News

War stories to tell, the right place to tell them

More than 150 people turned out Wednesday to celebrate the grand opening of the Hedrick Rhodes Veterans Center

By Bill Moss, Published: July 4, 2024

They had war stories to tell. They stood at a fitting place to tell them — on the front porch of a historic brick structure built by and for World War II veterans — and they spoke at a fitting time — on the eve of the 248^th birthday of America.

Henderson County commissioners, aides from Congress and others celebrated the completion of a $4.7 million renovation that saved the 76-year-old Hedrick-Rhodes VFW Post 5206 from ruin and transformed it into a sparkling new veterans and community center.

On the market in 2020 for more than a half million dollars, the VFW home was sold to Henderson County in 2021 for $35,635 — a price the post was willing to accept along with the pledge of a complete renovation. In addition to the VFW, the building will also house the county’s Veterans Services office and military museum, which will move from the Health and Human Services building on Spartanburg Highway. The community room will be available for use by organizations, for now at no charge. Under terms of an American Rescue Plan grant that covered 90 percent of the construction cost, the county is not permitted to charge rent.

Speaking from the front porch of the imposing brick edifice perched on a slope above Five Points, commissioners thanked veterans and shared stories of their own family’s connection to wartime service.

“Dec. 7, 1941, a day that will live in infamy,” Board of Commissioners Chair Rebecca McCall said. “We all recognize these words and understand what they mean. There may be some here who may have heard President Roosevelt say those words for the first time when he announced that Pearl Harbor had been invaded and America was now part of the war in Europe that had been going on for two years.

“There were 16 million U.S. soldiers sent to fight in that war. Four thousand of them came from Henderson County and at that time that was 15 percent of the population. The war claimed 407,000 American lives and physically wounded 670,000. But wounds go deeper than physical. Those who returned home needed a place to gather and overcome their experiences of war with those who understood. They came together in 1946 to form VFW Post 5206 and in 1948 built this building as a respite for all who had made the sacrifice to defend our freedom. At one time, there were more than 1,600 members. Over the years and due to the effects of Covid, the membership has declined, so being able to support this facility became a challenge for the members of this post.”

“When the opportunity arose for the county to help save this historical building, the decision was an easy one,” she said.

Commissioners agreed to buy the building and renovate it, appropriating $4.2 million in ARP funds

‘A kid from Green River’

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One of those 4,000 Henderson County residents sent to fight in World War II was Norman Capps, Commissioner Michael Edney’s uncle.

“In 1944, he was a 21-year-old kid from Green River,” Edney said. “The Army sent him to Louisiana to learn how to be an airplane mechanic but apparently they also taught him how to shoot a machine gun because he became a waist gunner on a B-24 bomber. He was sent to Europe and he and the other 10 members of his crew flew several flights over enemy-occupied Europe. Then on Oct. 30, 1944, their bomber went down. Only he and two other crew members survived, bailing out while the plane was spinning to the ground. They were caught and became German prisoners of war. As war was winding down the Germans decided to move all their POWs” via a forced march.

“For the next 83 days they walked 550 miles in relentless winter conditions in which thousands of Americans died. They were liberated on April 29, 1945,” Edney said. “My uncle and the millions of Americans who have served  and sacrificed to protect our way of life are the reason we’re here today. They’re the reason we chose to renovate and  restore this building to continue to serve Henderson County.”

When the post home was in danger of being sold and possibly even razed, Edney stepped in to help.

“It was unfathomable to me that we could not do everything possible to save this historic facility,” he said. “I made it  my mission to restore the VFW to properly honor our veterans of foreign wars. I brought this to the attention of my fellow commissioners and received immediate overwhelming support.”

‘U.S. Marines, we know you’re coming’

“My dad was 40 years old when I was born — that's a little older than a lot of people having children — but he was a World War II Marine — part of the Second Marine Division,” Commissioner Daniel Andreotta told the crowd. “He joined when he was 17 years old.” A fleet of ships sailing to the war zone in the Pacific “would zigzag to try to avoid being hit or to try to avoid all of them being hit at one time from enemy attacks. And he said on one occasion through the hull of that big ship he was on, they had speakers and when they got within range they tuned into Japanese radio broadcasts. Maybe you have heard of the historic name of Tokyo Rose, a female voice on Japanese radio. Seventeen years old, a long way from Mama's table, he heard these words go through that ship: ‘United States Marines, we know you're coming.’ So thank God my dad made it home, and so I have been raised being patriotic.”

My ‘nearest and dearest project’

David Hill, a Henderson County native, recalled the VFW post as a familiar landmark at the city’s northern gateway.

“Since I was a young boy growing up here, I always remember this building,” he said. “This building will now stand, still here, as you enter into town from the north and it will still be that view that I remember as a young man. For me, this is probably the nearest and dearest project for the county that I’ve been a part of because we are a veteran-friendly community.”

‘I wonder where they’re going’

“My father, 19 years old, Nov. 30, 1941, served in the Merchant Marines,” Commissioner Bill Lapsley said. “He was in Honolulu Harbor, Nov. 30, 1941. He joined a convoy of ships, including destroyers. How do I know this? He gave me his logbook, when he was 19 years old. Joined the convoy, heading from Honolulu Harbor to Manila in the Philippines. In his logbook, he notes: ‘Just passed the Japanese fleet heading east towards Hawaii. I wonder where they're going?’

“He and I talked about it many times as I was growing up, and I always appreciated his life story and his service to our country. So with that short note, I'm very proud to have been a part of this board in the restoration of this building. I hope it’ll last for another 70 years and I hope the people of our community continue to support our veterans.”

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McCall, the county commission chair, thanked the people who guided the project to completion: The architect, Ethan Ward of McMillian Pazdan Smith, contractor Frank Blum Construction superintendent Chris D'Angelo, senior project manager Cory Swanstrom, general superintendent David Hana, vice president of operations Matt Coley and the construction crew; and, from county staff, Brian Rhodes, capital projects construction manager; Brian Cotton, capital projects superintendent; John Michell county manager; Amy Brantley, now retired assistant county manager; Christopher Todd, new assistant county manager; and Samantha Reynolds, finance director.