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VFW Parades For The Rich In NYC

By VVAW

When the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) held their national convention and parade in New York City in mid-August, the VVAW chapter was there.

The VFW parade, held on August 17th, marched through the Central Park West area of the city, surrounded by $1000 per month apartments. There were horses from Texas, lots of high school bands to fill the ranks--and very few Vietnam veterans.

VVAW set up a table and took out copies of our petition to Extend and Expand the GI Bill, sold 50 copies of The Veteran, and talked to VFW members. Several rank and file vets were surprised to learn that their leadership (which was staying in a swanker hotel than the rest of the members) did nothing to fight the termination of the GI Bill back on Memorial Day and vowed to go back to their local posts to find out more about why their "leaders" took such a position when they, the members, not only thought that the VFW should have fought to extend the bill but also didn't even know what their so-called leaders were doing.