By: Alyssa Ochss | St. Clair Shores Sentinel | Published June 15, 2024
ST. CLAIR SHORES — In August, the Cpl. Walter F. Bruce Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1146 will celebrate 90 years of helping veterans and the St. Clair Shores community.
Randell Shafer, the post’s commander, said it was founded in 1934 by a group of World War l veterans. According to a document provided by Shafer, those four men were Bill Randall, Joe Dendoven, Leo Delo and Charlie Pasters.
Shafer said it takes 17 members to start a post. He also said that St. Clair Shores at that point was called Erin Township, and that the cities of St. Clair Shores and Eastpointe were together.
“These guys petitioned Congress and Congress sent them a letter saying, ‘Yes, we will charter your organization as a nonprofit,’” Shafer said.
The document also states that the four men held meetings in Delo’s garage while they recruited more members. The post was not given its current name until the following year when member Walter F. Bruce died, and the members named it after him.
“The Post was duly installed with Bill Randall as commander, Georg Behm as Sr. Vice Commander, John Scheider as Jr. Vice Commander and Joe Dendoven was elected Quartermaster, a job he held for a period of seven years,” the document from Shafer stated.
When the members realized they needed more space for their growing membership, efforts made by Kendall Realty allowed them to acquire 12 lots free of charge.
“This proved to be a real windfall, for the 12 lots and $13,000 enabled them to buy the present property known those days as the Turners Home,” the document stated. “Having gained a Post home and a considerable debt for a post of about 150 members, they turned to money-making ventures such as Bingo, dances, and a bar.”
After World War II, Shafer said veterans of that conflict joined the VFW, which created a need for more space. After the World War II membership boom, they had around 10,000 members at the post. Currently, there are more than 800 members at the Bruce Post, making it the largest VFW post in the state of Michigan.
Shafer said to be a member at the VFW, a veteran needs to have experienced a hostile environment while stationed overseas. Medals earned overseas make veterans eligible to be a member.
“If they order you to go to Germany, you go to Germany, it’s not a hostile area now,” Shafer said. “But Korea is still a hostile area. That’s how I joined. I went to Korea for 13 months.”
Shafer was a member of the U.S. Army for 20 years and has served all over. He said he transferred to the post in 2002 and has had membership since 1994.
“I served in Germany, Korea, Japan, all over the United States, Virginia and Alabama, Arizona, Colorado,” Shafer said.
The VFW helps with different charitable items for veterans. Shafer said last year they helped a veteran buy a furnace. They also helped an active-duty armed service member with house payments. Money collected from their red “Buddy Poppy” sales is only used to help veterans.
“We vote on it, and nobody ever objects to helping a needy veteran,” Shafer said. “So we do help needy veterans.”
Shafer said he thinks of the hall as an unofficial community center. Clubs including the Optimists Club, the Coast Guard Auxiliary and many others use the hall. The post sponsors a Boy Scouts troop, and they also let the Girl Scouts sell cookies in the hall.
The Bruce Post has around 700 members in its auxiliary who help the VFW members with a lot of things, Shafer said.
“The auxiliary can be husbands and wives of veterans, they can be mother(s) and fathers of veterans, they can be brothers and sisters of veterans, of our members, and kids and grandkids of veterans that went overseas,” Shafer said. “So everybody’s helping.”
They help around 10 to 15 veterans a year.
“Makes you feel good,” Shafer said. “It makes me feel good.”
The post’s members perform the memorial service before the St. Clair Shores Memorial Day Parade. Shafer said they recognize the local Gold Star families, play taps, fire the three-volley salute and lower the flag to half-staff in honor of the day. The veterans and auxiliary also both walk in the parade.
Councilman Dave Rubello said that though he’s not a member, he appreciates everything they do.
“They have a vibrant community there now,” Rubello said. “It wasn’t always like that. Over the past, I would say, decade or so, that has just become almost a community center.”
Rubello has met a lot of post members during his time as the Parade Committee’s City Council liaison.
He said the members are always helpful and a pleasure to work with.
Rubello has been going to the VFW since around 2010 when, he said, he became heavily involved with the parade. He’s also gotten to know members through their car cruises.
For veterans, Rubello said it’s a sense of pride and remembering their friends who have died.
“I think it’s a brotherhood,” Rubello said. “From what I’ve seen in the past, like I said, I’m not a member of the VFW post. I’ve never served in the military, but I can see the friendship and the closeness of those folks in there.”
He said the importance of the VFW is to be a constant reminder of those who laid down their lives for our freedom.
“Incredible to think, I didn’t even really realize, 90 years is a long time,” Rubello said. “And if you’re there for 90 years, you are definitely doing something right in the community.”
The Bruce Post’s birthday bash is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. on Aug. 24 at the post on Jefferson Avenue. The event is $40 per person. There will be a cash bar, dinner and dancing.
For more information, contact Jackie Anderson, the hall manager, at (586) 217-9997, Post Quartermaster Tim Litz at (586) 713-1519 or the auxiliary treasurer at (586) 899-9554.
For more information, go to the Bruce Post’s website at vfw1146brucepost.org.