A group in Dillingham hopes to bring a chapter of the American Legion to Bristol Bay to help local veterans with medical care and other benefits.
A group of veterans are hoping to bring an American Legion to Dillingham. The American Legion would provide services and help locate veterans with medical care. The group is finalizing their application.
The American Legion is a group that aims to help veterans navigate the complicated paperwork of dealing with the VA and ensure veterans get their medical care and other benefits.
Don Meyer is leading the effort to the American Legion to Dillingham. Among other benefits, Meyer says an American Legion would help more veterans get local medical care.
“That’s one of the things we want to push so that the veterans we have here don’t need to flight to Anchorage every time they need to get something done," said Meyer. "They can go here.”
If opening an American Legion chapter in Dillingham is approved, Meyer will be its first commander. Holly Johnson of Dillingham, who has also been helping lead this and other veteran initiatives, will be vice commander.
“So having an American Legion here in town we’re going to have members that are involved that can help our local veterans process their paperwork and get them through the VA system," said Johnson.
According to Johnson, veterans usually wait on a representative from Anchorage who comes out every couple of months to help veterans with paperwork.
“And he tries to do his very best to assist them," said Johnson. "Obviously, when he travels here to town he’s not bringing everybody’s service records and files with them so it can be a bit challenging. Once an American Legion is up and running we are going to be able to combat a lot of these issues for our local veterans.”
The group plans on sending in their application to the state review board next week. It will then need to be approved on the national level.
Johnson said she is optimistic there won’t be any problems with the application, but even so, the entire application process could take until the end of March.
If you are interested in learning more about the American Legion, there will be a meeting Saturday at 1pm in room 216 at the Dillingham High School.
Contact Matt Martin at 907-842-2200 or matt@kdlg.org