American Legion Post 2022 Olive Branch: Honoring Those Who Served

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American Legion Post 2022 in Olive Branch, Mississippi, is making significant strides in serving local veterans just two years after its inception. The episode shines a light on the challenges of starting a new post, the critical role of honoring veterans at funerals, and the importance of engaging younger veterans through community building. 

• Founding story of Post 2022 from discussions at a golf tournament 
• Process of navigating bureaucratic challenges for post establishment 
• Rapid growth from a small group to over 50 members within two years 
• Commitment to veteran honors through an active funeral honor guard 
• Discussion on engaging younger veterans and overcoming generational gaps 
• Importance of creating a welcoming community for veterans and their families 
• Insightful anecdotes emphasizing the value of service, honor, and connection throughout the episode

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Episode Transcript

Jerry Allhands (00:00):
This is the Veterans Sound Off Podcast.

Johnathan Michael Fleming (00:02):
Hard, work, work.
Let's get it going.
Let's go Hard work, work.

Jerry Allhands (00:06):
I'm your host, Jerry Allhands, a veteran of the
US Air Force and Army and aMississippi Pass Department
Commander of the American Legion.
Each week, we visit an AmericanLegion post and visit with the
Legion family there.
As we travel the state, we'llvisit with other groups and
organizations that are servingAmerica's veterans and their
families Today.
If you enjoy this podcastseries, I'm asking you to join

(00:29):
in supporting us in whatever wayyou can, whether it's a monthly
subscription or by sponsoringan ad.
For more information on how youcan support this series, please
call 662-902-6658 or send atext Either way.
We appreciate you and thank youfor making this podcast
possible.
Be sure to subscribe to thispodcast and mark your calendars

(00:52):
as next Monday we travel toCornuth in the upper northeast
corner of the state ofMississippi and visit with US
Marine veteran Nora Moreland.
She's commander of Perry A,johns Post no 6.

Nora Moreland (01:03):
My name is Nora Moreland and I invite you to
join us on the next episode.

Jerry Allhands (01:09):
Today we are in northwest Mississippi at the
newest chartered American Legionpost in the state, post no 2022
in Olive Branch.
We sit down with Post CommanderBob Buntyn and Department of
Tennessee Post 1 Commander TerryAdams.
Hard work, hard work.
I turn it up.
This morning I get theprivilege and opportunity to sit

(01:31):
and talk with one of the newestAmerican Legion posts in the
state of Mississippi.
I am with Commander Bob Buntynand we are at Post 2022.
And today I'm going to ask ifBob would introduce himself,
please.

Bob Buntyn (01:51):
Oh well, good morning.
I'm Bob Buntyn, Commander ofthe American Legion Post 2022
here in Olive Branch,Mississippi.
We were founded here, charteredin 2022, in the Olive Branch
Country Club, which is the onlyPurple Heart golf course country
club in the state ofMississippi.
They were formed, like I said,in 2022.

(02:15):
We have since moved ourmeetings to the New Life
Community Church in Olive Branch, which we did two months ago,
but we still do a lot of thingsat the Olive Branch Country Club
.
What's the address?

Jerry Allhands (02:29):
at the new location.

Bob Buntyn (02:30):
It's New Life Community Church on Craft Road
in Olive Branch, Mississippi.

Jerry Allhands (02:37):
And we will look that address up and have it
ready in just a little while.
Joining you this morning is Mr.

Terry Adams (02:42):
Terry Adams.

Jerry Allhands (02:44):
Mr Adams is the commander for Post 1 of Memphis,
Tennessee.
Is that correct?

Terry Adams (02:48):
That's correct, the oldest post in the state, the
oldest post.

Jerry Allhands (02:53):
So you're a 105-year-old post in Tennessee,
106.

Terry Adams (02:56):
106.
We were chartered July 2nd of1919.
Wow, this is our 106th birthdaycoming up All right.

Jerry Allhands (03:05):
Giving Bob here a chance to look that address up
.
Terry, if you would tell me alittle bit about what brings you
to this post here in OliveBranch, mississippi.

Terry Adams (03:13):
Well, Bob and I have been friends about eight
years.
He joined our post one backthen and he became an officer in
the post and he seemed to enjoyworking with the veterans and
the more he worked with it, themore he enjoyed it.
One day he said, terry, he saysI'm thinking of starting a post
down in olive branch, what doyou think?
And I said I think that'smarvelous, let's do it.

(03:35):
So I helped him get it off theground and our inaugural meeting
was a good turnout and sincethen it's done nothing but grow
and succeed at making goodthings happen for the veterans.
Bob, yes, I found that addressnew life community church, 7197,
craft road in olive branch andthat's k-r-a-f-t road, c-r-a-f-t

(04:01):
Road, craft, craft Road.

Jerry Allhands (04:04):
How about that zip code?

Bob Buntyn (04:05):
38654.
38654.
Anywhere you go in Olive BranchMississippi, it's 38654.

Jerry Allhands (04:14):
We're not that large.

Bob Buntyn (04:14):
We're a town of 45,000, 48,000 roughly, so Olive
Branch, mississippi is fairlysmall, but we're joined at the
hip to Memphis, tennessee, whichis fairly large.

Jerry Allhands (04:27):
And you get lost in Memphis really you get lost
in Memphis.

Bob Buntyn (04:29):
They have several zip codes.

Jerry Allhands (04:31):
What's the date and the day and time that y'all
meet again?

Bob Buntyn (04:34):
We meet on the third Thursday of the month at 630.

Jerry Allhands (04:39):
Bob?
What branch of service were youin and what makes you eligible
to be in the American Legion?

Bob Buntyn (04:44):
What branch of service were you in and what
makes you eligible to be in theAmerican Legion?
Spent six years in the UnitedStates Navy, four years active,
two years in active reserves,and I am a Vietnam veteran.
I did two tours, one in 69, thesecond tour in 1972.
I finished and so therefore I'mactually eligible to belong to

(05:06):
the American Legion, which I am,and I'm also a member of the
VFW.

Jerry Allhands (05:10):
I'm a life member of the American Legion
and if I can ask, what was yourjob in the Navy when you were on
active duty?

Bob Buntyn (05:20):
First two are those communications.
My rate.
Cyn was establishedspecifically for the Vietnam War
.
The communications showmanlater became what is known now
as a crypto technician, but backthen we were called
communications showmans, so wedid communications.
You know radar, radio teletype,all nine yards.

(05:42):
This was Task Force 76,amphibious Group 1, my first
tour In San Diego.
I was sent to train on anSPS-10 radar system, so I joined
Special Warfare Group 1 for mysecond tour running radar.
Even though I wasn't aradarmant, I was still a

(06:03):
communications gentleman.
So I did dual duty.
I did communications, cryptoclearance and radar.
Then, when I got back to SanDiego, they transferred me to
the CB base in Port Hueneme,california.
So I spent my last year withthe 31st Naval Construction
Regiment.
So I get to do three years withthe amphibibs and one year with

(06:24):
the Seabees.

Jerry Allhands (06:26):
And last year in California.

Bob Buntyn (06:28):
My last year was in California.
All four years, I mean, I wasstationed in Coronado Island,
san Diego was my home base, andthen the last year I spent in
Port Hueneme, california, withthe Seabees.

Jerry Allhands (06:40):
And Terry, if I can ask, what makes you eligible
for the American Legion?

Terry Adams (06:45):
United States Marine Corps proudly served 1968
to 1970.
My job was pretty basic.
I started out as a RemingtonRaider, a clerk typist, did that
for a few months and then theyhanded me an M-16 and said your
new MOS is 03-11.
You're a grunt.
I said every Marine's a grunt.
Where do you want me to filethis?
And they said your new MOS is0311.
You're a grunt.
I said every Marine's a grunt.
Where do you want me to filethis?

(07:07):
And they said no, no, no,you're going to carry it.
It's like well, that was Annathe Joyride, so that qualified
me for the American Legion.

Jerry Allhands (07:15):
And we're glad to have you, both of you.
Thank you.
I like to ask those questions.
Actually, we'll probably editthis, my Actually we'll probably
edit this.
My wife has asked me.
She said you've got to startasking some of their stories.
What makes them eligible?
What do they do in the service?
And I'm like, okay, I can askthose questions, but I always
like to ask permission first,because some folks just don't
like to tell them.
Bob, knowing that you guys havestarted up the post here, what

(07:41):
instigated that for you?

Bob Buntyn (07:46):
instigated that for you.
Well, actually it was a golftournament.
At this golf course, once ayear we have a big golf
tournament that supports all thedifferent veterans
organizations in the area and,let's see, this would have been
in 2019.
Is that right?
I believe it would be.

(08:06):
Yeah, 2019.
At the golf tournament here, wehad a large turnout and was
talking with the mayor and a fewpeople afterwards and I was
asked the question why doesn'tOlive Branch have a VFW or an
American Legion or somethinglike that?
I didn't really have an answer.

(08:26):
I've only been here for 22years.
Every other city in DeSotoCounty has at least an American
Legion or a VFW post, and herewe are, the original Purple
Heart City for the county, andwe don't have anything.
So would you be interested instarting an American Legion post

(08:48):
?
Well, I hadn't really thoughtabout it until I talked to Terry
, because I was at the timeslated to become the commander
of Post 1 Memphis, tennessee, tomove up from being finance
officer.
So I spoke with Terry and hesaid I would be more than glad

(09:08):
to help you start a post, whichis good, because he's the only
person that I have ever knownthat has started an American
Legion post from scratch.
So that's basically the.
The mayor wanted an AmericanLegion post here.
I was willing to start one, andTerry was willing to help me
out.
So here we are.

(09:30):
So it's all your fault, it'sall his fault.

Terry Adams (09:32):
Yes, his wife still blames me for that.

Bob Buntyn (09:34):
That's right.
My wife does blame Terry for mebeing gone all the time.

Jerry Allhands (09:41):
I understand that, terry, you're the
commander of Post 1 in Memphis.

Terry Adams (09:44):
Again.
Yes, I've been the commanderthere a couple of times and it's
an honor and a pleasure on mostoccasions.
But being Post 1, the firstnumber they find when they look
in the phone book or look onGoogle is Post 1, and so we get
all the calls.
We're very fortunate we broughtsome good people on board there

(10:08):
that are stepping up and doingthe due diligence to become
officers, and our serviceofficer happens to be the Shelby
County service officer also, sohe's he's very efficient, he
knows what he's doing, he hedoesn't have to go back to the
books all the time.
It's not to say that the otherpost service officers are not

(10:31):
just as good.
I'm just going to say that weknow we have the best because
we're number one.

Bob Buntyn (10:39):
Oh yeah, how many times have I heard that I like?

Jerry Allhands (10:42):
that, in addition to being post commander
, do you hold a state office?

Terry Adams (10:48):
No, I've been district commander several times
.
I've been a state vicecommander.
I've been with the AmericanLegion 39 years so I've started
post in several states andhelped to revive posts that were
dying and got posts that werefloundering back on track.
But it's something I enjoydoing because working with the

(11:09):
veterans it's just part of ourfamily tradition.
My grandfather started a postduring the episode right after
World War I.
He was a charter member of apost, uh 14 up in indiana.
Uh my dad being a world war twovet, of course he was member.

(11:30):
All my brothers have beenmembers from the army and the
marines, and my boys uh airforce and uh army and they've
all been members.
And my now my grandson, isgoing to be a member as soon as
he gets a his first day ofactive duty.

Jerry Allhands (11:47):
Don't want and let me guess you're you're
paying his dues yes I've donethat yes, and I do it with pride
.
There you go terry if you woulduh, I'm sorry, bob, if you
would um founding the the postover here.
What did that involve?
Let's start from the beginning.

(12:09):
You got the request from Iguess you said the mayor, from
the mayor, correct?
And what was your first step,besides calling Terry and asking
for?

Bob Buntyn (12:18):
help.
Well, your first step isdealing with the IRS.
I just rolled my eyes for thoseof you who don't have audio the
first thing you have to do isget an EIN, your employee number
and what you've established.
Your EIN is a in our case a501c19, which is similar to a
501c3, but 19 is, for militaryorganizations, a little

(12:43):
different in the way that youcan get donations and the way
the money is handled.
So once that you've establishedyour EIN, then you have to go
back to the IRS and fill outpaperwork to be a non-profit.
So once that is established andwithin three years, you have to

(13:04):
file your 990 paperwork, whichis your income and expense
statements for the year, whichours will be filed, as a matter
of fact, next week for post-2022.
We just finally got ourdetermination as a nonprofit
three weeks ago, so it's takentwo years to work through that

(13:24):
process with the IRS and youhave three years to get it done
and have all your paperworkfiled and everything done.
Now I did find out later onthat typically this is all done
by a lawyer.
I am certainly no lawyer, butwith the help of Terry and our

(13:46):
accountant and Jim Gore, who'sour finance officer, we were
able to pull all the paperworktogether and we are now a
legitimate 501c19.

Terry Adams (13:57):
You missed one step in there.
What step was that?
You have to get 15 people tosign on to be members, Actually
that's national statute.

Bob Buntyn (14:06):
Mississippi is 10.
Yeah, 10 to start a post inMississippi.
But yeah, national is 15.

Jerry Allhands (14:15):
So you've dealt with the federal government and
you've dealt with the Departmentof Mississippi and the American
Legion National Organizationout of Indianapolis.
What was it dealing withMississippi?
I'm assuming you had to startwith Mississippi first, correct,
was there paperwork or requeststhat you had to do?
Did you have to meet withsomeone from the department.

Bob Buntyn (14:33):
No, I didn't have to meet with anyone.
But you file a request for atemporary charter and the
temporary charter is good forone year and in that time you're
working with the IRS and youraccountant to get all the
necessary paperwork done.
Then, after the one yearprobationary period, then you

(14:53):
are allowed to file for yourpermanent charter and so that
paperwork is filled out and sentto National.
That takes about six to eightmonths for that to go through
the process and be approved.
Then you receive your permanentcharter and of course, in the
course of all of this you got tohave some place to go.

(15:15):
That's where we came up withthe Olive Branch Country Club.
It's very conveniently locatedto everyone.
In Olive Branch.
It is a Purple Heart golf course, the only Purple Heart Country
Club golf course in the state ofMississippi and is very
veteran-friendly, so we wereable to secure a meeting room

(15:38):
here to start the post with, gotall the paperwork done and then
received our final charter.
About a year ago it would havebeen July of last year we
received our permanent charter.

Jerry Allhands (15:53):
And who did you work with in the department or
locally, besides Terry that youhad to do all this paperwork
with?

Bob Buntyn (16:01):
Jim Gore, who is our finance officer.

Terry Adams (16:04):
And Mike Fronabarger and Mike Fronabarger
.

Bob Buntyn (16:05):
And Mike Fronabarger , who is the former department
commander of the state ofMississippi.
And Jim Gore is not with ustoday because he is the VFW
quartermaster for 684, and he isat the VFW conference in
Nashville, tennessee, thisweekend 1984, and he is at the

(16:26):
VFW Conference in Nashville,tennessee, this weekend.
So he wears two hats, as theVFW and the American Legion our
finance officer.
So Jim worked very closely withme to get the post started as
well.
Michael Hill, our vicecommander, also came from well,
a lot of us came from Post 1,memphis, tennessee.

Jerry Allhands (16:43):
We stole.

Bob Buntyn (16:45):
Post 1's awesome members to our post, which we
knew was going to happen when westarted all of this.
So I had easily 10 members signup just right off the bat.
The last printout I had, we arenow at 55 members, 55.
And you're barely three yearsold.
Yeah, we're two years old andI'm about to hopefully double

(17:11):
that number.
We belong to several differentorganizations.
One organization I belong to isCVMA, the Combat Vets
Motorcycle Association.
Cvma is not allowed to have aclubhouse.
They're not a motorcycle club,they're a motorcycle association

(17:35):
.
All veterans, 99% of Gulf Warveterans but I got to thinking
the other day they can't have aclubhouse like a motorcycle club
does.
Where do they meet?
They meet at the AmericanLegion and they meet at the VFW.
So I'm going to go to CVMA andask them what will happen to
their meetings if the VFW andthe American Legion were to

(17:56):
disappear because there's nomembership.
So I'm going to see if I canget 50 to sign up with the
American Legion from CVMA withinthe next couple of meetings.
I'm looking forward to picturesof that.
I think it's a natural fit forme and I tell people and Harry

(18:17):
tells me too he has memberspost-1 that live overseas.
How many meetings do you thinkthey attend?
Yeah, exactly, so you don'thave to be American Legion and
attend meetings every month.
You can live in Timbuktu and bea member of the American Legion
still, keep in touch with theemails and the newsletters and

(18:40):
all the publications, and so Ithink it's a great opportunity.
I really do.

Terry Adams (18:47):
Post 1 has members in Poland, alaska, the Virgin
Islands, okinawa, japan, allacross the 48 contingents.
In the lower states we recruitunder the idea that as a member,
you are already helping us, nomatter where you live.

(19:09):
Because when we go to Congresson a national basis, or even on
a state basis, they look atnumbers and Congress counts on
those numbers to vote for them.
And so when you walk in thereand tell Congress and say, hey,
I've got 1.8 million members,congress sits up and listens.

(19:31):
If you tell them we've got 180members, they're going to go.
Oh, thank you for coming.
And so by being a member, theyare already helping every other
veteran in the country.

Jerry Allhands (19:46):
So it's pretty important when somebody tells
you that they just don't havethe time to attend a meeting to
make it clear to them howimportant it is just to be a
member.

Terry Adams (19:54):
We don't call them every month and say we need you
at this event.
We don't call and say whydidn't you attend this meeting.
We don't call and say you knowwe need money.
We always need money.
Every American Legion or anynonprofit group needs money
meeting.
We don't call and say you knowwe need money, we always need
money.
Every every american legion orany non-profit group needs money
.
It's a given.
So we don't bother to do thatbecause we figure you're going
to do what you want to do and ifyou want to attend an event,

(20:17):
you're going to do that if youwant.
Don't pressure you nope, if youwant to attend a meeting, you're
going to do that.
If you have a problem with thegroup, you're going to come in
and tell us and that's what wehave the groups for let's get it
going, let's go let's pause fora moment to hear from some of
the people who have helped tomake this episode possible with
their financial support.

Jerry Allhands (20:38):
a very special thank you to Dean and Judy
Graves of Mount Vernon, Missouri, for their support.
Dean passed away recentlywithout ever having heard the
podcast, but he believed in thisproject and his support helps
to make each episode possible,and for that we say thank you.

Kenny McMinn (20:53):
Hey, this is Kenny McMinn.
I'm the commander at Post 1990in Nesbitt, Mississippi.
I just want to give a shout-outto my son, Matt McMinn, who's
serving in the United StatesNavy.
I also want to recognize mydaughter.
If you're active duty, you knowhow stressful it is being a
spouse of a serving member, andespecially when they're deployed

(21:15):
.
I earn my pay.

Johnathan Michael Fleming (21:16):
I grab my ruck and move on out.
I gotta go.
I march and shout Hard work,hard work.

988 (21:22):
When a person calls 988, they're connected to a crisis
counselor.
Crisis is completelyself-defined.
If you're wondering if youshould call, you should probably
call.
A caller can expect to talkabout coping skills, talk about
resources and ways to moveforward.
Beyond the call, they can callus, they can chat, they can text

(21:44):
and when they come out on theother side they're feeling
better.
Call or text 988 or chat988lifelineorg.

Terry Phillips (21:56):
I'm Terry Phillips with Post 6, and I
invite you to join us and listento all the podcasts.

Jerry Allhands (22:05):
We need your help in keeping this podcast
going.
Your continued financialsupport enables us to produce
these podcasts for you.
Call 662-902-6658 today andwe'll give you all the details
on how you and or your businesscan become a sponsor.
And now back to this episode ofthe Veterans Sound Off Podcast,
realizing that we're talkingabout 2022 today, post-2022.

(22:31):
Why 2022?
For a post number?
How did you get that number?

Bob Buntyn (22:35):
The year- that we started.

Jerry Allhands (22:37):
You chose that number, the last post that was
started was 2001.

Bob Buntyn (22:42):
On the Gulf Coast post-2001.
Post-1990, we started in 1990.
So in talking with Fronabargerjust Mike we were going there
was a post-10 in Lake Comirat,which is not far from here, and
that post has been inactive fora number of years.

(23:04):
So we were looking at becomingpost 10, but the department
decided it would be best toclose post 10 down and just
start a new post.
So we took on the number of theyear that we applied for our
charter.

Jerry Allhands (23:18):
Was Mike, just Mike, just Mike, the joke there
being nobody can spell or sayhis last name Ron and Barger he
jokingly says I don't know if Iknow how to spell it anymore, so
we call him just Mike.
Was he department commander?

Bob Buntyn (23:33):
Yes, he was department commander right when
we started the post and he'sattended almost every one of our
meetings.
He's very active.
Nice to have somebody localright it is he really is Well
great.

Jerry Allhands (23:47):
So tell me about some of the activities that go
on at your post.
What have you done this pastyear that you're really, I guess
you could say, proud of?

Bob Buntyn (23:57):
Our post, along with Post 1 Memphis, we have the
only American Legion funeralhonor guard in the Mid-South.
We do approximately 100funerals a year.
We've done as many as fivefunerals in a single Seven.

(24:19):
Seven funerals excuse me, Iforgot about the last two in a
single day.
Seven funerals in three statesin a single day.
I don't ever want to do thatagain, but we did it.
We pulled it off.
Rarely do we have to say no toa funeral, but recently we were

(24:44):
on national tv.
I got a call from the lady thatdoes the scheduling at west
tennessee veteran cemetery,which is where, which is in
germantown, slash collierville,tennessee.
Okay, it's about 15 minutesnorth of here, ollie branch, and
so.
So she gives me a call and saysI have an unusual request which

(25:08):
I get from time to time.
She said I have a Civil Warveteran being buried here at the
West Tennessee VeteransCemetery Civil War and it's a
recommittal.
Sandy Willis was a slave inFranklin, tennessee.

(25:28):
He escaped slavery, went toOhio and joined the US Army.
He was an Army veteran two anda half years, moved back to
Tennessee, back to theplantation as a free man, got
married, had 11 kids, died onthe plantation and was buried.
His great-great-granddaughterwanted to find him and have him

(25:50):
buried in a military cemetery,which she accomplished with her
second cousin.
They spent years doing research.
They actually found his gravesite on the plantation.
He was escorted by the PatriotGuard riders to a funeral home
in Franklin, tennessee, where hewas put in an appropriate
coffin.
The Patriot Guard ridersescorted the coffin and the

(26:15):
funeral possession from Franklin, tennessee, to the West
Tennessee Veterans Cemeterywhere he was buried with full
military honors cemetery wherehe was buried with full military
honors, except for the armycould not provide a firing party
because he did not qualifyMilitary.

(26:37):
So if you look at the order ofservice it says that order of
service.
At the very top here it saysUnited States Honor Guard.
At the bottom here it saysUnited States Honor Guard,
21-gun salute.
The Army wouldn't do it becausehe did not qualify for the

(27:02):
rifle team.
So she called me and I said ohyes, we will definitely be there
with a full honors rifle team.
And so I guess it was about amonth, maybe six weeks later.
I'm sitting there one Sundaymorning getting ready to go to
church.
My wife says hey, you're on TVwhat Our honor guard was on the

(27:28):
CBS morning news Sunday morningnews.
Honor Guard was on there doingthis morning when it got so late
For Sergeant Sandy Wills.

Terry Adams (27:38):
More recently we had a call from a funeral home.
The Army was not going to beable to make it.
They didn't think, and the guycalled me that morning wanted to
know if we could do a funeralthat afternoon.
Bob and I stepped up and ourbugler stepped up.
Pat said, yeah, let's do this.
And all they needed was abugler and a couple of people to

(27:59):
fold the flag.
This is like nine o'clock inthe morning for a two o'clock
funeral in the afternoon.
We said, yeah, we'll do this,we do that.

Jerry Allhands (28:08):
How many people show up for that?
I mean how many members of theteam?

Bob Buntyn (28:12):
We have 23 members on the team.
Typically we'll have three tofive that can show up.
It takes a minimum of three todo the rifles and we do have a
lady that does live taps, but wealso have a bugle with the
electronic insert.
So if we can't get live taps,we still can do the electronic
taps.
We have 10 M1 Garands.

(28:34):
Our oldest is a Springfield,one of the very first
Springfields ever made inSpringfield and shipped to the
Army.
Wow, used in World War II.
We have one of the originalWinchesters that was ever made.
We have one that was made byInternational Harvester and most

(28:57):
people don't realize that theUnited States Post Office made
them one rifles for World War II.
Did you know that?
I did not know that, yep.

Jerry Allhands (29:07):
Explains why I'm still getting mail from 19,.
Never mind.

Terry Adams (29:11):
So we have a lot of history in in what we do.
We do it with honor and I'vehad people say, well, we need
them right now and we show upand we don't have enough for the
team, and there will beveterans there in blue jeans and
t-shirts and vest and they said, well, we'll help.

(29:32):
And then I get later.
Somebody said, well, whyweren't they in a uniform?
It's like, well, they were herein honor of the deceased.
They didn't know.

Bob Buntyn (29:43):
We had clothes on.

Terry Adams (29:44):
They didn't know they were going to be part of
that team until they got there,and to me it's not what you wear
.
Got there, yeah, and to me it'snot what you wear.
If you go back to the civil warand well, any war back over the
years of 249 years we've been acountry.
There's been a lot of timesuniforms or whatever you had on
when you got there.
And I, if a person does it withrespect and honor, I don't care

(30:07):
maybe I'm wrong.

Bob Buntyn (30:11):
Now we could sit here and fill up your day with
stories about funerals, butthere's one I would love for
Terry to share with you.
That happened just south ofOxford, mississippi, in a little
town called Bruce.

Terry Adams (30:26):
We got the call to do honors for a Vietnam vet who
had passed away and only two ofus could make it.
But we got on our motorcyclesand rode down the.
It was down at the end of adead end road, a dirt road with.
Got there and they said that'sokay, you don't need to worry

(30:48):
about the rifles, everybody herewill fire.
I said, well, that's wonderful.
I said, okay, let's get thisteam together.
And I got them together andtheir team had six guys who had
never been in the military, sothey weren't sure about military
honors, and they had sevenshotguns with live rounds.

(31:09):
And I went okay, this is goingto get more interesting, I can
see that now.
So I had to walk them throughwhat the steps were to do the
the rifle salute, shotgun salute.
And when we lined up I toldeverybody.
I said okay, I need everybodyto take two large, large steps

(31:30):
backwards.
I said why?
I said you're firing live andthere's a whole bunch of power
lines running across up there.
We don't want to drop them.
Oh, yeah, we see that.
So we fired and once we had doneour salute, three rounds.
There wasn't a sound from abird, a leaf, anything.
It was dead quiet around there.

(31:50):
They had a homemade cannonusing homemade black powder and
the young lady that fired it wasabout 25 feet away when she
pulled the rope and the groundshook even where we were.
But it was done with honor,because they respected this guy.
They respected this veteran.

(32:13):
It was just.
You never know what we're goingto do when we get a call to go
to a funeral.

Jerry Allhands (32:20):
I've done a lot of military funerals over the
last 50 years.
Never have I experienced onelike that.

Terry Adams (32:29):
That would have just Only one I've done in 39
years, so wow that's yeah, youhad to share that one.

Bob Buntyn (32:37):
I had to share that one.
That was good.
I've heard some stories.
I've seen some stories, butthat that one tops them all yeah
you had me at shotguns that was.
And then terry said when theyfinished that they all gathered
around like the campfire andthey had a barbecue, a family
barbecue.

Terry Adams (32:56):
Before you could do that, though, everybody had to
go to the memorial structurethey had built there for all the
family members that wereveterans.
They were cremated and theirashes were put in the ground
there, and you had to have adrink and toast them.
And then we went to thebarbecue, and they wouldn't let
us leave till we ate.
It was like, okay, I guesswe're gonna stay and have food

(33:20):
amazing.
But it's family, it's honor tothe family and we.
We have had some very sad ones.
One young man committed suicidein his backyard while his mom
was at the store.
Yeah hung himself in thebackyard.
We had a young lady over inArkansas who had planned her

(33:42):
suicide everything for severalyears, including making sure her
insurance was in effect so thatit would negate the suicide
clause.
It's sad.
You understand it becauseyou're a veteran, but you hate
it anyway.

Jerry Allhands (34:01):
That brings up a very good point there, and of
course just Mike would say thisat this time is the 988 number.
How important it is for veteransand families to be aware that
when you have those darkthoughts, you're not by yourself
.
Yeah, I can't speak for the twoof you, I can speak only for
myself, but there are times whenthat cloud will move in and

(34:25):
calling your best bud who maynot answer the phone.
Maybe he's busy, maybe he'stied up, maybe he's having a
dark cloud himself.
But you can always call that988 number and there will be
somebody there to to listen.
Uh, not judge.
Uh, I think now they tell youto press one for a veteran.
Uh, but 988 is for everybodywho's having those dark moments.

(34:47):
And, trust me, if you haven'thad one yet, I can, can't
promise you one, but I can tellyou they will get gray, those
clouds, sometimes.

Terry Adams (34:55):
I know.

Bob Buntyn (34:57):
In talking with one of the psychologists.
Recently I took a trip toWashington DC with Forever Young
38 Vietnam veterans from aroundthe country and so in the
evenings we would get togetherand talk.
And he said in his experienceand he's a veteran himself,
trained psychologist that in hisexperience PTSD and he doesn't

(35:20):
call it PTSD, he calls it PTS.
He said it's not a disorder,it's a syndrome and it's not a
disorder.
He said in my experience andthey do, a lot of World War II
veterans they take them back toNormandy, they take them to the
Battle of the Bulge.
They just took a group to NewOrleans to the World War II
Museum and the Super Bowl,having a great time down there

(35:41):
right now.
But he told us, he said in myexperience those that have PT
and most people that have servedin combat do.
He said my experience is whenyou get into your eighties, late
seventies and eighties itactually gets worse because you
have more time to sit around andthink about those things and it

(36:03):
just permeates and it buildsand you've got to have a release
.

Terry Adams (36:09):
Yeah, I just took a course through Columbia on
recognizing the symptoms of atrue suicide, suicidal person
and they were saying thestatistics are up.
For those of us over 70 they'reup 4.9 percent and that's.

(36:30):
That was a sobering figure whenI think about all of our
friends Bob me that are over 70.
And the fact that the numberswent up where I would have
thought they would have gonedown.
So it's something that we haveto be aware of.
So it's something that we haveto be aware of and I encourage

(36:53):
anybody who's even having a kickaround thought talk to your
buddies, talk to the VA, talk to988, call somebody because you
know you're here for a reasonyeah, yeah, you know, we in the
American Legion for years we'vehad this buddy check system that
we've been doing for decadesnow, I guess, and Legion for
years

Jerry Allhands (37:10):
we've had this buddy check system that we've
been doing for decades now, Iguess.
We set aside a week I can'tremember what month it is now,
but we set aside a week to calla buddy.
I tell people in my post, in mydistrict you don't need a week,
just call somebody every day.
One person, just one person.

(37:31):
Just make a difference.
I try to be that person who'llanswer the phone, no matter day
or night, it doesn't matter.
I would rather hear your voiceand just be there for you than
go see you in the hospital, thenattend your funeral.

Be The One Marcus Luttrell (37:49):
Be willing to show up for a veteran
, Be willing to stick your nosewhere it doesn't belong.
Be willing to push and prod ifthings don't add up.

Be The One David Bellavia (37:58):
Be willing to trust your gut,
follow your heart and take arisk, be willing to sit without
saying a word, without checkingthe time, without trying to
solve.

Be The One Lisa Bidd (38:08):
Sometimes suicide wants to rip a person
from this world.
Be willing to grab with bothhands and hold on to a friend, a
spouse a daughter, a son, bethe one who's willing to ask to
guess wrong to even offendanother, to keep them safe, to
remind them that they arevaluable.

(38:30):
If you know a veteran, be theone to reach out and make them a
part of your life.

Jerry Allhands (38:40):
Well, we've gone down a rabbit hole on that one.
So backing up a little bit,Sorry, no, no.
Hey, this is a subject I willtalk about anytime and it's
again not, uh, you know, againnot speaking for the, for either
of y'all, but I've, I've hadthose moments myself and
recently had that same situation.
Just bam, there, that cloud wasand had to.

(39:01):
I'm not going to say suicidalthoughts, but just thoughts of
boy.

Bob Buntyn (39:05):
This, this this really, this really sucks, this
really sucks.

Jerry Allhands (39:10):
One of the things I would like to mention
is we talk about being asveterans, how hard it is to
acclimate to becoming a civilianagain.
You know, I mean, my God, mostof us went through a minimum of
six to eight weeks of basictraining, a minimum Some of you

(39:31):
poor guys went for a while.
I've done basic training threetimes myself, so well suited for
basic life.
But the idea of getting out ofthe service and not having that
sense of self-pride or job prideor whatever.
You know, some of us took awhile to get a job.
It took a while to get to job.

(39:52):
It took a while to get to whereyou were saying, hey, I'm proud
to be a civilian and uh, I,these guys coming back from iraq
and afghanistan.
You know, I'm just now startingto hear those stories of how
hard it is for them, you know,to uh take over or take off that
uniform and put on a civilianshirt, which is nice, by the way

(40:13):
.
Seeing those people who need totalk.
That's where I think becoming amember of the American Legion
or one of the other serviceorganizations is going to be so
important.
They can come in and talkwithout being judged, and if
anybody's ever in your post andthey're judging or they're
telling somebody they can't bein the Legion, you send them to

(40:34):
me and I'll put the 13 where itneeds to be, all right it's
really sad and an instance ofrejection of veterans.

Terry Adams (40:46):
I have a little place I hang out once in a while
over brewskis and you know Ihave a brewer too and I got a
call from one of our members upthere one day.
He goes Terry says you got toget over here.
There's three young ladies inuniform in flight suits.
And I said, okay, give me a fewminutes and I'll be over.

(41:07):
And told my wife I was going tomeet three young ladies in
flight suits and she laughed andshe said don't drink too much.
And that's all she said.
And you know, she knows that ifthey're in flight suits I'm
going to talk to them about thelegion.
And so I went over there and Iwalked in and I knew without
looking where they were at,because of all the young guys,

(41:27):
the vultures hanging around, thefresh meat, you know.
And I walked over the table,just pull that chair and sit
down and said, hi, I'm terryadams with american legion.
And this young lady goes.
I went in american legion hallby my dad's house.
They told me I couldn't come inwithout a membership card.
I said now you're active duty.
She goes.
Yes, sir, she says we fly withthe CH-54.

(41:50):
And I said well, they werewrong.
And I took an application out ofmy pocket and laid it in front
of her.
I said fill that out.
She said why?
I said because in the nextcouple of days I'm going to have
you a membership card.
Then I want you to go back inthat post and if they say
anything to you, I want you tocall me.
Here's my cell number.
And then I'm you to call me.

(42:11):
Here's my cell number, and thenI'm going to call their
commander and I'm going to calltheir state commander and find
out why.
And the other two girls saidwell, what are you doing?
And she says I'm joining theAmerican Legion.
They said can we join?
I said you bet you can, andwe'll even pay you all three
years' dues this first year.
And so I took two moreapplications, signed them up and

(42:33):
then they started pushingdrinks over in front of me
because they said these guys arebuying us drinks.
We'll never get out of heredrinking and all that.
And so we got all three of themin as members.
They've maintained theirmembership in our post, even
though they live in Virginia.
They don't care.
We did what we should be doingyeah, Taking care of our
veterans.

Bob Buntyn (42:53):
Well, speaking of which, how you got me into the
American Legion.

Jerry Allhands (43:00):
Tell that story then, Bob.

Bob Buntyn (43:02):
We were on a toy run for Toys for Tots from Bumpus
Harley-Davidson to Le Bonheur.

Terry Adams (43:12):
Children's Hospital 297 bikes.

Bob Buntyn (43:15):
Almost 300 motorcycles Right and no police
escort, only Interstate 40.
Yeah, I'm alive, to tell thestory Barely.
I've never had so many closecalls since Vietnam in my life.
So anyway, like I said, almost300 motorcycles.

(43:37):
So I did not want to wait to goin the hospital.
You had to sign up and wait foryour group and da-da-da.
So a group of us said, well,we'll just go out and ride for a
while.
So we jump on our motorcyclesand we go out for a ride and
we're following this guy on thisHarley trike.
He's got his music blaring andhis wife is sitting on the back

(44:00):
of this trike knitting she'sknitting this whatever on the
back of this Harley trike andthere's about 12 of us that are
following him going down thehighway.
So we come down south and nextthing I know we're in south
Memphis and we pull up in theparking lot of Post 1, memphis.

(44:21):
We get out, go inside and Terrysays, hey, we got free beer.
You know how bikers and freebeer goes.
So we go inside this littlehouse, he opens up the
refrigerator and he starts youknow whatever you want and
handing beers out andeverybody's having a good time.
So Terry asked me.
He says how long have you beenin the American Legion?

(44:43):
I said well, I'm not a memberof the American Legion.
He said you will be.
Before you leave here, he says,first of all, here's the
application card.
If you qualify, what do youmean?
If I qualify, I'm a Vietnamveteran.
I think I qualify.
He says I'll make you a deal.

(45:04):
If you sign up today, the postwill pay your first year's dues.
Now how can you say no to that?
I said okay, fill out, hand itto Terry, and the rest is
history.

Jerry Allhands (45:17):
So that's your secret you pay the first of your
dues and you give them a beer.

Terry Adams (45:20):
No, no, no, the beer is easy.

Bob Buntyn (45:23):
The beer is easy.

Terry Adams (45:25):
I live on Socialist security.
I can't be paying everybody'sdues Can relate to that.
Yeah, can relate to that Ourpost has been known to pay dues
and I've done the same thingwith our post as well, you know
I never want money to be anobstacle.
No, no, and just like thosethree girls, I thought they had
been wronged, yeah, by that postand, uh, I thought we'd make it

(45:50):
up.

Bob Buntyn (45:51):
They could have had all the guys in there buying
their membership for them.

Terry Adams (45:56):
Oh, yeah, yeah, the amount of beer being bought
that day, I'm sure, and the nextday one of the young guys came
up to me and says well, did youget any of them's phone number?

Johnathan Michael Fleming (46:06):
And I laughed and said, yeah, all
three of them, All three.

Terry Adams (46:10):
He goes no, and I said, yeah, actually I got their
phone number, their homeaddress, their email.
He said you're kidding me.
I said, no, they all joined theAmerican Legion and you should
be a member too.
And he goes, but I don't thinkI'm eligible.
I said were you honorablydischarged?
And he said yeah, I was.
I said well, I know you're aMarine.

Bob Buntyn (46:32):
Well, so many people get confused between the VFW
and the American Legion becausethere are different requirements
to join the two organizations.
We've talked about this before.
I mean long-term we've got afeeling there may just be one
organization that you knowlong-term that survives yet to
be seen but we do know we'relosing membership because of age

(46:53):
.
World War II veterans arealmost all gone.
We only have two left in OllieBranch and they're both over 100
years old.
Yeah, and they're it.
Us Vietnam veterans there neverwere that many of us to begin
with.
Our numbers are dwindling.
The Korean War vets, the KoreanWar vets, the Korean War vets
they were never.
I've only met maybe two.

(47:13):
And then the younger guys.
I mean they're joining thingslike CVMA, their motorcycle
associations, but I don't see alot of them joining the VFW and
the American Legion.
We only have two younger onesin our post that are what I
consider in their 40s young.

Jerry Allhands (47:32):
And what do you suppose it is that we're having
such a hard time reaching out tothe Desert Storm, Desert Shield
, Enduring Freedom, Iraq andAfghanistan vets.

Terry Adams (47:41):
Why are we having a hard time?
I heard from a couple of themwe don't need you, old guys, you
don't know what we're goingthrough.
And at that point the firecomes up in my eyes and saying
look, I have 11 friends on thatVietnam wall.
I have a brother who came backand didn't come back.

(48:02):
Don't tell me.
We don't know what you're goingthrough, we know.
And all you have to do isrealize we can stop a lot of
that from happening to you ifyou listen.
To do is realize we can stop alot of that from happening to
you if you listen to us.
But as you seem to be stubbornand don't believe we can help,
I'm sorry but you're wrong.
And then they got an attitudeand walked off.

Jerry Allhands (48:25):
It's going to be interesting, like you say, to
see where we go in the next 30,40 years.

Terry Adams (48:31):
Smaller military Also smaller military now yeah.

Jerry Allhands (48:35):
And that's again where I think it's important
that we have groups like theSons of the American Legion, the
American Legion Auxiliary, theLegion Riders, you know.

Bob Buntyn (48:44):
See, I'm a member of three American Legion posts.
I don't get enough.
I'm a member of Post 1 as aSons, I'm a member of 1990 as an
American Legion writer andcommander of Post 2022.
So I'm actually a member ofthree different American Legion
posts.

Terry Adams (49:02):
Show off.
He still has me dues, by theway.

Bob Buntyn (49:06):
Now I couldn't do that in Tennessee, Right In
Tennessee, you have to belong tothe post that has an American
Legion writer organization Usedto In Mississippi oh, used to.
I didn't know that changed.

Terry Adams (49:17):
Just changed at this mid-winter conference In.

Bob Buntyn (49:19):
Mississippi, you can belong.
Since we don't have an AmericanLegion writer post, I can
belong to 1990.
When I was in Tennessee, Icouldn't do that.
I didn't know that would justchange At the mid-winter
conference.

Terry Adams (49:31):
They they voted on and approved.
If your post does not have asufficient number of riders to
start and operate a an americanlegion riders, then you are
allowed to join a riders groupfrom another post only makes
sense.

Jerry Allhands (49:46):
Yeah, I like it, I like it now you know I've
been for what 27 years I've beentrying to become a rider and
the stipulation that you have toown a motorcycle.

Terry Adams (49:54):
Well, that is one.

Jerry Allhands (49:56):
We can fix that.

Terry Adams (49:57):
I have friends over here at Southern Thunder who'd
be more than happy to talk toyou.

Bob Buntyn (50:01):
We get you a trailer to put on your truck and take
it back down.

Jerry Allhands (50:04):
There's only one problem with that is I keep
asking for a donation, of amotorcycle A donation, and a
couple of years ago some smarterlike gave me a Harley Davidson.
It was about six inches longand about two inches tall and I
still couldn't join the riders.

Terry Adams (50:22):
Did you get?
All you needed was the VIN onit, you know.

Jerry Allhands (50:24):
I may have to go back and look at that.

Bob Buntyn (50:26):
Yeah.

Terry Adams (50:28):
I don't think the CC was big enough though.
I think it's what 500?
.
No, their limit, national doesnot have a limit on the ccs.
It's up to the department, andour department of tennessee just
dropped theirs from 650 down to400.
I think it was wow, okay, well,because there are some of these

(50:50):
sport bikes that are smaller.

Bob Buntyn (50:52):
Oh yeah, that's true too, they'll outrun you in a
heartbeat, yeah, yeah.

Terry Adams (50:55):
And you know these kids, some of these young people
and I'm calling them kids Sure,they're young adults, they're
riding these sport bikes andthey want to join us, but their
bike, the CCs, was too small,mm-hmm.
So now they can join us and bea part of our American Legion,
and our sons and our riders.
Post 1 is the only post in thedistrict that's a true family

(51:21):
post.
We have the Legion, the SAL,the Auxiliary and the Riders.
Yep, wow, and we're proud ofwhat we do.

Jerry Allhands (51:32):
Okay, there's hope for me after all, you know
there's.
Yeah, I got the motorcycleendorsement.
I've had that forever.

Terry Adams (51:40):
We'll have Bob.
We'll have to see if we can'tget him on one of those that has
a VIN number on it.
All right, there you go.

Jerry Allhands (51:47):
Well, guys, I appreciate that very much.
Earlier you had mentioned aboutgetting a call to uh go to a
funeral.
What's?
What's the minimum amount oftime you need to go and
represent?

Terry Adams (52:00):
is it?
Well, I know it takes a littlebit, but I'm serious, we we two
hours you can do it we couldactually pull off a funeral in
two hours wow if it's not toofar away if it's not too far
away, right too far away I was,I was in a hospital, I guess,
when you did carothersville yeah, we had carothersville,

(52:20):
missouri, we had a request yeah,and you know, the guys from
mississippi were the ones thatstepped up and were able to do
it.

Bob Buntyn (52:27):
Not even what guys from tennessee, my guys here in
miss, not even me, I couldn't go.

Terry Adams (52:33):
They ponied up and took off up there, jeff took his
Corvette.

Bob Buntyn (52:39):
You did have a Tennessee guy, I thought it was
all Mississippi.
No, no, that's right.
Jeff took his Corvette becausewho rode with him, chief rode
with him.
I couldn't believe Chief had aCorvette.
Chief has a hard time gettingit out of his Ford Ranger.

Jerry Allhands (52:54):
I was going to say there's a story there
somewhere.
There's a story there somewhere.

Bob Buntyn (52:58):
Chief is tall he's Air Force Yep, thailand.

Terry Adams (53:02):
Yeah.

Bob Buntyn (53:03):
He is our adjutant, okay.

Terry Adams (53:07):
We will go, if at all possible, on a moment's
notice, Because it's thatimportant that the veteran gets
his honors.

Bob Buntyn (53:17):
Like right now at my house.
I have three rifles that arecleaned, with clips, loaded to
go.
All I've got to do is throwthem in the truck and go.
I'm ready.
So in a uniform, I'm good to go.
I've got a text message groupset up with everybody on it.
Here's the funeral.
This is where it is what timeit's going to be at.

(53:37):
I get responses and I tellpeople don't respond if you
can't be there.

Terry Adams (53:44):
Just let me know if you can't be there.
You're telling me I can't go.

Bob Buntyn (53:48):
It blows my mind sometimes.
I'll put the request out thereand it's a late.
You know Thursday afternoon foran early Friday morning funeral
and I'll tell my wife within 15or 20 minutes.
We have it covered.
Wow, I've already got enoughpeople to cover a funeral
tomorrow morning, so I'll getback in touch with the army or

(54:08):
whoever is requesting it.
Let them know We'll be there.

Terry Adams (54:12):
One of the things I'm really proud of is that we
have the no known familyveterans.
You know they call themunclaimed.

Bob Buntyn (54:21):
We don't.

Terry Adams (54:23):
No known family.

Bob Buntyn (54:24):
No known family.

Terry Adams (54:25):
And when I first started going to the funerals
there at West Tennessee, theywere still putting them in pine
boxes and cardboard boxes and Ithought that was just
unimaginable in the 21st centurythat we were doing that.
We got with the Memphis FuneralHome Group and Corey said well,

(54:49):
sure, there's reasons why theydo that.
You know, the governmentdoesn't want to pay for a box to
begin with and if you're goingto put them in a casket it has
to be the minimum grade casketand they don't pay for 90 to 180
days and funeral homes expectto get paid and so they can
continue their operation.
I said I understand all that.

(55:10):
Don't you have like displaythat is last year's model?
Or you know, the guy wascremated.
You didn't cremate the casketRight, and he goes.
Yeah, we probably have some ofthose.
I said why can't we use those?
And you know, to this day wedon't have that anymore.
All the funeral homes have comeon board and started doing this

(55:33):
.
So every veteran, every unknownfamily veteran, is in a casket,
like he should be.

Bob Buntyn (55:40):
Not long ago we had three at one time.
We've done four.
I didn't do the four, but I didthe three.
We've had four.
Four unclaimed.

Terry Adams (55:50):
Wow At onelaimed Wow.

Jerry Allhands (55:52):
At one time.
Are they in local cemeteries orare they in the national
cemeteries?
They're in the state.

Bob Buntyn (55:57):
Yeah state cemetery West Tennessee Veterans.

Jerry Allhands (55:59):
Okay, and that's where?
Where's that?

Bob Buntyn (56:02):
It's just about 15 minutes north of here in
Germantown.
Right.
Then there's National Cemetery,which is in proper Memphis, but
it's been closed for quite sometime For burials.

Terry Adams (56:13):
For burials?
Yeah, they still do.
Interments of ashes.

Jerry Allhands (56:17):
You know, this is supposed to be about
post-2022.
They're part of this, yeahthat's what I was going to say.
You guys have brought up somegreat information here.
If a veteran or his or herfamily, who do they contact to
start the arrangements?
Funeral home Funeral home.
Funeral home If they want to beburied in a state or national

(56:39):
cemetery Funeral home.

Bob Buntyn (56:41):
The funeral home then contacts the military.
The military then says we canor we cannot.
If they cannot, then thefuneral homes will contact us
okay, well, if we could, andsometimes it's just the rifles.

Terry Adams (56:56):
No, he's asking about them being buried there.
Yeah, oh, okay, they need toget a copy of their dd214, go to
the cemetery, getpre-registered.
If they're not pre-registeredthe funeral they have to get the
dd214 to the funeral home andhave them get with the state or
national cemetery and then thenit can be approved.

Bob Buntyn (57:19):
That process takes a while yeah and again
pre-approved myself.
Yeah, I'm pre-approved for westlc veteran cemetery.
All my stuff is in a folder athome.
My wife knows somethinghappened to me today.
Go get that folder and take itdown to Brantley Funeral Home.
You're done.
Everything's taken care of.

Jerry Allhands (57:39):
That's the hardest part for me in the past
was getting people to understand.
I'm a former county veteranservice officer Talking to
veterans and saying get yourDD-214, take it to the
courthouse, get it registered,make another copy, keep one on
file there, get one to yourfuneral home, get one to you
know somewhere in your fireboxin the house and make sure your
family knows what's in it?
One document, one document.

Bob Buntyn (58:00):
Put it with your insurance papers.
Yes, not long ago I got a callfrom Terry.
This guy was in the hospitaland he was not expected to make
it through the night.
His sister couldn't be therebecause the sister was with the
mother in another hospital thatwas about to pass away.

(58:22):
So he wanted a final salute, wecall it, and actually wanted
the uh hospital, the, the, theguy that took care he was, his
organs were being harvested okay.
So the guy that was taking careof all of that was in charge of

(58:42):
me coming in to do the finalsalute, which he videoed for the
sister.
I did the final salute.
So we're we're leaving and andthis lady came up and she
grabbed my arm and she said canyou help me, ma'am, with what
she said?
Well, my husband's here in thehospital and they don't expect

(59:02):
him to live, you know, untilovernight and I don't know what
to do.
I don't know who to contact.
He's a veteran.
I said well, do you have hisDD-214?
She says I actually know whatthat is.
I have his DD-214.
I said okay.
I said you've gone a long wayright there.

(59:23):
I said I'm going to go home.
I got her phone number.
So I'm going to go home and I'mgoing to get the name and
number of the Shelby CountyVeteran Service Officer I'm
going to give.
His name is Mike and I'm goingto give him.
Get him to give you a call andwhen Mike calls you, I want you

(59:44):
to tell him you have the DD-214and you need to make the
arrangements for your husband'sburial.
So I call Mike up.
I gave him the lady's phonenumber.
Within 30 minutes Mike calledthis lady and within a few hours
they had his funeral arranged.

Terry Adams (59:59):
But she had the 214 .
Yeah, a good service officerand, being a member of a group
like the American Legion, theywill tell you time after time.
Get a copy of that DD-214.
Put it with your insurancepapers because you know, the
first thing they're going tolook for is the money.
I hate to say it, but it's areality but, that's where that

(01:00:20):
paper should be.

Bob Buntyn (01:00:22):
The matter of fact, at the Alder Branch Chamber of
Commerce Wednesday, at ourluncheon Brantley Funeral Home,
was the speaker talking aboutthis very same thing.
Especially with veterans, withyour DDT-14.
Wow, and pre-planning.

Jerry Allhands (01:00:40):
Mm-hmm.

Bob Buntyn (01:00:40):
Pre-planning.

Jerry Allhands (01:00:42):
Do as much as possible right now.

Bob Buntyn (01:00:45):
Like he said, that is the worst time of your life.
You've got so many big decisionsto make and you're already
emotional, you're alreadyemotional, you're a mess and
you've got to make these bigfinancial decisions, get it done
to begin with, and that's whatI did.
I sat down, it took me an hourand we planned the whole thing

(01:01:05):
out and I'm done and I've gotburial insurance.
So if something happens to metoday and it ain't paid for yet,
it's paid for, and so manyveterans are under the mistaken
that they are going to be fullycovered by the VA for all their
funeral expenses, and that isnot true.

Jerry Allhands (01:01:23):
Not at all.

Bob Buntyn (01:01:24):
You get your grave site and a headstone.
That's it.

Terry Adams (01:01:29):
That's all the VA is going to furnish you I cannot
say enough good about veteranservice officers, especially
those with the legion.
Uh, my brother-in-law passedaway.
It was a vietnam vet and mysister was trying to get through
some of the paperwork.
And I talked to our veteranservice officer who got a hold

(01:01:52):
of.
She lives up in northernmichigan.
He got a hold of the veteranservice officer in cadillac.
They got together and in anhour's time paperwork was done
you just you can't say enoughgood about people like that now
those guys who are chargingmoney.

Jerry Allhands (01:02:10):
That's a whole other story.
If you're a veteran and you'relooking at needing some work
done, please contact your countyveteran service officer, your
state veteran service officer,your post service officer.
We don't charge money.
By law we can't charge moneyand if you're being charged
money, you're being ripped offbecause the service officers

(01:02:30):
your county, state and AmericanLegion service officers they're
the best.

Bob Buntyn (01:02:39):
Now the flip side of that, though.
There is a flip side, and wejust went through this with one
of our combat vets with CVMA.
He'd been working with aveteran service officer for
almost a year to get his ratingincreased and it wasn't going
anywhere.
So he got in touch with anaccredited law firm and there
are accredited VA law firms.

(01:03:02):
There are a lot of them thatare not.
Most of them are not, but thereare a few that are.
So he did go through one of thecertified veterans law firms
and they got him to 100%,permanent and total.
It cost him, I believe, aboutmaybe I think he said $10,000,

(01:03:24):
somewhere in that area.
But if he looks at his payincrease, he said that's only
going to take me five months topay that off and then I'll be at
100% for the rest of my life.
So it made sense for him to go.
But, like he said, if you do becareful, make sure they are
accredited through the VA andthe percentage they're going to

(01:03:45):
take.
And the percentage they're goingto take.

Jerry Allhands (01:03:47):
They're limited.

Bob Buntyn (01:03:48):
And he said I knew up up front, but I did the math,
yeah, and I'm coming out threeor four years from now way
better down the road than whereI would have been but, bob, if
you would give me again the thedates or, excuse me, the day and
time that you meet and where,okay, that would be the third
thursday of the month at 6 30 atnew life community church on

(01:04:12):
craft road in olive branch,mississippi do you feel
comfortable sharing your phonenumber?

Jerry Allhands (01:04:17):
somebody wanted to reach out to you, oh,
absolutely uh, it's on mybusiness card, uh, 662-812-1008
right, I want to thank you somuch for letting me interview
you today.
And before we let you go, TerryPost 1 in Memphis, Tennessee,
when and when.

Terry Adams (01:04:39):
We actually meet now in Lakeland, right off of US
70, at the InternationalHarvester Managerial Center.
On the second Sunday of themonth we have a potluck meeting
where everybody brings a nicewarm dish or something to eat
and the family meets there andwe talk about what each group in

(01:05:03):
the family is doing and makethe decisions on the Legion of
what we're doing.
And that's on Canada Road.
That's on Canada Road, 4523canada road in lakeland,
tennessee.
That's a beautiful facility.
Uh, three o'clock in theafternoon, everyone is welcome
to come out uh, the veterans andtheir families and come out and

(01:05:25):
see what we're doing, and seewhat we're up to, and see if we
can't help with some of theproblems they're having, as well
as to just have some fun too.

Jerry Allhands (01:05:32):
There you go 4523 canada road, lakeland,
tennessee.
What's that zip code?
Three, eight zero zero two, allright and do you feel
comfortable giving a phonenumber?

Terry Adams (01:05:43):
my phone number is all over the interstate and yeah
, it's all over, it's everywhere, it's all over, it's everywhere
, it's, everywhere, it'severywhere.
I don't even know what it is.
No, I'm kidding, it's901-604-1549.

Jerry Allhands (01:06:00):
And again to join the American Legion.
Simply, what do you need to bein order to be?

Terry Adams (01:06:04):
qualified Honorably discharged.
Fadd214 says you're honorablydischarged.
Do you serve active duty, atleast one day of active duty
between 1941 and now?
And if you were serving in 1941, God love you.
Active duty can join Activeduty, no problem.
They're already active duty.

(01:06:25):
They're serving the countrytoday.
We love them.
We're glad to have them onboard.
Guard and reserve.
Guard and reserve.

Jerry Allhands (01:06:31):
Guard and reserve.
They can join as well.
Yes, sir, gentlemen, Iappreciate you so much.
Before we leave today, is thereanything else you would like to
add?

Terry Adams (01:06:40):
I'm glad to have you on your show.
I'm glad to be, on your show.
I hope people continue tolisten to you.
I think you are obviouslysharing a lot of good
information, so please listen inin the future.

Bob Buntyn (01:06:53):
I appreciate Jerry joining us today and hope to do
this again soon.
Thank, you.

Jerry Allhands (01:07:02):
And that was our visit with the Post 2022, the
newest American Legion post inthe Department of Mississippi.
Be sure to join us next Mondaymorning as we travel to Corinth,
mississippi, and visit withPerry A Johns Post 6 Commander,
Nora Moreland.

Nora Moreland (01:07:15):
My name is Nora Moreland and I invite you to
join us on the next episode.

Jerry Allhands (01:07:22):
We need your help in keeping this podcast
going.
Your continued financialsupport enables us to produce
these podcasts for you.
Call 662-902-6658 today andwe'll give you all the details
on how you and or your businesscan become a sponsor.
A very special thank you toJonathan Michael Fleming for his
musical talents.
You can find his CDs and videoson Facebook, instagram, amazon

(01:07:46):
Music and YouTube.
We hope you've enjoyed thisepisode and look forward to your
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(01:08:07):
J-D-A-L-L-H-A-N-D-S atOutlookcom, or by calling
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