OXFORD – Every year, New York State American Legion officials pay a visit to Oxford and the New York State Veterans’ Home. Twenty-five local legionnaire commanders, along with county and department leaders, sponsored a luncheon at the veterans’ home Wednesday. The purpose of the gathering was to inspect the facility and meet with residents to hear their requests, complaints and compliments.
New York Department Commander James Casey said, “We are here to interact with the veterans and try and improve their quality of life.” Department Vice President Joan Caccoma said she was impressed with the facility and had heard about Oxford. She said she was amazed with what she had seen thus far.
The event included a tour given by Veterans’ Home Activities Director Allan Hopson. He showed off one of the newest additions to the facility, a user-friendly touch screen computer capable of playing several games such as chess, poker and dozens more games with residents.
Albert Diechler, Detachment Commander, said it was a tradition for legionaries to visit the 62 counties in New York and personally see as many veterans as possible. He said he took a week off from work to participate in the journey. He had never served in the military himself, but his grandfather fought in the Pacific during World War II. Diechler encouraged community participation and support for all veterans and said families play a large role. “You’re lucky in this area you have a strong sense of family and family helps more than anything, anyone else could ever do,” he said.
Casey said, “We are here to care for those that served their country. Especially when there is a war going on, our role becomes increasingly important and a lot of these veterans support the kids overseas because they lived in a time when they themselves didn’t receive the public and political support they should have. If you’re going to send them over there, back them and take care of them when they get back. With all the modern medicine, more soldiers, thank God, survive their injuries – which means you have more disabled veterans coming home. We don’t want another Vietnam generation of veterans coming home that are still fighting the war in their heads.”