16 · SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2017 CONTINUING TO SERVE As another generation of veterans who served overseas grows older, fellow-ship among their ranks becomes more valuable. Jim Lohr realizes that, and he has shown a commitment to growing that camaraderie by taking organizing roles with multiple veter-ans organizations in the Greensburg area. Lohr, 69, is a Greensburg native and Marine Corps veteran who has remained involved with his fellow vets by serving currently as assistant quartermaster of VFW Marilao Post 33 and as commandant of the Greater Greensburg Marine Corps League #834. “I started out after I retired. I joined the honor guard working military funerals,” Lohr said. “The old (VFW) commander asked me if I could give them a hand in the office, and it’s something I enjoy doing.” Lohr’s record in both the service and civil-ian world demonstrates why he’s such a good fit for those posts. He enlisted in 1967 and made his way to boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., after gradu-ating from Greensburg Salem High School. By November, he was on his way to Vietnam assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. Lohr was overseas less than three months before the start of the Tet Offensive, during which some of the war’s heaviest combat occurred. His platoon was first across the Perfume River in the city of Hue. He was wounded in Hue and received the Purple Heart. Lohr spent the remainder of his deploy-ment as part of a Combined Action Platoon that lived with and protected a Vietnamese village. His remaining service included time at Camp Lejeune, N.C.; Camp Drum, N.Y.; and four months aboard the U.S.S. Guadal-canal in the Caribbean before being released from active duty in April 1970 as a staff sergeant. Back home, Lohr found his trade by going to school for electronics. He worked under multiple companies through the AT&T/ Bell Atlantic restructuring before retiring from Verizon as a switchman with 37 years, 50 weeks of perfect attendance to his name, he said. In retirement, Lohr has had the opportunity to dedicate time to veterans organizations, and he believes more people still should be getting involved. “A lot of people assume the VFW is just a club where guys show up and drink. It’s far more than that,” Lohr said. “We work an awful lot with the VA Hospital in Pittsburgh. We put together bingo nights as fundraisers and bring them up to the club for spaghetti dinners and things like that.” Recruitment for organizations such as the VFW can be a battle on two fronts. On one hand, Lohr said, maintaining groups like the VFW and Marine Corps League — most known for its annual “Toys For Tots” drive — requires new, younger members who have returned after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. “By being in the military — whether it’s the older guys from Korea or young guys coming back from Iraq — when you come there, you have a basis to communicate,” Lohr said. “It’s a different time, but the people there under-stand the fear or anxieties they might have being back in the civilian world.” But on the other side, those organizations are also a wonderful way for older veterans who have recently retired to take advantage SUBMITTED of their free time and connect with people through their shared service. “Guys join when their working careers are over, the kids are grown, and it’s something to do,” Lohr said. “It’s not just guys drinking at night. You can come by there at 7 in the morning, and you’ll probably see seven or eight cars out in the lot. The guys have their morning coffee, they socialize, see everybody they know and head out.” Lohr, who lives nearby in Youngwood with his wife, Jean, falls into that second group with three grown children and three grand-children of his own. But he keeps himself busy with his family and his involvement with the VFW and other groups. “It’s one of those jobs you can’t get out of, and I mean that in a good way. You get in-volved, try to make improvements and time slips away,” said Lohr, who has served as the VFW’s assistant quartermaster for nearly five years. “I’m going to be up there as long as I’m in-volved with the honor guard. I enjoy it, and it really is a good way to have that camarade-rie you had before (in the service).” Former Marine, Vietnam vet volunteers his time for leadership, administrative roles with local veterans organizations Jim Lohr served 33 months of active duty during the Vietnam War, but he continues to serve today in administrative roles with local veterans groups, such as VFW Marilao Post 33 in Greensburg and the Greater Greensburg Marine Corps League. BY MATT GRUBBA
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