Troiola says visit meant to recognize impact on small communities from Legion posts such as Fillmore’s
The national commander of prominent veterans service organization the American Legion made a special stop in Fillmore Friday.
It’s the first time a national commander has visited Fillmore’s American Legion Post 61 since its inception in 1919.
Local Legion members were joined by city and county officials at a luncheon to honor Vincent J. “Jim” Troiola, who was accompanied by various national and state-level Legion officials. Troiola said that when he began his one-year term as national commander in September that he vowed to visit small posts across the country as a way to recognize the important work they do on behalf of veterans.
“Today is special to me. Because when I first became national commander, I told our national adjutant please don’t send me to any big posts. I mean I go to big posts, but I want to go to small posts because the small posts don’t get the recognition they deserve…that’s why I’m here,” he said.
Wayne Jackson, a Legion member and Millard County’s appointed military liaison, said national Legion officials typically only visit state-level departments or area-sized units and only rarely if ever actually get to the post level, the lowest rung in the organization’s ladder.
Originally from Queens, NY, Troiola is a veteran of the U.S. Navy. He joined the American Legion in 1993 after having first joined the Sons of the American Legion, a group formed by children of veterans who served in wartime. He said he joined to make a difference in the lives of men and women who serve in the U.S. military.
“At the time I didn’t even know what the Legion was. About six months after I joined that I joined the regular American Legion. And based on what I heard they were doing, I felt that I wouldn’t stay as a regular post member for long. I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives,” he said.
Though he doesn’t live in New York anymore—the retired automotive executive took a year off from driving a school bus in Maine to serve as national commander—he is still a member of Legion Post 1682 in New City in Rockland County, NY. He said he ran for commander after having served in a variety of capacities at the national level. Commanders, he said, run for the office and win based on the size of their supporting delegations during a political convention-style contest.
“I started coming up for all their national chairs and I got really interested in running. Everything I wished for as national commander is coming true, visiting the small posts, visiting military bases and VA hospitals,” he told the Chronicle Progress during a brief interview.
The American Legion is involved in any number of large and small civic enterprises, from Boys State, which sends high school students to learn about American government and civics, to various support programs for veterans, including lobbying Congress on their behalf.
“We are nonpartisan as an organization. We use the political system to get what we want, but we’re nonpartisan,” he said.
Troiola said he testified before Congress as recently as March 1 during a joint session of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees.
“What struck me was how well all the members of those committees worked together, bipartisan, because they truly want to help our veterans. They really recognize the strength that the American Legion, VFW, and all the other major veterans service organizations have. We represent a lot of people. We have a strong voice in Washington,” he said.
During a brief speech, Troiola described the organization’s current focus on suicide prevention as well as highlighting the impact on the lives of young people members of the American Legion truly have.
He was also treated to a few local stories from notable members of the community.
Howard Allred, Delta’s Post 135 commander, shared the story of Theo Jensen, a sailor killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but whose remains were unrecovered for 80 years until 2021, when he was buried in Delta’s cemetery with full military honors after he was finally identified.
Jane Beckwith, from Topaz Museum in Delta, shared the story of Saburo Arthur Kitagawa, a native of California who was imprisoned in Topaz Internment Camp with about 8,000 other Japanese Americans at the outset of WWII. He was able to join the U.S. Army in 1943 and distinguished himself in combat during operations in France and the liberation of Rome.
Fillmore Mayor Mike Holt, county commissioners Vicki Lyman and Bill Wright, and numerous members of the American Legion Auxiliary all joined in celebrating Troiola’s visit.
