Supporting Our Aging Veterans

In Mount Airy, Maryland, not far from our Post Home, is an assisted living and nursing home facility called Lorien.  Among the residents (patients) are twenty-seven veterans, mostly from World War II and the Korean War, including two of our Post members, who also happen to be Past Commanders.  In the spring of 2019, several of us began monthly visitations with these men and women, our predecessors in each of the military services who served our nation honorably, most of them in war. We discovered that, for the most part, these veterans didn’t know each other and didn’t realize that several other veterans were their neighbors. Working with the social services staff, we assembled these veterans and carried on the “Meet and Greet” process, developing camaraderie among them and with us.

After the first session, the veterans began to look forward to our arrival mid-morning on the last Wednesday of each month. Lorien provides doughnuts and coffee while we renew our ties and tell each other “war stories.” We provide informative sessions about veterans’ benefits, unique experiences from some Post veterans’ active duty, musical sessions, slide shows and videos about patriotic activities, and the legends and artifacts in military museums and monuments.  Sometimes, some Mount Airy Post 191 members show up, and, together, we do our best to bring some joy to the difficult lives of these American heroes.

We would also like to express our sincere thanks to the Lorien staff for opening their facility and contributing to the success of this outreach program.

                                           By: Past Post Commander George Bolling, COL USA (Retired)         

Our Lorien Comrades

Courtesy of: Lorien