by Malcolm Butler
JD Harper would be proud.
The former post commander of the Lincoln Parish chapter of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 3615 had a dream of one day having their own facility.
And on Tuesday, that new facility was officially opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
A plaque sat on the table by the front door containing a photo of Harper and read “this hall is dedicated in honor of JD Harper in recognition of many years of dedicated service, commitment, and devotion to the veterans and community of Lincoln Parish.”
“This has been a long time coming,” said Tom Boniol, retired Air Force E5 Staff Sergeant. “Now that it is built and we are in here, it’s really great. JD is the one who kept this post from disintegrating into the dust.”
“JD Harper started this process,” said current post commander Gordon Holmes. “We lost JD to Covid. It was a great loss. He is the reason many of us our here. For him to look down and see this … I know he is happy.”
Boniol pointed out all of the military flags lined up against the east wall of the new facility, including the Merchant Marine flag.
“We got permission from the Merchant Marines to put this flag in here,” said Boniol. “It’s a symbol of their hard work and what they did during World War II. They were taking ships all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to support our troops. They made the ultimate sacrifice too.”
Boniol said the facility is used for both American Legion and Veterans of Foreign War (VFW) meetings. He also said that on occasion it will be Lincoln Parish’s turn to hold district meetings.
“We have been working on this for nine or 10 years,” said Ruston Mayor Ronny Walker. “We wanted somewhere that all of our veterans could have to use that is theirs. The (old) building was built in the 50s. It was falling in. We have moved them to so many places, but finally decided to have them as their own. This is a great place that they can call their own.”
The City of Ruston helped fund the new building with $350,000 while the VFW raised another $50,000 towards the cause.
“We are just trying to provide the veterans who have given so much to our country and to our city, and I appreciate the fact the citizens of Ruston voted 10 years ago to move Ruston forward,” said Walker. “This wasn’t one of those projects, but because we had the money to do those other projects, it frees up money for us to do this.”
The city owns the structure but the VFW has a corporate endeavor agreement in order to use it whenever they hold meetings and other events.
“We want to make this a military district,” said Walker. “We have the military museum right across the street. We have the outdoor military equipment display across the street. And now we have this here.”
Walker did say that when the North Louisiana Boys and Girls Club builds their new facility, the city will redo the current building located across the parking lot and it will turn into the new military museum.
“It has much more room, probably six times as much room as the current military museum,” said Walker.
