.”
When asked how he become the Arkansas American
Legion’s new commander, Abram replied, “I was recruited. I would not be commander today if not recruited to take the job, and it took more than one to talk me into it.”
Abram said he has four pillars he will hone in on as he utilizes his post to communicate with others: fostering a strong national security; taking care of veterans; mentoring the youth of the nation; and promoting patriotism and honor.
Abram also has a mission to aid in “stopping the perpetration of fraud on our veterans,” he said.
Abram, who grew up on a 773-acre farm on Hiram Road in the Wilburn area, said his parents instilled in him and his younger brother the value of hard work. Abram hauled hay, took care of cattle and picked corn.
“My father needed all the help he could get,” Abram said. His parents also stressed the importance of getting a college education, leaving no doubt that he was expected to follow through on that goal.
“I tell people Mother and Daddy raised two boys to go to church and work hard and get ahead.” The boys did just that. Both earned bachelor’s degrees, and master’s degrees as well.
Abram’s desire to represent veterans stems from childhood, too, he said.
“You’ve got to remember, growing up, I was surrounded by veterans. Father was a World War II veteran and commander of the local [Veterans of Foreign Wars]. I had one uncle wounded in North Africa, one uncle wounded at Pearl Harbor. I lost a cousin to the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest and most ferocious naval battle of World War II, the second battle of the Philippine Sea.
“My daddy said the worst job he ever had was washing bodies out of the B24s,” where machine gunners in the planes were targets and were often killed by enemy fire.
“I had numerous cousins who served in World War II,” Abram said, his mind shifting toward his adulthood. “Two of my upperclassmen at Heber Springs High School were killed in the Vietnam War. My formative years were in the 1950s and 1960s. We were in the war in Vietnam all the years I grew up. Vietnam was hot and heavy when I graduated high school. I would have gone into the Army and served,” he said, but his parents wanted him to get a college education.
“I went into the ROTC program at Arkansas Tech University [in Russellville], graduated and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army,” Abram said, noting that his parents pinned his bars on him during his commissioning ceremony.
Commissioned into the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps, Abram began his service at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland.
“I was an explosive ordnance officer with the Army. There’s not a blasting cap in the country I am scared of,” he said.
Abram was also assigned to nuclear weapons, and he also trained in chemical weapons while in Germany. He attended ordnance explosives school at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. While in Germany, he served with the 162nd Ordnance Co. and the 552nd Artillery Group in the Netherlands, working with nuclear and chemical weapons, as well as a variety of explosive ordnance.
After leaving active duty, he worked as a civilian employee of the Red River Army Depot in northeast Texas for 29 years. He attended civilian schools such as the one formerly located in Savannah, Illinois, working his way up the chain of leadership and responsibility. He worked as a supply supervisor, an ammo supply specialist, a production controller and an equipment manager before retiring in 2006. Abram moved back to the Heber Springs area in 2007, returning to the family farm.
“I held onto the farm all those years, knowing I would return,” he said. His father died in an accident on the farm in 1978, and Abram’s mother died from cancer in 1989.
Upon his return to Cleburne County, Abram transferred his American Legion membership from Texas to Heber Springs Post No. 64 and was recruited to serve as a member of the Post’s honor guard. He was then sought to run for the Post Executive Committee and first-vice-president position. Following the death of Cmdr. Bill Hogue, Abram became post commander. In each of the three years he was commander, the post membership grew, “due to the efforts of Post members, Legion Riders, the Ladies Auxiliary and Sons of the Legion,”Abram said.
When he accepted the role of commander of the state American Legion, Abram said he knew he was being asked to give up a year of his life because he soon had a “loaded calendar” of speaking engagements and events to attend, including numerous state Capitol meetings, and a staff and office across from the state Capitol.
Elected by a delegate vote of the 200 posts, Abram has already penciled in many events. The American Legion Baseball tournament at Fort Smith in mid-July was a must attend. He threw out the first pitch and spoke at the tourney. The American Legion sponsors its namesake baseball organization with up to $10,000 a year spent for each individual team.
“American Legion baseball is where college and pro scouts go looking for talent,” he said, adding that he had played football at Heber Springs High School but did not get to play baseball because his father had to have his help on the farm each summer.
Another area of influence for the American Legion is Boys State. The American Legion sponsors this educational program, which provides high school boys with an opportunity to learn about government in the United States. The American Legion Auxiliary, meanwhile, sponsors Girls State.
“It’s the sharpest men and women, the smartest Arkansas has that attend,” Abram said. Harding University in Searcy hosts the girls, and the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, the boys. Former President Bill Clinton spoke at this year’s Boys State; he was formerly an attendee at Boys Nation.
Two noteworthy Legion-related events Abram mentioned are coming up soon. At 1 p.m., Aug. 14 in the Capitol Rotunda, living World War II veterans will be honored. Veterans need to contact their veterans service officer for a formal invitation, he said.
On Wednesday, a groundbreaking will be held for the new Central Arkansas Veterans Home at Fort Roots in North Little Rock.
“Many have worked hard for this,” he said, explaining that the $29 million project is expected to take a year to complete and will house 90 veterans.
Further explaining his and the American Legion’s aim, Abram talked of the importance of the three organizations under the American Legion umbrella: the Ladies Auxiliary, the Legion Riders and the Sons of the American Legion.
He stressed that there are many female veterans in the state, and he said women in general have held a major importance and been a big help to veterans.
Abram has been a member of the American Legion for 20 years, but he said many members have belonged for 50 to 60 years. Many members are older, and he hopes some younger veterans will join the organization, although he realizes the younger ones are busy raising families and making a living.
He believes the $30-per-year membership fee is well worth it for the fellowship, food and other benefits, he said.
Another facet of his job, as Abram sees it, is educating
people about frauds attempted on veterans.
“I know the governor’s staff. I know the attorney general’s staff,” Abram said. “The AG is out there trying to meet with veterans on veterans’ issues. Our older veterans are being targeted. People are calling them, saying they are police and begging for money. They are begging on television for $19 a month, a total fraud. Do not send money. Report this to the AG.”
Abram said he is concerned about today’s youth. Only 17 percent of those who have hopes of being recruited are eligible.
“They have police records, use drugs, have tattoos up both arms and legs. If they think they will get into the service, they better take care of themselves, start early thinking about a career,” he said. “They have got to keep their bodies clean, keep themselves physically fit. No drugs. Stay away from things that get you in trouble, and get straight with the police.”
Abram thrives on describing what American Legion Posts do. Honor guards have all sorts of duties, he said, such as posting colors; holding flag-etiquette classes; or taking part in funerals through providing a 21-gun salute, folding the flag and draping the coffin with the flag, playing taps and reciting “The Soldier’s Prayer” — if the family wishes.
“We do whatever the family chooses,” he said, mentioning a recent Family Day at the Heber Springs Post facilitated by the Sons of the Legion for Arkansas’ 39th Regiment of the National Guard. The Sons of the Legion cooked 200 pounds of chicken. Participants, including many children, came from all over the state to the event. Abram said he wants the children to learn about and be proud of the military.
He went on to talk of the Legion Riders: “They take their time and money for gas” and ride motorcycles at all kinds of functions and provide escorts at funerals.
Abram also told of other veterans events held at Heber Springs — two Post Everlasting Services for the wives and children.
“The family requests it,” he said. “We turn the lights off, burn the records. Some want a 21-gun salute and taps as part of the memorial service.”
In his own family, Abram’s son has followed in his father’s footsteps and is a civilian in the Army. He will be deployed to Germany soon and is in explosives ordnance inspection as a quality inspector for the Army. Abram’s daughter will teach second grade this year at Heber Springs Elementary School. He has three grandsons, ages 2, 7 and 11.
“I am so excited! My grandboys will be able to play football and follow my steps!” he said.
The boys will have big footprints in which to walk. Abram said he lives by the motto “I am too blessed to be stressed.”
“I am retired — Army retired. I kept the family farm, have done well with the Fayetteville Shale. I am not rich, but able. I do not have a wife, and my children are grown,” he said, enabling him to be gone much of the time if needed.
Abram looks forward, too, to the observation of American Legion’s centennial in four years. “I wish I could do something to change people’s perception,” he said. To accomplish that goal, he said, he will “keep on talking of all the good things we have done.”
Membership in the American Legion is open to all who have served in an American war. Initially, one had to have served in France during World War I to belong to the organization. A group of 20 officers who served in France with the American Expeditionary Force, or AEF, during World War I is credited with originating the American Legion. It wasn’t until 1942 that U.S. veterans from all wars were allowed to become members.
For more information about the American Legion, visit www.legion.org.