Cranford VFW Veterans Day Breakfast
Submitted by Past Commander Jim D’Arcy
Celebrating their annual Veterans Day Breakfast was a problem this year for Cranford VFW Post #335. The membership just did not want to be indoors with the Covid numbers increasing as they are. So, looking to keep the tradition alive and with the help of the weatherman, out into the parking lot of the Post Home went the celebration.
It was a sparkling 70-degree Sunday morning as the Post Color Guard marched in to open the event to a proper Covid masked and spaced crowd at 11:00 a.m. on the 8th of November. In normal years this annual breakfast affair has drawn standing room only crowds in the Post hall. This year only danish and coffee fed the Vets, but the many speakers were there as usual, as State Senator Thomas Kean, Union County Freeholder Bette Jane Kowalski and Cranford Mayor Patrick Giblin all warmly addressed the Veterans under the fall colors of the surrounding foliage. Also in attendance was Cranford Police Chief Ryan Greco, Fire Chief Daniel Czeh and former Mayor and current Committeeman Thomas Hannen and former Mayor Barbara Bilger.
The days featured speaker was Brigadier General Jonathan Moyer, currently the Deputy Commanding General of the 335th Signal Command in East Point, Georgia. Moyer talked about the history of Veterans Day, while detailing its roots in Armistice Day which marked the end of World War I, but also brought the veterans current on the state of affairs in our military today. General Moyer is a resident of Medford, NJ.
While the crowd was smaller than usual, there still was quite a turnout of veterans representing almost 80 years of American conflicts. Representing World War II was Cranford’s own, 98-year-old Peter Kline, a venerable D-Day medic who stood to a wonderful applause when called on. From the Korean War, post member and noted bomber pilot, 92-year-old Arthur Snyder was recognized as were many Viet Nam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Gulf War Veterans. The veterans of Cranford have never let anything affect the comradery and good will that this annual event always fosters and this year’s “parking lot” celebration was certainly no different.
The Cranford VFW Post #335 was named after Captain Newell Rodney Fiske, Cranford’s first casualty of World War I and has been in service to the veterans of the greater Cranford area since 1920, over 100 years.
